“Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants” ~ Michael Pollan (from In Defense of Food, An Eater's Manifesto)
One early spring day about a decade ago, I was sunbathing in my backyard while reading Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food. I’m sure my neighbours were wondering who this strange new person was, who moved in over the winter and is now whooping and cheering every few minutes.
Who cheers while reading a book alone?
Well, me :). Especially when I’m reading a book that backs up and confirms everything I believed about healthy eating and the detrimental influence of the food industry.
Seven words are all Michael Pollan needed to perfectly sum up what the definition of healthy eating is. This is the brilliance of Pollan. In my entire career as a nutritionist, I haven’t found any advice that’s better.
This is really it; this is what we need to follow. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. But…then why is it so hard?
Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that I spend a lot of my day balancing two opposing problems –
1. Healthy eating is simple and easy.
2. Simple and easy healthy eating is really really difficult in our current food culture.
I want to break down these two ideas for you today so you can see that it’s not a failure on your part if you’re struggling with healthy eating – everything surrounding you has been designed to make this hard. And, when you know the forces that are preying on you every time you shop for groceries or make a meal, it becomes so much easier to ignore them and move toward simple healthy eating.
In a nutshell – once you know what’s going on you can be free of it. And I love food freedom :).
Let’s start by breaking down how our food culture, from the set-up of our grocery stores to our busy & stressful lives, is making it feel impossible to eat the way Pollan describes.
Then, I’ll show you the principles that I live by that let me eat simple, delicious, and easy healthy food.
Eat Food
I love the simplicity of this statement, “Eat Food”. Pollan is referring to unprocessed whole food, like fruit, veggies, meats, nuts, seeds, and beans. Food that doesn’t need an ingredient list or a nutritional panel.
It’s also food that struggles to fit into whatever eating paradigm that’s popular at the moment (keto anyone?) because it doesn’t have a handy-dandy macro list to calculate from.
It’s food to be eaten, savoured, and enjoyed.
So then, why do we eat so little of it? It’s partially because it’s inconvenient and expensive.
Government subsidies go to farmers who grow crops that can be stored, like wheat, corn, and soy. These also tend to be the crops that make up a huge amount of the processed food that lines the grocery store shelves. These are foods that have huge advertising campaigns and show up in most of our cupboards.
Isn’t it interesting that your tax dollars subsidize ingredients that are in food that’s so wildly profitable that it can afford a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign? Food that’s also incredibly nutritionally poor and is connected to many chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease? So very interesting. (You’ll never see a commercial for a sweet potato or a bunch of broccoli).
This means that your tax dollars are used to cover the difference between how much it costs to grow a crop like corn and how little the food manufacturers pay to buy it. This form of corporate socialism makes it much more difficult and expensive to buy whole foods.
When you walk into the grocery store you’re also paying full price for fruits and veggies foods, there’s no government helping hand to help you eat more whole foods. This means, if your food budget is tight, you may not be able to afford to feed yourself or your family these healthy foods.
In North American, being able to afford healthy whole food, or what Pollan is referring to with his “Eat Food” statement, is a privilege afforded to a smaller and smaller percentage of people each year.
For a family trying to get by on a tiny food budget, processed food will provide more calories to fill their bellies than the fruit and veggie aisle.
Not Too Much
Food companies spend billions of dollars each year in their competition for “stomach share”. They know that each person can only eat a finite amount of food each day and they want lots and lots of their food product to be consumed.
So, this means that they’re doing everything they possibly can to make sure you eat more than you want to. And…it’s working.
There are many factors at work here. Most processed food is satisfying in the moment but not satisfying in the long-term, increasing hunger. Add a blood sugar crash after a sugary drink and now you might find yourself eating more and more to quench that hunger.
They’re also advertising at you to make you hungry. I’ve noticed that I’m significantly hungrier in the evenings if I watch cable TV with commercials vs. streaming a show online. All of those food commercials with juicy burgers and gooey cheese pizza make me so hungry. Our brains can’t resist the constant message of food that’s bombarding us constantly.
There’s another factor going on that triggers us to eat more and it’s a very common problem, affecting almost all of my clients – they can’t stop eating until their plate is empty.
