Greek yogurt looks a lot more like milk than bright orange chips look like an ear of corn.

Instead of always making the best choice, just make the better choice. So what to do? Eat the foods you want to eat that are, in general, closest to the way you might encounter them at their source. Arguably, an organic apple and a handful of raw walnuts might be more 'real.' But in our current, complicated world, “food” exists on a spectrum, from just-out-of-the-garden to 'is-that-actually-edible?' If you’re too strict with yourself about, say, packaging or processing, you probably won’t stick to your resolve when hunger hits and your fresh produce has rotted in your crisper and all you can find to eat is something that comes in a package. Is Greek yogurt mixed with bran cereal and raisins food? Although the components of this snack come in packages and could be considered processed, of course, it's food. It sounds so simple, and yet, when you look at the snack you’re about to eat, it can be difficult to decide whether or not Michael Pollan (should he suddenly burst into your kitchen) would sign off on it as food. When Michael Pollan says, “Eat food,” what he means is, “Eat real food,” as in food that is unprocessed and doesn’t come from a factory. So simple, so clean, so memorable…and so hard to do! But why? What’s so difficult about embracing these three uncomplicated concepts, when they could have such a positive effect on personal and global health? Let’s break it down. You may have even quoted it to your friends. Practicing it would render weight-loss diets irrelevant, positively impact the environment, champion local food producers, and bring the processed food industry to its knees. Then again, if this is true, why is it that, once we know how to eat, we don’t do it? One of Michael Pollan’s most famous quotes is a simple one, but it tells you everything you ever need to know about eating. I suspect his wide appeal is probably an indication of how confused everybody is about food, and how much we love it when people make it very clear to us what we should and shouldn’t eat. I’ve seen him speak, and while he’s articulate and intelligent, he’s no George Clooney. Food and diet book writers quote him constantly, and some even admit that he’s their celebrity crush. When he gives lectures, it’s standing room only. When Michael Pollan speaks…people listen. At least where I live, he’s the subject of many a conversation at parties, in bars, in restaurants, in book groups.

Is Michael Pollan America’s sweetheart? People love to talk about his pithy pronouncements on how we should eat.

Food rules by michael pollan