I just returned from a lovely lake vacation in Northern Wisconsin. We’ve been taking the kids to the lake since they were little and it’s nice to see them embrace all of the activities that lake life offers. I particularly love being able to bring our three dogs with us so they can swim and prance around the woods. Luckily they avoided ticks this year. In fact, the only tick we have seen was one from our own backyard in the suburbs.
While I was on vacation I read Michael Pollan’s Food Rules. Pollan is one of my favorite authors and I am slowly working my way through all of his books. He is a fantastic food journalist. In fact, you may have seen his Netflix series, Cooked, which is based on his book by the same name.
Food Rules is a simple book that lays out Pollan’s self-created rules for food based on all of his research and writings over the years. I have to admit, I identify with his rules so strongly, I could have created them myself. For that reason I will be featuring his rules in some upcoming posts, as well as addressing them on my new podcast. It’s a great book and highly recommend it if you want to know more about eating intentionally.
Oh and yes, I did mention a podcast. Exactly one year ago in August I closed my food business. After taking time to reflect and decide which project to work on next, I started the Food Stoic without a clear direction for it. At first, I thought it would be focusing on the food ingredients and recipes. While that will always be important to me, I also want to have authentic conversations about how our food is made and what is in it. There are several reasons for this.
Eating food is the one thing we all have in common—we all need to eat to live. I recognize that there are those that just aren’t concerned about the food they eat. This truly puzzles me. Intentional eating is one of my main missions because I believe food can be used to prevent illness, as much as for mere sustenance. As a medical litigator for twenty years I always wondered why we as a society don’t focus on preventing illness versus treating it. We need to change the narrative and I believe it starts with what we eat. Therefore, I want to stimulate more thoughts and discussions about it with my new podcast, Harvesting the Truth: The Story of Our Food.
I also love to analyze food concepts with a legal twist. As a lawyer I use research and analysis everyday to arrive at conclusions. Social Media is a great tool, but it’s difficult to know what’s credible.
I believe that intentional eating isn’t more popular because we just don’t understand enough about our food. It’s not our fault. The food industry employs very persuasive marketing techniques that have led us all down the path of embracing the typical Western diet. I was raised in a small farming community, in an Italian household where we raised our food and ate from the garden, and yet we all fell victim to the typical Western diet as well. I didn’t even realize what’s happened to our food until I sat down and started to research it myself. Why am I eating what I don’t understand? Since learning more about what our food is made of, I have come to understand that our food is causing a lot of our illnesses. It’s time to take back control.
Before I left on vacation I received a call from my Mom. She was very upset about a member of our family who just received some bad news about their health. She implored me to use my knowledge about food to help others. While I can share what I know, I can’t tell people what will help. I am not a doctor, dietician or nutritionist. But I can find the information we need to help us make informed choices. This is what I am good at.
I will be posting more regularly here. I’ll be sending out my Monday newsletter, as well as posting here every Wednesday. New podcast episodes will launch on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please join me. If you have a topic that you’d like to see me cover, please send me a message.
I am excited, and hope to stir thoughtful conversations about our food!
