Michael Pollan's 7 Rules for Eating

One of the things that I am slowly coming to realize is that if an athlete wants to compete at the highest level, the athlete's nutritional habits must reflect much of the same planning and execution that is applied to actual training.  Many endurance athletes mistakenly think that because such a high volume of calories are burned during training and racing, that it gives them license to eat whatever they want- all the time.  Sure, runners and triathletes expend more calories than the average couch wrangler- so the occasional extra calories from a coffee shop pastry probably won't push anyone too far down the path to obesity.  Where I feel that some endurance athletes go wrong is when workouts are used as justification for indulging in foods with no redeeming nutritional value.  You know what I'm talking about: "Oh, its cool- I had a crazy 3 hour ride this morning, so I can afford to have a 5th slice of mega meat extra cheese pizza and another Mountain Dew."


I am by no means an authority on nutrition, but I like to read the works of those who are.  So I thought that I would share Michael Pollan's 7 Rules for eating.  These 'rules' can serve as appropriate guidelines for much of America, while allowing for individual nutritional needs/influences. Mr. Pollan is an author and professor at the University of California, Berkley.  His literary contributions include the Botany of Desire (2001), The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006), In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (2008), and Food Rules: An Eater's Manual (2009).

7 Rules for Eating; As recommended by Michael Pollan

1. Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.  "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing in there?"


2. Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients that you can't pronounce.


3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop the perimeter of the store.  Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh food when it goes bad.


4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot.  "There are always exceptions -honey- but as rule, things like twinkies that never go bad aren't food."


5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat.  "Always leave the table a little bit hungry.  Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full.  In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.""


6. Families traditionally ate together, around the table and not at a TV, at regular meal times.  It's a good tradition.  Enjoy meals with people you love.


7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline.  In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.