Tom's Fifteen Rules for Healthy Eating

Recently I have overdosed on reading about healthy eating. The impetus was the stroke I had just over a year ago. I thought I ate pretty healthy, but then I found out I had a ways to go and a lot to learn. As I read, I tried to capture what I was learning. It turned into a baker's dozen rules that I try to live by.

The criteria I used was:

• The rule had to be supported by multiple books and other resources. 
• The rule had to be general rather than specific. 
• The rule had to be reasonable for me to actually follow. 

1. Eat Real. Eat whole foods, cooked from scratch, as much as reasonably possible. (Buy food from chefs, not chemical engineers.)
2. The season is the reason. Prefer in season, local foods. 
3. "Chemical" Free. Minimize exposure to synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides
4. Ingredient Jeopardy. For packaged food, each ingredient should be individually available in the grocery store. (No crazy ingredients normal people can’t pronounce or purchase) 
5. Marketing Schmarketing. Don't be fooled by the food industry's marketing machine.
6. Vote my food dollar intentionally to support local, organic, soil building farmers.
7. 1. Partner with local farmers through CSAs.
   2. Buy from local farmers and get to know them (Farmers Markets)
   3. Buy from small retailers with integrity (Mom's, Bear's Honeypot)
   4. Buy from traditional grocers and big box stores only as needed
   5. No convenience stores, vending machines
8. Drink water. Vigorously avoid soda and other industrial drinks with sugar and artificial sweeteners
9. Balanced Carbs. Limit sensible carbohydrates to an appropriate level (juices, whole grain bread). Vigorously avoid empty carbohydrates. Especially 
10. 1. White flour, white rice, and other processed grains
    2. Snack products
    3. Cakes, candy, cookies
11. Healthy Fats. Consume plenty of healthy fats
12. Meet your meat. Consume meats produced in keeping with God's design for that animal. (pastured, natural diet)
13. Veggies. Veggies. Veggies. Eat loads of various vegetables. Limit those with high starch based on energy needs. 
14. Fruitful Fruit. Focus on fruits with high nutritional value. Prefer whole fruit over juices. 
15. Heal your Gut. Load up on raw and fermented foods with great probiotic benefits 

For your interest, here are the books I read recently. You should read them all too.

• Eat Fat, Get Thin by Mark Hyman
• The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs by Joel Salatin (Written to a Christian audience)
• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
• The Great Cholesterol Myth by Steven Sinatra
• Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss