This little book is an excellent beginner’s guide to nutrition. If you are overweight or have been on a diet for years, you have probably determined that there is no instant cure for what you have been doing for the last few years. What Pollan does is give you quick rules for eating that will take you as far, if not further, than many diets. Muffin tops and spare tires may seem trendy, but they’re not very attractive or healthy. If he has them now in his twenties or thirties, it becomes even harder to lose them as he gets older. So there’s no better time than the present to read this little book to help you get started.

As a curious journalist, Pollan has written several books about food, including in defense of food, The omnivore’s dilemma Y Cooked. Try picking one up from a local library and by this time next year, you might get a call telling you to come pick it up or download it. This little book may be the only thing available from this author for free, and it’s a good start.

Nutrition is a relatively new science. Food companies want you to be their guinea pig and try their new foods that are sure to be “healthy” in one way or another. By focusing on one element, vitamin, or nutrient at a time, they ignore other ingredients that are harmful, perpetuating confusion and poor health as a result. Therefore, the food companies and the medical community are making a fortune at their expense. The only sure thing is that by eating highly processed foods, you will most likely be obese and diabetic and prone to heart disease and cancer. That is the result of the American diet.

Pollan sums it all up with “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” But he gives you 64 rules to guide you to that conclusion. One rule in particular that supports it is Rule 12 “Shop on the fringes of the supermarket and don’t get stuck in the middle.” That’s another way of saying eat fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and dairy products and avoid processed foods.

So before you go on a diet, make a log of what you’re currently eating, follow Pollan’s rules, and see if that doesn’t make a difference. If you think eating healthy may cost a little more, it’s a lot cheaper than what you’ll pay the medical community if you don’t make a change.