When you were a kid you probably got the message “finish your plate”. It makes sense as parents, you want your kid to eat enough and to learn not to waste food. But, as adults, it makes it really hard to notice the feeling of fullness. Even clients that are working diligently to eat intuitively find it really hard to tap back into their “I’m full” signal from their stomach after a lifetime of ignoring it.
Add to that the fact that our dinner plates have increased dramatically in size over the last 40+ years and our serving sizes have gotten much larger, it makes sense that many people are struggling to keep their body weight where they’d like. It’s called “size illusion” and it works like a charm to increase how much you eat.
All of these factors are working against you, trying to entice you to eat more and more food without realizing it. It’s not your fault! We’re at the mercy of the food industry who has been subtly increasing our food portions without our eyes or stomachs noticing.
Mostly Plants
Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and beans are wildly healthy, and I could spend my lifetime breaking down all of the reasons these foods are good to eat.
If this is true, then why aren’t we eating more of them?
Well, they’re inconvenient for one! They take time to cook and take skill to cook them in a way that makes them tasty and digestible (anyone who’s experienced undercooked beans can attest to the importance of technique). These aren’t skills that are taught anymore which means many of you may feel intimidated or overwhelmed at the idea of cooking from scratch.
Plus, the average family needs two adults working full-time (40 – 60 hours) to make ends meet. That’s a huge jump from just a generation ago when many families had only one working parent. Add extracurricular activities with the kids, overtime, and commuting to and from work, and it can feel darn near impossible to carve out any time to chop and cook up some vegetables.
In today’s world, healthy eating takes a real commitment and sacrifice. And not everyone has the space in their life to make that commitment.
Add into the mix resistance to cooking that be might be triggered from childhood trauma around mealtime or previous dieting experiences, and it can feel darn near impossible to walk into the kitchen and put together a healthy meal.
There are so many real and legitimate reasons why takeout or a ready-made meal happens more often than cooking. Our society isn’t conducive to healthy eating right now, it’s not your fault.
But, there are ways, in spite of everything that’s working against you, to incorporate more and more healthy foods into your diet. This list is to remind you that you’ve done nothing wrong, there are so many forces pushing you to overconsume highly processed food.
And…there are ways to buck the system and move toward Michael Pollan’s lovely advice. So, the question we have now is, how do I “eat food, not too much, mostly plants”?
Scroll down to Part II and I’ll share with you the techniques I use to push back on the industry pressure and feed myself in a healthy and balanced way :).
Part II
Healthy eating can be simple and easy but doing so involves bucking our current food system.
Now it’s time to look at solutions :)
This is how I follow Michael Pollan’s brilliant advice of “Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants” (from his book In Defence of Food, an Eater’s Manifesto)
Let me break down each one of his statements and show you how I ignore Big Food and their food tyranny every day.
Eat Food
In a food system where processed food is subsidized and produce is very expensive, how the heck can you eat a healthy diet without breaking the bank?
These are ways that I make healthy eating more affordable, but it should be said, that even with these tips, it might still be out of budget for many of you.
Collectively, this is something that we need to fight, we need to demand that this changes. Healthy food should be more affordable than processed food because it takes less work!! Broccoli is grown in the ground, picked, and shipped. There’s no doubt that it’s quite labour intensive, but so is growing a commodity grain like corn!
Corn is grown and then refined and processed to make a whole host of ingredients, which are combined with other processed ingredients to make any one of those foods that line the shelves at your grocery store. That’s an incredibly labour-intensive process!! So how the heck does it cost less to buy a package of cookies than broccoli??? Our government programs fund the food processors, that’s how.
But, we have more power to change this than we think. We vote with our dollar every time we shop, and we can petition grocery stores to donate excess produce to food banks and demand our government begin to subsidize whole food over commodity grains, like wheat, corn, and soy.
Here are some ways that I eat loads of whole food on a budget (a budget with a bit of wiggle room).
Focus on Adding
Dieting culture gives us list after list of “bad” foods we shouldn’t eat. This list changes constantly and healthy food confusion is at an all-time high.
But, it’s more than just annoying and confusing, I’d argue that there’s something sinister about these “bad” food lists. When you remove food from your diet (say, sugar, processed food, or gluten), you’re left with a big, gaping hole in your diet. That hole can be really hard to fill, and the food producers have happily created a ton of food products with wildly high profit margins to fill those gaps. (Insanely expensive low-carb keto waffles anyone?).
