Food Rules

Ever since I started my renovations back in May, I have been eating terribly. At that time and through to the end of June, it didn't really matter. I was so busy and doing so much physical labour that I could eat pretty much what ever I wanted. I didn't go crazy, but snacks of chips and dinners of take-out pizza had no impact on my weight. In fact, I even lost a few pounds. Now, however, two months after my renovations and move are complete, I am still struggling to get back on track. And, I am paying for it.

I know that a rigid diet plan is not right for me (been there, done that), but I picked up Michael Pollan's Food Rules for some inspiration. He lists 64 short and sweet "rules" based on his more comprehensive book, In Defence of Food. Now, I have to say that I don't think I am a terrible eater. I am a vegetarian, I don't eat fried food and I try to eat locally. I also don't have any nasty habits like eating in the evenings/nights or a reliance on drive throughs. So, with this in mind, you would think that I'd do OK, but I don't. Not at all. I seem to have a body that does not allow for "errors" in intake and I make errors, all the time. *Sigh*

In the hopes of leading myself to a path of errorless eating. I have decided to adopt 5 of Michael Pollan's food rules as my own. He says that all of his rules are variations on his theme of "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." and suggests that his readers follow the rules that make sense to them. Here are my chosen 5 rules:

1) Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry.

2) Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.

3) Eat sweet foods as you would find them in nature.

4) Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant foods.

5) Treat treats as treats.

I can see that these rules are probably harder to follow than the typical "no carbs" or "limit fat to 30 grams a day", but they are so much more sensible and realistic. We will see how it goes.

I am off to buy some spinach!