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Feb 01, 2012

Paquita Maria rated it:

Watch out, folks, this is a variation on the drunken book review called the "my doctor prescribed me syzzurp" review. The M.D.P.M.S. review. An appropriate acronym on so many levels!

So, I have been sick for a month. No exaggeration; a month. I thought I could tough it out like a champ and avoid the combined cost of a doctor's visit, medication, and missing work. That is, until I woke up at 8 this morning with...okay, do you remember that scene in Freddy's Dead: The ( More...

150 comments like (20 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2010

Shelley rated it:

It's a good thing I only paid five bucks for this book because I felt a bit gypped after reading it. This is basically In Defense of Food: Lite or, worse, In Defense of Food: Dr. Phil-a-fied. I read it in an afternoon - not because it was so riveting, but because it's only 140 pages long. And that's deceptive: Every other page has a picture of an onion or a pepper or something on it, so that cuts it down to 70 pages, and several of the non-onion pages only have a snippet of text on them, so t More...

7 comments like (21 people liked it)

Apr 13, 2011

Crystal rated it:

This book is an "abridged" version of Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" and gives excellent advice about what to eat and not to eat as far as being natural and healthy. He's not an extremist; but, what he says makes good sense. He advises that if it comes through a car window, it's not food. If your food is made in a plant rather than coming from a plant, you shouldn't eat it. He mentions "edible food-like substances" which is very reminisent of another book I' More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

A very concise little book about what's become of our food and what we really should eat.

The book can be boiled down to seven words and three sections: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Each brief chapter is a food rule with a short explanation. Rules are mostly common sense, but they are a good reminder to pay attention to the food we eat and what's been done to it.

Some example rules:

Eat Food.
"Don't eat anything More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 25, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

My rating is based on a combination of a)the book's content; and b)the book's usefulness to me. The usefulness is what brings it to a higher rating.

I've been studying health and nutrition on my own for many years now, so the content was not new to me. I bought the book to have on hand for motivation and reminders of what I already know. The way the information and "rules" are presented makes it perfect for keeping me on the healthy path. I read the entire book in a litt More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 29, 2011

nicole rated it:

As someone already interested in more conscious eating and practiced in adjusting my own diet to reflect healthier habits (flexitarian, what whatttt), this book reads as a collection of obvious proverbs, but still useful reminders, especially as I've slipped back into some bad habits. That said, FOR ME, this book isn't worth the list price. But for someone else (the gift recipient I have in mind), Pollan's rules might truly be enlightening, as they would have been to me a couple years back (Wei More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 27, 2010

Tammy rated it:

This book is full of common scents for most of us, but it is good to be reminded that we become what we put in our bodies. It is so easy to fall pray to what modern convenience has turned "food" into. To anyone who strives to live a happy, healthy, disease free life, this book is worth reading. Its a small book with very big content.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 02, 2011

Tim rated it:

This is a nifty quick reference for the basics of how to eat well. It seems like a "cliff notes" version of "in defense of food". Still, I found it helpful and enjoyable for the hour or less it took to read.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 06, 2010

Molly rated it:

I read this super short book at lunch, upon the recommendation of a gorgeous 72 year old woman who claimed to be married to "the hottest 80 year old you've ever seen." Granted, I read it while eating ramen, but I <3 Michael Pollan and the IDEA of eating well.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 03, 2011

Dave rated it:

This is a really short book. Some of it's 140 pages only have one sentence on them, or a drawing of an onion or other vegetable. It seems to be an abbreviated version of In Defense of Food, another book by the same author. That being said, the ideas expressed about food and eating are very smart and commonsensical.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 01, 2012

Will rated it:

A very slim book that tells you all the things you need to do to eat a healthy diet. He distills it down to "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." And everything following talks more about that. There's a some interesting bits -- one rule is "Break the rules" and another one talks about making a window garden or plot so you can eat out of your own personal garden.

