How I Eat Now

It’s been two months since Food Intelligence was published, and many interviews later, I keep getting questions about how I eat now. My coauthor Kevin Hall and I deliberately did not go into great detail about our personal nutrition habits in the book. We share an allergy to diet guru-ism and a belief that the last thing people need is more diet advice and recipes. The major point we make is that all the fuss about individual diet hacks has been a great big distraction from how food environments drive eating behavior (and diet-related diseases, such as obesity and type-2 diabetes).

Alas, the questions about how we eat have been (understandably) unescapable. And as we also argue, individuals certainly aren’t powerless; there are better and worse ways to eat. So I wanted to take a moment to consolidate my personal approach. Here’s the big picture.

1. I cook every day: I grew up in a family of home cooks and before the age of 10, knew how to roll gnocchi and deploy a sofrito. Cooking comes naturally to me and I (mostly) enjoy it. There’s a lot of evidence, over many decades, that home cooking is better for health than industrially processed or restaurant fare. Of course, cooking also takes time: the planning, buying, and cleanup. I make cooking easier by preparing extras for leftovers, especially on the weekends, and freezing meals for days when I’m strapped for time. When I can’t cook, I seek out healthy, prepared ingredients or meals. I’m really lucky here in Paris. There’s no shortage of healthy, prepared options, from grocery stores filled with flash-frozen fruits and vegetables, to caterers offering freshly roasted chickens and stewed fish.

2. I buy the best ingredients my family can afford: I go to a fromagerie for cheese, a butcher for meat, a fishmonger for fish, and a sustainable produce shop for everything else. This is as much about health as it is about flavor. Any chef knows that your finished dish will only taste as good as the ingredients you put in. To me, fresh, well-sourced ingredients are generally more delicious.

3. I use lots of fresh herbs, olive oil, and don’t shy away from salt: Salt makes everything taste better, and fresh herbs do too, while improving the nutritional profile of meals. I always have bunches of parsley, basil, coriander, or dill