These products can break any food budget and they’re only temporary solutions. Eventually, that big gaping hole will scream for attention and, frequently, the old food just finds its way back into your diet.
This is where the power of adding comes in. By adding healthy food first, you squish out the less desirable food without really noticing. It lets you look at the food you eat from the view of abundance instead of scarcity. No holes, just lots and lots of different food to choose from.
Instead of counting calories or managing macros, focus on adding just one more serving of produce each day. Over time this can make a huge difference! Add two or three and you’re really rocking!
Experiment with Beans
The whole food that we eat the least is beans. Sometimes it’s because they’re “musical” (they cause a lot of gas), other times they can be intimidating or something that you’re just not in the habit of cooking.
They’re also nutrient superstars! Full of gut bacteria loving fibre, B vitamins, slow-burning carbs, and protein. Once you get in the habit of eating them, you will crave them…it always happens :). And, they’re really cheap to buy! (especially dried beans)
If they cause gas, there are ways to remedy that. The reason they create gas is that your gut bacteria isn’t used to digesting them yet. The more you eat them the less gassy they’ll be. In the meantime, either soak your beans before cooking them in some apple cider vinegar, use a pressure cooker to cook them (like an Instant Pot), or take a digestive enzyme to help break down that fibre (Beano works well and so does many enzymes at your health food store).
If you’re nervous to add beans to your diet, first start with hummus. It’s DELICIOUS, makes for a great snack (or sandwich addition), and you can find ready-made hummus at most grocery stores. It’s easy to make it from scratch too…but honestly, I tend to buy mine.
Next, make a nice chili with canned beans. Notice how delicious and satisfying a big bowl of beans can be. I’ve got a great chili recipe on my website and there are a ton to choose from online.
Then, once you’re feeling beanerific, check out some vegan recipes. They’re chock-full of beans and there are some YUMMY recipes out there. Oh She Glows, Minimalist Baker, and Rainbow Plant Life are some of my favourite sites.
Not Too Much
This is a tricky one, especially nowadays…but there are a few easy ways to trick your brain into eating the portion of food your body actually wants to eat and not the larger portion that food manufacturers are trying to trick you into eating.
First, we can use the concept of “size illusion” for us instead of against us. Size illusion is a well-studied concept that has found that our eyes and brain play a huge role in how full we feel after eating. In a nutshell, if we believe that we ate a lot of food then we’ll feel more satisfied than if we feel we had a tiny portion. The actual portion doesn’t matter as much as how we felt about it.
There have been many many MANY studies that have shown that the size of your food container (plate, bowl, package) determines how much you’ll eat to feel satisfied. Eating out of a larger bag or off of a larger plate can increase your serving size by 30% - 70% without you noticing or feeling overly full. This is true even if it’s food that’s almost inedible (like in the popcorn study below). I find this research fascinating!
Here are some studies if you’d like to learn more:
Terrible popcorn study: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2005/11/big-portions-influence-overeating-much-taste-even-when-food-tastes-lousy-cornell
Refilling bowl study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15761167/
How filling we think a food will be also plays a role in how satiated we feel after eating. It even affects our hunger hormones! In this study, people were given two different milkshakes, one was listed as low-cal and “diet” and the other was an “indulgent” shake.
Blood work was done after they consumed each one and the hunger hormone ghrelin steeply fell with the indulgent shake, showing that they were more satisfied at a hormonal level. The kicker was…they were exactly the same shake.
Same shake, different reaction because they were told one was higher calorie than the other. This means that our brain plays a big role in how satisfied we feel after eating and that “diet” foods can keep you hungrier just because of their label!
So, let’s use this “size illusion” concept for good instead of evil! This is something I practice every day and it works really well.
Plate size: I rarely, if ever, eat off of a full-sized plate. Instead, especially for dinner, I grab a side plate and fill it to my heart’s content. I leave the kitchen knowing I can get seconds if I’m still hungry, but so far, that’s never happened. My plate feels full and I end the meal feeling very satisfied :).
Always fill your own plate: Don’t let your partner or another family member fill your plate for you. There’s a good chance they’ll give you more food than you want, and as we’ve seen, it’s hard to stop when your eyes say this is the right portion. The exception to this rule is if you’re underweight and need to put on a few extra pounds – in that case having someone else fill your plate works like a charm to gain weight.
