[link]

It's organic!

Ingredients:

Filtered water
Organic wheat flour (unbleached)
Organic cane sugar
Organic whole egg solids
Organic soybean powder
Sodium lactate (lactic acid from beet sugar)
DiCalcium phosphate (leavening agent)
Sea salt
Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
Organic rice bran extract

That's healthier than 99% of what I eat, frankly.

That's not bad, but still violates a number of Pollan's food rules, which I'm using as guidelines:

1) Eat Food
--Don’t eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food
--Avoid food products containing ingredients that
a) are unfamiliar
b) are unpronounceable
c) are more than 5 in number
d) include high-fructose corn syrup
--Avoid foods that make health claims
--Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle
--Shop at farmers markets or via CSAs

2) Not Too Much
--Pay more, eat less (i.e., buy high-quality foods)
--Eat meals, don’t snack
--Do all your eating at a table
--Try not to eat alone
--Eat slowly; consult your gut
--Cook and, if you can, plant a garden

3) Mostly Plants
--Eat mostly plants, especially leaves (not seeds)
--Eat well-grown food from healthy soils
--If you eat meat, try to eat less than 1 serving per day
a) chickens and eggs should be pastured (not free range)
b) beef should be 100% grass fed (not grass finished)
c) eat wild game and fish when you can
--Be the kind of person who takes supplements but don’t (except maybe a multivitamin and mineral pill, and fish oil if you don’t eat fish)
--Eat more like people with traditional food cultures (the French, Italians, the Japanese, Indians, Greeks) and regard non-traditional foods with skepticism
--Have a glass of wine with dinner

b) are unpronounceable

uh oh...guess that takes quinoa off the table for a lot of people.

--Eat meals, don’t snack

I don't get the point of this. What's his problem with having healthy snacks (yogurt, nuts, etc.) between meals??

"Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun."

All pronounceable.

--Try not to eat alone

Well, I guess breakfast and dinner are right out for me most days.

I don't know. In theory I like his ideas but in practice about half of those bug me in various ways.

ETA: And, not to be all pimping the stuff because I freely admit I only bought it because it horrified me so, but other than the delivery mechanism, what about the freaky Batter Blaster thing doesn't basically fit? A couple more than five ingredients, but otherwise? Anyway, with five ingredients, most of your baked goods are out, many pastas, most casseroles, most soups.

Yeah, okay, sensing this is not for me.

"Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun."

All pronounceable.

Yeah, unless you happen to check the ingredients for "special sauce."

In theory I like his ideas but in practice about half of those bug me in various ways.

hah! yes. okay this one

--Try not to eat alone

did make me think, "Is that right? Well, buddy, try not to EAT ME alone"

I don't get the point of this. What's his problem with having healthy snacks (yogurt, nuts, etc.) between meals??

Well, he writes for the average American, who does not snack on healthy snacks.

--Try not to eat alone

These are just guidelines to help explain/follow the main rules of "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants."

If you don't have a problem with eating too much, you could ignore those. When you eat in company, you have a tendency to eat more slowly and less.

In theory I like his ideas but in practice about half of those bug me in various ways.

Brenda is me. I support his philosophies in a general kind of way, but when he gets specific, Michael Pollan annoys the living shit out of me. I can't read more than a few sentences into any of his columns before I want to roll up the magazine and start beating him with it. He's like the Michael Moore of foodie-ism.

I'd say the Big Mac (especially the bread) probably violates the following rules:
--Don’t eat anything that your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food
--The "bread" probably containing ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more than 5 in number, and may include high-fructose corn syrup
--Eat mostly plants, especially leaves (not seeds)
--Eat well-grown food from healthy soils
--If you eat meat, try to eat less than 1 serving per day; beef should be 100% grass fed (not grass finished)
--Eat more like people with traditional food cultures (the French, Italians, the Japanese, Indians, Greeks) and regard non-traditional foods with skepticism