What is a Food Philosophy, and Why You Should Have One?
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A golden sun spread its hue across the acres of peach trees on the Patel’s farm. Annie and LJ were driving there to help pick the first harvest and visit Nishi and Uday. It was only seven am but already hot at eighty degrees, which meant a triple-digit day.
“Sweetheart, I’ve been thinking about our food philosophy,” said Annie.
LJ smiled,” Do we have one?”
“Well, if a food philosophy is a guiding principle used to make healthy choices, I would say we have one. But maybe we need to be more explicit, is what I’m thinking.”
“Okay, I’ll start.” LJ turned down the radio, “We view food as a source of nutrition. Therefore, we only eat whole food because it provides maximum nutritional benefits. We practice mindful eating since we know how food choices affect our health. We grow some food and buy the rest from Farmer’s markets; this helps reduce our carbon footprint, which is also good for the earth. How am I doing?”
“You nailed it! Can I remind you again that you are a genius,” Annie declared? “Here are my additions, in the words of Michael Pollan,
“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”
I believe he means to make sure what you eat is food. He states,
“Don’t eat anything that won’t eventually rot. Things like Twinkies that never go bad aren’t food.”
LJ nodded, “Pollen also says,
“Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients.”
Which is another way of saying, eat whole food. I like the philosophy of Sid Garza-Hillman, who writes in The Only Four Healthy Eating Rules You Need to Follow,
“Eat whole, healthy food MOTT (Most of The Time). For most of us who live in the modern world, there will be times and places where we simply don’t have access to healthy foods.”
“Point well taken, a food philosophy’s goal is not to add stress but rather to have a simple framework from which to make good choices most of the time and be okay when travel, parties, and other events mean whole and healthy food is inaccessible,” said Annie. “Another part of our food philosophy is,
