Michael Pollan's Favorite Dietary Do's and Don'ts

Earlier this year, Michael Pollan posted a request for reader’s rules about eating. Within days, he had received more than 2,500 responses. Here are some of Pollan’s 20 favorites:1. Don’t eat egg salad from a vending machine.2. Don’t eat anything that took more energy to ship than to grow.3. If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.4. Eat foods in inverse proportion to how much its lobby spends to push it.5. Avoid snack foods with the “oh” sound in their names: Doritos, Cheetos, Tostitos, Ho Ho's, etc.6. No second helpings, no matter how scrumptious.7. It’s better to pay the grocer than the doctor.8. You may not leave the table until you finish your fruit.9. You don’t get fat on food you pray over. (Meals prepared at home, served at the table and given thanks for are more appreciated and more healthful than food eaten on the run.)10. Breakfast you should eat alone. Lunch you should share with a friend. Dinner, give to your enemy.11. Never eat something that is pretending to be something else (artificial sweeteners, margarine, etc.)12. Don’t yuck someone’s yum. There is someone out there who likes deep-fried sheep eyeballs and, well, more power to them.13. Make and take your own lunch to work.14. Eat until you are seven-tenths full and save the other three-tenths for hunger.15. I am living in Japan and following these simple rules in preparing each meal: GO HO – incorporate five different cooking methods, GO SHIKI – incorporate five colors, GO MI – incorporate five flavors.16. One of my top rules for eating comes from economics. The law of diminishing marginal utility reminds me that each additional bite is generally less satisfying than the previous bite. This helps me slow down, savor the first bites, stop eating sooner.17. Don’t eat anything you aren’t willing to kill yourself.18. When drinking tea, just drink tea. I find this Zen teaching useful, given my inclination toward information absorption in the morning, when I’m also trying to eat breakfast, get the dog out, start the fire and organize my day.19. When you’re eating, don’t talk about other past meals, whether better or worse. Focus on what’s in front of you.20. After spending some time working with people with eating disorders, I came up with this rule: Don’t create arbitrary rules for eating if their only purpose is to help you feel in control.Sources:New York Times October 11, 2009

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Posted on 03/19/2026 by EraOfLightDuring this time so many are feeling like they are treading water. Not yet fully in the New Earth and still needing to deal with the daily chaos of the Old Earth.Yes, in this Cosmic Moment, the end result is…

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Replies

Jazmin November 3, 2009 at 10:59pm

Exceptionally brilliant, Barron!!!
#12. reminds me of the TV program 'Bizarre Food' hosted by Andrew Zimmern, and that what's-the-name movie with Chevy Chase in a bull's thingy eating competition. But it makes me wonder why Anthony Bourdain doesn't put on extra weight after eating tons of ayurvedically-incompatible food from everywhere, with 'no reservations' whatsoever.
Marique November 3, 2009 at 4:06pm

I loved this down to earth compilation. Food for thought here, lol. Great reminders actually, food and cravings can get out of hand sometimes..these are good things to think about, and a topic most people do not discuss, things taken for granted....
Thanks for this, now I am off to eat spicy Mexican chilly with cream cheese and olive sandwhich to dip in the chilly. My favorite craving food....
- Marique > Marique November 3, 2009 at 8:23pm
  
  Yucky, now I will not want pizza for awhile, got full just lookin......