If you go without air, you will last a few minutes before dying. Go without water, you’ll last about 4 days (under ideal conditions).

Apart from air and water, there is something else we need: Food. But unlike air or water, there is a lot of fear, uncertainty, doubt, and misinformation around what, how much, and even when you should eat food.

On one extreme end, there are people who see preparing and eating food as a nuisance, and would like to minimize their time spent with food in any way. This gave rise to products like Soylent, a shake-like product designed to spend as little time as possible preparing and ingesting sustenance. But there are issues with this approach: I Tried Soylent. It Didn’t Go Well.

On the other end, we have the “clean eating” movement, rejecting all in any way processed food. Instead, only natural foods are allowed — and some, like the avocado, are treated like the second coming of Food Jesus Christ. The issue with clean eating isn’t so much the food itself (although you have to be careful to avoid malnourishment as with any extreme diet), but the quasi-religious undertones, and sect-like behaviour of its followers. Why we fell for clean eating explores why we fall for these movements, and what we can learn from them.

Most of todays diets have flaws, but they also often contain a kernel of truth: The food industry has been trying to get you to eat what they want you to eat, and not necessarily what’s good for you to eat. One of the biggest offenders is the sugar industry: The sugar conspiracy. And Low-Fat Foods Are Making You Fatter.

It’s not just food, though. Pretty much anything can be marketed to high heavens, and not live up to its hype. For example, Jen, proprietor of The Black Hoof, explains why Vodka is Stupid.

In all of this confusion, it’s hard to figure out what you’re supposed to be eating to stay healthy. Paleo? Vegan? Only eating on Tuesdays? No diet, no detox: how to relearn the art of eating explores the difficulties of eating and cooking in our modern world.

Maybe Michael Pollan, author and journalist, gives the best eating advice in his excellent book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual:

1. Eat food.
2. Not too much.
3. Mostly greens.

Until next week,
~Markus

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