Grossing Myself Out

Over the years, there have been a few food products that I learn a simple fact about... and that simple fact leads me to quit cold-turkey eating that food forever.

Shrimp is one example. When my mom was sick with cancer, she kinda became a food snob and read some tragic piece of info about shrimp that she shared with me. And I haven't eaten a single shrimp from that day forward. Funny thing is, I cannot for the life of me remember what that simple shrimp fact was, but I still won't eat one ever again.

Since last summer, I have unfortunately gained a lot of weight. I have a sneaky suspicion that it is the result of my completely horrific diet. Bottom line: I eat really, really unhealthy. In an attempt to try and turn over a new leaf, I am trying to learn as much bad information about the foods I eat in order to (hopefully) trigger a response similar to my shrimp scenario above. I want to gross myself out over some of the things I choose to put in my mouth. Enter 2 important tools:

1) Food, Inc.


2) Food Rules, by Michael Pollan
This short book is a list of "rules" -- essentially stripped-down eating guidelines to help you navigate your way to healthier choices while teaching you simple facts about today's food products.

Some examples from the book are:
"Rule #3- Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in a pantry."
"Rule #13- Eat only foods that will eventually rot."
"Rule #14- Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature."
"Rule #20- It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car." (this one would likely make me drop 30 pounds alone if I adopted it.)
"Rule #24- Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms & plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, & other mammals)."
I'm hoping it works.