But the biggest thing has to be "Don't eat sugary preprocessed crap." Which I don't More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 08, 2012

Dana rated it:

I remember when I got to the end of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma thinking, "Well, what the hell CAN I eat, then?" Although the mental image of that potato farmer covered in fertilizer did stick, to the point that I started growing my own potatoes, I was pretty much done with Pollan lecturing me on how everything I buy in a supermarket contributes to the destruction of Planet Earth, and will probably give me cancer besides. I can handle bad news, but not with every mouthful More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Chung Chin rated it:

If you have read Michael Pollan's New York Times (NYT) article, "Unhappy Meals", which in itself is a very comprehensive piece of essay on eating right, you would have know that the most important thing to take away from that essay is: Eat food.Not much.Mostly plants.

The essay will go on to explain how "food" is defined, how we got into the eating mess we are today and much more.

In Food Rules, Michael Pollan lay out a simple go-to book that you can pic More...

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Dec 28, 2011

Jess rated it:

Such a simplified way of thinking about food. This really broke down the idea of food science and how it is essentially a baby of science right now and is not at the level we need for it to be used to explain food to people. So he threw it right out the window, and went back to the basics. What do we eat? Food. It's that simple. Ignore the over processed crap that is on shelves at the moment and go back to what nature intended people to eat.

I also loved the comparisons to other culture More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 05, 2011

Heid rated it:

My DOG reviewed this book on www.birchbarkbooks.com

Well, naturally I thought the title of this book, Food Rules, was meant as a cheer: Food Rules! That is not the case, and if my people take this book to heart, there may be fewer cheezeo bits to snuffle off the floor, but still I love this book. This slender volume is created by two of my favorites: illustrator/author Mairia Kalman who paints dogs (remember Max Makes A Million?) and Michael Pollan, the brainy food activist/writer wh More...

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Nov 09, 2011

Babs rated it:

Michael Pollan makes a very compelling argument in simple to read English, in a book that can be read in a single sitting but leaves you thinking for hours. I announced to my family that we were going to change our lifestyle and eventually move to the country where we would have our own small estate with our own garden and farm. Well, that may or may not happen but one thing is for sure; I will not be forgetting what I read because it resonated with so much I had heard growing up, in India and t More...

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Sep 17, 2011

Stacy rated it:

A super fast read by the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma." Michael Pollan outlines a set of easy to follow and totally logical rules about eating. You can distill the entire book to these three statements: "Eat Food. Mostly plants. Not too much." 64 Rules with a paragraph or two of explanation make complete and total sense and actually follow the Word of Wisdom pretty closely. (With just one deviation) Some of my favorite rules: Avoid food products containing ingredi More...

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Jul 24, 2011

NJMetal rated it:

Food Rules is not a book so much as a pocket guide. For the life of me I don't believe anyone would seriously tuck it into their pocket as a reference while food shopping. Within it's covers is 64 "rules" that Pollan offeres up to help people discern real food from, as he calls them, edible foodlike substinces. They are not rules so much as personal policies or guideline to keep in mind before you put food in you mouth.
I'm sure that this book will be of great benefit to man More...

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Jun 29, 2011

Debbie rated it:

A 4.5 I think (but I'm generous and like to round up). I have ZERO time for reading of late, so it was nice to have a book that I could read in less than an hour. This book was very eye opening. A lot of it I feel like I already knew, but just had to be reminded. There were a lot of "duh...that makes total sense...so why do I eat/do that?" I honestly just loved the way he gave some very clear, practical, and simple guidelines to eating better. Not even HEALTHIER necessarily, just More...

1 comment like

May 13, 2011

Chad rated it:

A collection of short, memorable rules for healthy eating. The rules fit within three incredibly simple, yet oft-ignored, over-arching rules: Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.

There’s almost no scientific research or data presented in the book. Pollan admits this, and says that humans haven’t needed nutrition science to survive the past several millennia, and neither do we. However, he does refer readers to his book In Defense of Food for the science behind his rules in this book. More...

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May 11, 2011

bistra rated it:

Прочетох на крак в книжарницата преди известно време и пак се ядосах на медийното рециклиране на една идея десетки пъти. "Правилата на храната" е 160 страници, от които всяка лява е картинка на някакъв зеленчук, а всяка дясна съдържа две-три изречения с "правила" как да се храним. Като в женско списание - прави това, не прави онова.

