Having a healthy lifestyle requires plenty of motivation and determination because of the multiple sacrifices that may occur during this process and overwhelming feelings that you are going to have to get over in order to become a healthy individual. Through the article "Unhappy Meals", author Michael Pollan reveals many simple, yet equally important principles of healthy eating. Pollan provides nine rules on how we should change our eating habits and, as a result, become healthy people. As a part of his nine rules, he advises that we should eat food that we know of and are familiar with, and to consume mostly plants and home cooked meals (Pollan). Pollan informs his audience that following these rules will provide them with a healthy lifestyle. I do comply with most of Michael Pollan's principals, especially with eating healthy plants, home cooked meals, and avoiding food products that contain ingredients that are unfamiliar to me. For example, most of my meals are cultural and traditional and it is very similar to a lot of the Japanese foods. Additionally, my parents have always prepared home cooked meals for my seven siblings and I and my parents have never bought or ordered any fast food meals for us. Furthermore, we have a family garden, so worrying about toxic chemicals and pesticides isn't an issue. As a result of my healthy food habits, I have reduced the chances of some possible diseases, maintained a regular diet, which may save me money, and I'm fit.
To begin with, portioning my food intake will help me in maintaining a regular diet. Pollan claims that we should "eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks" because he declares that "if it weren't so healthy, the people who follow it wouldn't still be around" (Pollan). He emphasizes not only on what they eat, but how they eat, so aspects such as small portions and no seconds are significant.