In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

by Michael Pollan

Spending on food has fallen to 9.9 percent, while spending on health care has climbed to 16 percent of national income. I have to think that by spending a little more on healthier food we could reduce the amount we have to spend on health care.

I could not agree with this more. Investing in your health upfront will eliminate future costs that could far outweigh the initial investment. This is why I spring for the higher cost of healthy food, gym memberships, and regular athletic massage. I'm caring for my body in such a way that healthcare costs will be minimized in the future.

EAT MEALS.

One study found that among eighteen-to fifty-year-old Americans, roughly a fifth of all eating now takes place in the car.*

Wow!

DO ALL YOUR EATING AT A TABLE. No, a desk is not a table.

DON’T GET YOUR FUEL FROM THE SAME PLACE YOUR CAR DOES.

TRY NOT TO EAT ALONE.

CONSULT YOUR GUT.

Brian Wansink discovered when he asked a group of French people how they knew when to stop eating. “When I feel full,” they replied. (What a novel idea! The Americans said things like “When my plate is clean” or “When I run out.”) Perhaps it is their long, leisurely meals that give the French the opportunity to realize when they’re full.

EAT SLOWLY.

Eating with the fullest pleasure—pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance—is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend.

COOK AND, IF YOU CAN, PLANT A GARDEN.