The Food Experience

The conclusion of Michael Pollan's book, "In Defense of Food" is that we should "Eat Real food, Mostly Plants, Not too Much" He says that we should eat like the French.
They enjoy their food, don't diet and never snack! They take a long time to eat, enjoying the company as well as the food. They drink wine, eat butter and pastries...what is their secret?

Below are some excerpts from an article about why the French seem to eat more but stay slim"

Despite a diet stuffed with cream, butter, cheese and meat, just 10 per cent of French adults are obese, compared America's colossal 33 per cent. The French live longer too, and have lower death rates from coronary heart disease - in spite of those artery-clogging feasts of cholesterol and saturated fat. This curious observation, dubbed 'the French paradox', has baffled scientists for more than a decade. And it leaves us diet-obsessed Americans baffled.
Instead of an addiction to 'invented foods' full of hydrogenated oils, E numbers and preservatives, the French way, even today, focuses on the careful preparation of unprocessed foods. It's why French women ration themselves to one rich, dark square of real chocolate rather than hogging-out on a preservative-laden, pre-frozen, half-chemical wedge of pseudo-foodo. Snobbery, alongside vanity, is an asset in the war against weight. (Consider, by contrast, the disheartening fact that the market for ready meals in the US grew by 39 per cent from 1999 to 2003; the $3 billion market for 'food bars' is expected to more than double by 2009.)
Eating in France is a social activity. There are several ,but small courses, with plenty of time between courses for the physiological feedback to kick in. In America we eat more pre-prepared foods and ready-meals; we eat fast food both in and outside the home. We have single, large meals, and family members will eat different foods at different times... Fast food is, by definition, eaten fast, so there's no time for that physiological feedback.'

French people, it seems, naturally exercise strict portion control. In their study of why the French remain so much slimmer than Americans, the researchers from the University of Pennsylvania came to the remarkable conclusion that it was because the French ate less. 'Based on observation in Paris and Philadelphia,' they wrote, 'we document that the French portion sizes are smaller in comparable restaurants, in the sizes of individual portions in supermarkets, individual portions specified in cookbooks, and in the prominence of "all-you-can-eat" restaurants in dining guides.'

So actually French people don't eat more and stay slim....they eat less.....but they definitely ENJOY the "food experience" much more.

That is what the book "In Defense of Food" is about.....enjoying the "food experience" again....real food, that is.
So, inspired by his book, I'm going to follow Mr. Pollan's advice. I am going to enjoy my food...my real food...mostly plants!