The rules in the previous two sections deal primarily with questions about what to eat; the ones in this section deal with something a bit more elusive but no less important: the set of manners, eating habits, taboos and unspoken guidelines that together govern a person's (and culture's) relationship to food and eating. How you eat may have as much bearing on your health (and your weight) as what you eat.
This may well be the deeper lesson of the so-called French paradox: the mystery (at least to nutritionists) of a population that eats all sorts of supposedly lethal fatty foods, and washes them down with red wine, but which is nevertheless healthier, slimmer, and slightly longer lived than we are. What nutritionalists fails to see in the French is a people with a completely different relationship to food than we have. They seldom snack, eat small portions from small plates, don't go back for second helpings, and eat most of their food at long, leisurely meals shared with other people. The rules governing these behaviors may matter more than any magic nutrient in their diet.
The rules in this section are designed to foster a healthier relationship to food, whatever it is if you're eating.
Stay tuned for more Food Rules tomorrow.....
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