The NYT has published an interesting (and long) article, by Michael Pollen, about healthy eating: Unhappy Meals.

The base is simple: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

From there, he goes deep into the question: What's really good and healthy eating? And the answers are not necessarily what you would have thought.

For example, he says:

"Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Confounding factors aside, people who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are. Any traditional diet will do: if it weren't a healthy diet, the people who follow it wouldn't still be around. True, food cultures are embedded in societies and economies and ecologies, and some of them travel better than others: Inuit not so well as Italian. In borrowing from a food culture, pay attention to how a culture eats, as well as to what it eats. In the case of the French paradox, it may not be the dietary nutrients that keep the French healthy (lots of saturated fat and alcohol?!) so much as the dietary habits: small portions, no seconds or snacking, communal meals - and the serious pleasure taken in eating. (Worrying about diet can't possibly be good for you.) Let culture be your guide, not science."

Yes, that's right. Your mom was right, and your grandmother. We all know fast food is not healthy, but did you know traditional/typical food could be good for you? Me neither. But, remember, this doesn't mean ordering tacos at "Taco's Fast Food" or wherever. Your "abuela" wouldn't do that, right?

And it's very important the "pay attention to how a culture eats, as well as to what it eats" part. Why is that? Because the food culture" is born from a mix of different factors: types of food available in the region, religion, climate, and lifestyle. If you are, let's say, an accountant, and you spend your day sitting in front of the PC, you shouldn't eat like an Inuit. If you do, you'll probably be really fat in no time.

Michael also says:

"Cook. And if you can, plant a garden. To take part in the intricate and endlessly interesting processes of providing for our sustenance is the surest way to escape the culture of fast food and the values implicit in it: that food should be cheap and easy; that food is fuel and not communion."

That's something any Latino should be familiar with: food as communion, eating together as a sacred space for the family, cooking as an act of love. Our mamás and abuelas have taught us this very concepts; all we have to do is to go along.

Full Article: Unhappy Meals
Via: JrcBlog - How to Eat