An Eater’s Manifesto

Generally, the less I talk or think about my weight the happier I am. But for me, I need to be careful not to fall in the trap of eating mindlessly and have for years created a pretty healthy eating environment at home. You will very rarely find chips, pop or junk food in my cupboards. Since the book, I have given myself permission to have dark chocolate in the home and am happily able to keep it in there, sometimes for days at a time, instead of gobbling it up like a greedy, starving, deprived child.

But here's what I have accepted about myself: I am an eater, a lover of food, a passionate pursuer of gastronomical pleasures and I am done feeling guilty about it. I eat with gusto and enthusiasm and think that's fucking fabulous.

Indeed, the last six months or so, I have been on a rather scary experiment with my body. One where I do nothing except work towards accepting it the way it is. It has been tough sometimes because I have to watch not to fall into the trap of self-loathing and negative self-talk that comes along with that. The truth is, I actually eat really very well. I take quite good care of myself and it taken me years to actually recognize and commend that fact.

Which has left me believing for quite some time that my weight is a byproduct of my fear and insecurity. I really can’t help but believe that my weight has nothing at all to do with my caloric intake and expenditure. I’ve been sitting with the possibility that maybe until I accept my whole self and really embrace it all and nurture and love myself, that the weight will always stick to me like burnt rice to a pot.

So it has come like a breath of fresh air to read Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food. Which is just really a way to set me up for success. Diets don’t work for me. The minute, the very minute, I start to think about counting calories and setting up exercise regimes that would exhaust a professional athlete, I swear that my body goes into starvation mode and starts conserving every calorie in preparation for the impending drought. And I gain five pounds. And history has proven that trying to beat my body into submission has really done nothing to help me love myself. This does not, however mean that I wake up and eat cake for breakfast or have Big Macs and pizza every night of the week. So this book really appeals to me. It is not crazy, processed food that is actually unhealthier than anything you’d find at the grocery store (ahem, Jenny Craig) and it is not so regimented in caloric intake that I spend my days with pork chops bouncing around in the thought bubble around my head.

So what does Micheal Pollan recommend? He thinks we should “Eat Food. Not Too much. Mostly Plants.”

That’s it.

Isn’t that fabulous?! Could it be more freeing or liberating?

Well yes, it can actually.

Here’s what else he has to say:

• Avoid Food Products That Make Health Claims
• Avoid Food Products containing Ingredients that are a) Unfamiliar, b) Unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup
• You Are What You Eat Eats Too (in other words, find out what your animals are eating)
• Eat Well-Grown Food From Healthy Soils
• Eat Like An Omnivore
• Regard Non-traditional Foods with Skepticism
• Don’t Look for the Magic Bullet in the traditional Diet
• Have a glass of wine with dinner
• Pay more, eat less
• Eat Meals (ie: Less snacking, less grazing)
• Do all your eating at a dinner table
• Don’t get fuel from the same place your car does
• Try Not to eat Alone
• Consult Your Gut (ie: stop eating when you are full)
• Eat Slowly


Pollan reminds me a lot of my old friend, Dr. Andrew Weil, whom I have been reading and revering since the late nineties. He also reminds me of Paul McKenna, the I-Can-Make-You-Thin guru.

What he’s saying isn’t new, but it also isn’t crazy, ridiculous or drastic. It also comes from a place of abundance rather than one of deprivation. I think the key to a happy life involves dessert and it has taken me years to come to that realization. I used to hate myself for it and wished that I was one of those people that could get by eating millet and arugula. But you know what? I’m not and I don’t want to be anymore. From now on, I’m choosing abundance and happiness and chocolate. I'm choosing good conversation, good laughs, fun times and chocolate souffle. I'm choosing red wine and beer and gin an tonic. And I’m willing to bet that the pounds will melt away. But if they don’t, that’s cool too.

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