The Importance Of Food Rules By Michael Pollan

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The Simpler, the Better. “Eating in our time has gotten complicated” (Pollan xi). In Food Rules, author Michael Pollan makes it very clear that the American diet is unhealthy and we do not know what we are truly eating. We’ve made eating more difficult, Americans are constantly tracking, counting, and stressing about calories, carbs, and sugars. In reality a lot of us don’t really know what exactly we should be eating, we just guess and eat something that sounds like it’s good for us. I myself have done this on a daily basis. Every time I plan a meal, I think “is this too many carbs?” or “what is erythritol and is it good for me?”. In the past few months I’ve decided to become more aware of what I am putting into my body. I’ve noticed myself …show more content…

Our grocery stores are filled with sugary and unhealthy products and fast food joints are on every corner. Pollan warns us to steer clear from the middle of stores (27) and that food delivered through a car window isn’t really food (43). A lot of the time, food coming from either one are not always the healthiest and tend to be made with money in mind instead of the actual product. These foods are often packed with filler ingredients and unnecessary added chemicals and sugars that our body doesn’t need. These cheap, unhealthy products are also designed to sell, and are put in convenient packaging to catch the eye of the consumer. When I was younger, I would beg my mom to buy a box of cereal because it had a game or included a toy. These products are specifically made to appeal and sell no matter the unhealthy components they may include. As Pollan says in his second rule, “Don’t eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food” (7). A lot of products such as Pringles and Go-Gurt are put in practical packaging, this plastic they use could add dangerous chemicals into the food. As the price of these products go down, so to does the quality of the food. Pollan stresses to avoid these foods, as these products are only adding unnecessary complexity to our

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