Don’t eat out of the container: The best way to eat a HUGE snack, many times bigger than what your body wants, is to eat out of the container. It’s even worse is if there’s another person sharing the bag with you.
My snack container is a ramekin, it seems almost laughably small, but it’s usually exactly the right amount. If I’m still munchy after I finish, I just get more. Even two servings in a ramekin are less than one big bowl. I use this for chips, crackers, nuts, seeds, etc. I use a regular bowl for popcorn and veggies.
These ideas may seem too simple to work, but that’s the magic of it. They’re so simple that they DO work! You feel like you’re eating an abundance of food and your body responds in kind. As the research shows, if you feel like you’ve eaten enough then your hunger hormones drop. If you feel like your meal is too small, from counting the calories, eating something labeled “diet”, or if there’s a lot of empty space on your plate, then your hormones will keep you hungry.
Use size illusion for the good! Smaller plates and bowls for the win!
Mostly Plants
Eating more plants can be hard in our convenience food life…mostly because they’re inconvenient. Here are some tricks that I use to increase the plants in my life.
Add plant-based snacks
Before reaching for cookies, crackers, pretzels, or other yummy snack foods, I grab a piece of fruit first. Or some carrots and hummus. I don’t deny myself those other snack foods, I just start with something plant-based and if I’m still munchy then I grab something else. This calms my appetite before reaching for the more processed snack, helping me eat less :)
Another way I increase my plant-based snacks is by making healthy cookies and brownies. My tahini cookies and my black bean brownie recipes are household favourites and I can barely tell that I’m actually eating something that’s chockfull of nutrients and plant-based fibre.
Eat Seasonally
Your body and your wallet will enjoy this. It’s only been a handful of decades that have allowed us access to all types of produce throughout the year. But, your body isn’t always a fan. Eating a salad in January is hard on the body, it’s expensive…and it can also trigger sugar cravings in an attempt to warm your body back up after that cold, cold salad.
By shifting your food purchases to match the season, you save a lot of money and you might find your cravings are less as well.
What this looks like in a cooler climate (like Canada and northern US):
Summer – cooling, fast growing produce, like; salad greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, berries, stone fruit, etc.
Fall – transition time, beginning of warming foods, like; end of season tomatoes, carrots, beets, onions, garlic, apples, pears, squash, and dark leafy greens like chard and kale.
Winter – food that can be stored easily, like; potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, squash, apples, pears.
Spring – transition time, adding some cooler foods, like; end of season winter vegetables mixed with spring veggies like; asparagus, sprouts, spring greens, and berries.
In-season produce is a fraction of the price and has SO MUCH more flavour. One of my favourite things to do in October is to hit up a few produce stands and farmer’s markets and buy bulk squash and root veggies.
They’re usually on a mega sale (about ¼ of their usual price) and winter squash stores all winter long at room temperature. I decorate my house with the squash (they’re very pretty :) and I try to use them up before spring. But a warning; winter squash seems to know the moment the weather warms up and within a week they all start to rot (and can leave unfortunate marks on my tables if I don’t catch them in time). Be sure to use them up or find some fridge space before the spring sun gets too strong!
These are some of the ways that I eat in a simple, healthy way. And, I think the most important tool for my healthy lifestyle is my mindset – I’m not striving for perfection, I’m striving for pretty good.
Pretty good is all you need for your body to be healthy. You don’t need to give up processed food forever, just keep it as an occasional treat or helping hand. Every day I strive to eat about 80% of my diet or so to be filled with whole foods. That feels doable to me today, but that’s not where I started.
At the beginning of my healthy eating journey, I rarely ate any veggies or fruit. Beans were unheard of in my diet, and the only nuts were sugar-sweetened peanut butter. I felt terrible and I didn’t know that my diet had something to do with how I felt.
I started by adding whole foods, one at a time. First, I tried to have one fruit or veggie every day. Immediately I felt better and started to crave them. Slowly over time I got to the place where 80% is easy and I crave healthy food if I haven’t been eating enough.
My best advice for you right now is this – start where you are, try a technique or two, and remember to ignore commercials and the “healthy” promises of processed food Look to add more whole foods to your diet, and slowly and surely wins every time ❤️