Книгата изцяло преповтавя In Defense of Food, която вече съм чела, и макар да е смислена (eat food, not too much, mostly plants), за ме More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 13, 2011

Dolly rated it:

This is a brief and interesting adaptation of the rules for eating well, more comprehensively explained in Michael Pollan's phenomenal book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. This book is a perfect example of how Americans today expect everything to be - faster, funnier and simple. It is a super-quick read - I probably finished it in under two hours. I love that the overlying premise for his eating philosophy can be summed up in seven words: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 12, 2011

Astin rated it:

Michael Pollan has said this in a multitude of interviews: the sum of his years of research has revealed that the secret to a healthy diet can be summed up in 7 words: Eat Food. Mostly plants. Not too much.
'Food Rules' is written as a kind of primer that discusses these 3 basic concepts in practical ways for any person.

To eat food - avoid 'edible foodlike substances' - highly processed concoctions designed by food scientists, consisting mostly of ingredients derived from corn More...

1 comment like

Feb 05, 2011

John rated it:

If you scan the stacks of your local bookstore, you'll find hundreds of diet & nutrition books, each one written by an "expert" who spouts scientific research to assure you that his book contains the secret to good nutrition.

Although there is a lot of good material out there, they all suffer from two shortcomings: 1) Tunnel vision-- where the author can't see or glosses over other research or perspectives and 2) Lack of Humility-- in not acknowledging how little we really More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Ryan rated it:

Michael Pollan's Food Rules is a series of witty rules to guide us through eating, such as "the whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead." Actually, that one was sent to him by two different grandmothers and he has just written a few paragraphs in support of it.

At 190 pages, Food Rules is the sort of book that you can skim over the course of a Saturday afternoon, or even in the bookstore. There are three categories of advice: eat food, mostly plants, and not too much. Thes More...

9 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 04, 2011

Kricket rated it:

I read this little book in one sitting, surely a rarity for a book on nutrition, and enjoyed the direct way Pollan delivers his information. He included a few thought-provoking things I'd not heard before, such as:

-Americans are always worrying about some sort of devil ingredient in their food (fat! carbs! trans fat! HFCS!) and then reformatting the foods not to contain these things. but as long as we eat things that have been processed this much, there's going to be something disgus More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 14, 2010

Cait rated it:

The Food Rules experiment certainly has been an interesting way to look at “food.” I see food now not as one thing, but a variety of versions and changing levels of authenticity. What I have taken away from Pollan is that there are false foods to be wary of. Therefore, I now consider ingredients, sources, and production; Rule 19, plant versus a plant. This implementation into my life has made me aware of my body and the body of those around me. My roommates and sorority sisters have given m More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 14, 2010

Goldenboy rated it:

The book Food Rules by Michael Pollan advices how to eat healthy. It gives simple rules that people should live by. You can read this book in one hour. Its full of common sense advice that is not a diet plan but more like helpful ways to remember how important food is to our health and how to strive to eat better. It is very entertaining and humorous as well. It would not be hard to read and not change at least something about the way that you live.

This book is separate in 3 sections More...

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Dec 01, 2010

McNeil rated it:

Simple little book full of stuff I probably already knew, but pretty good reminder. A couple of good little tips: 1) if you think you're hungry and yet you don't want an apple (a real apple, I would add, since I don't know that a store-bought apple ever tastes good), then it's probably not hunger you're dealing with. 2)sugar is sugar and bad when you eat too much of it, regardless of its form. This one surprised me coming from this guy, as I thought he was the one sort of responsible for the who More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 17, 2010

Abigail rated it:

For those who found The Omnivore's Dilemma too philosophical and In Defense of Food too long, Michael Pollan brings you Food Rules: An Eater's Manual. It expounds on the rules of IDOF, namely, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." His aim with Food Rules is to give you little quips that you can remember when you head to the grocery store, or better yet, the farmer's market. If you remember only a few, you'll be well on your way.

As summarized from the friend who lent me t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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