Eat food, not too much, mostly plants
Pollan compresses healthy eating into a seven-word maxim expanded across the book. The rule prioritizes whole foods, moderation, and plant-heavy diets.
Food rules
3 ideas
Avoid edible foodlike substances
Highly processed products engineered by industry are distinguished from real food. The heuristic is to eat what your great-grandmother would recognize.
Culinary tradition encodes nutritional wisdom
Inherited food cultures embody trial-and-error knowledge that beats nutrient-by-nutrient science. Following cultural rules is safer than chasing isolated nutrients.