Posted Mar 1, 2010
With the new year here, many of us have resolved to eat better. But when we’re ready to abandon short-term diets – which invariably lead to disappointment – and revamp our overall approach to food, where do we start?
When friends ask me what I recommend, I’m quick to quote author Michael Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” This much- referenced phrase from his book “In Defense of Food” means you should avoid processed foods, eat a primarily vegetarian diet and not overindulge.
While that book was all about debunking the often iffy world of nutritional science and showing that the processed food diet is the only diet humans can’t thrive on, his latest work, “Food Rules,” offers up 64 specific tips to navigate the confusing landscape of modern-day eating.
Of the three overarching rules in “Food Rules” – no processed foods, more plant-based meals and smaller portions of everything – I find getting rid of processed foods can be the most challenging. These foods, which come out of a factory rather than a field, are more ubiquitous than ever.
And while they may claim to be “heart-healthy,” “natural” or “farm-fresh,” in reality they’re chock-full of chemicals, synthetic additives and refined ingredients. Eating them is not a sound recipe for a happy, healthy body.
To find some ideas on how to steer clear of processed foods, I called up two local experts.
Naturopathic doctor Peter Knight practices at True North in Falmouth, and for the past year has been conducting a series of classes called “Omnivore’s Delight.” Each class explores a particular whole food – such as beans or broccoli – and offers a variety of recipes and recommendations for incorporating this food into meals.
“A lot of people who come into my practice are eating very processed diets,” Knight said.
He sees this often with children, who eat a lot of white bread, highly processed peanut butter, french fries, chicken nuggets, potato chips and candy.
“With kids, I find that parents are afraid to change things in their kids’ diets,” Knight said.
The fear, he said, is based on a mistaken belief that little Johnny “won’t eat anything else.” There’s typically some validity to this statement, but it can be overcome by introducing the child to a wide variety of whole foods, allowing the child to select food at the farmers market, and gardening together as a family.
Of course, if Mom and Dad live off soda, TV dinners, frozen pizzas and packaged cookies, it will be hard to get the kids to eat better. Which means everyone in the family needs to be on board in order for a change in diet to really take hold.
Susan Lebel Young, a mindfulness teacher based in Falmouth, says being conscious of our actions and emotions around food can go a long way to changing our diet.
“Mindfulness really asks us to slow down,” she explained. “It helps us to wake up to our automatic habits. It helps us make the connection between what we eat and how we feel.”
Lebel Young said working from a shopping list and employing mindfulness techniques can be helpful when you enter the marketing minefield known as a grocery store.
“If you’ve made a decision to eat a more plant-based, whole foods diet and you go into a supermarket, you’ll find that the supermarket’s goal is to draw your attention away from your intention,” she said.
When you stick to your list and stay focused on your intention to buy whole foods, it can be easier to avoid the temptations.
“If we’re mindful, it can really help impulsiveness,” Lebel Young said.
Lebel Young and Knight join author Pollan in recommending that we avoid the central aisles of supermarkets, where packaged and processed foods dominate, and instead advocate cruising the produce section, bulk aisle, meat counter and seafood department.
Whole dairy products can be good too, if you can find them. You may need to visit a health food store or a speciality shop, since many of the dairy products stocked in conventional supermarkets are of the pasteurized, homogenized and processed variety.
So how do you distinguish the real foods from the fake foods?
Beyond choosing foods in their whole form, Knight says you need to read labels.
He offers three questions you should ask: “Are there ingredients you don’t recognize? Are there a lot of ingredients? Can you recognize where the ingredients come from?”
Should you answer “yes” to the first two and “no” to the final question, you’re looking at a processed food.
It’s good to keep in mind that eating a plant-based diet can be a step in the right direction, but don’t be fooled by the fake, soy- based meats.
“A vegetarian diet that’s all processed soy is not a nutritious diet,” Knight said.
Other useful ideas to guide your shopping include swapping white foods for brown foods (brown rice rather than white rice; whole wheat flour rather than white flour), eating more beans and legumes, experimenting with seasonal vegetables, serving sliced fruit for dessert, and making a big batch of soup or chili on the weekend and freezing small portions for quick meals later in the week.
In our factory-farmed world, I know it can be tough to stay away from processed food all the time, but we can strive to eat a diet rich in real foods with only a smattering of edible imposters.
Because as Lebel Young so succinctly said: “Food that grows from the ground is what this body was meant to eat, while the body doesn’t know what to do with stuff that comes in bottles and cans.”
Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297
READING LIST
“FOOD RULES: AN EATER’S MANUAL” by Michael Pollan is a quick, informative read that offers 64 guidelines to eating well. Tips include “Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry,” “Don’t ingest foods made in places where everyone is required to wear a surgical cap” and “The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.” The paperback book sells for $11.