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Rule 22 – Eat Mostly Plants, Especially Leaves.

I’ve decided to skip around a bit in the order of the rules so as to mix together what we shouldn’t do with what we should. Pollan says that “there are scores of studies demonstrating that a diet rich in vegetables and fruits reduces the risk of dying from all the Western diseases; in countries where people eat a pound or more of vegetables and fruits a day, the rate of cancer is half what it is in the United States.” He also explains that a primarily plant based diet has the added benefit of being lower in calories. Ultimately, says Pollan, “vegetarians are notably healthier than carnivores, and they live longer.”

This claim is actually seconded by Dan Buettner in his book The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest. In it, he chronicles his global research into geographical zones in which the highest number of people actually reach 100 or more years of age. He then looks for patterns, commonalities among these groups ranging in location from Japan to Greece to California. One commonalty he finds is that these folks, no matter where in the world they live, tend to eat a primarily plant based diet with very little meat.

“I’m strong to the finish cuz I eats me spinach.” I guess Popeye has it right!

The tips are courtesy of Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. New York: Penguin, 2009.

Happy, Healthy Eating!


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