Michael Pollan is the author of several books, two of the most popular are “Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”

In the latter title, he shares 12 rules that, well, basically sum up the rationale to keep yourself from being 6 feet under too soon and more importantly, alive an vibrant, rather than sick and “existing.”

Here’s our take on his 12 rules:

1. Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

Amen to that! My 95-year-old Grandma said that their “dessert” growing up in a large Italian family was fruit. That’s right, fruit!

2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can’t pronounce.

I don’t care if you have a graduate degree or are a perpetual, professional student in the food industry, there are still ingredients I know you wouldn’t be able to pronounce and that means it’s not food!

3. Don’t eat anything that won’t eventually rot.

Would a Twinkie eventually rot?? Better not chance it! 😊

4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.

I know your Goji juice cures everything under the sun…how’s that working out for you by the way?

5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.

We really could have a grocery store on every street corner if they were small enough to provide only REAL food!

6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmer’s market or CSA.

Yes! Check out our local “Rooted Gypsy Farms!”

7. Pay more, eat less.

Food is generally a consumptive expense. You buy, eat, replace, on and on for time immemorial. But I encourage you to look at it as a productive expense, giving you a return on your investment. Better food = better feeling = better thoughts = better quality of life = health is your greatest wealth…what do you think about that Warren Buffet!?

8. Eat a wide variety of species.

Okay if you are vegan…think of it like a wide variety of “vegetable species…” Geez, calm down! 😊

9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.

Not Colorado “grass”/ Real Grass. Animals that are fed grain and more grain maybe taste good, but just simply aren’t good for YOU. If you are vegan, just eat the grass.

10. Cook, and if you can, grow some of your own food.

Give it a go. Share your secrets with others and learn from others. Oh, and share some of your oversupply with us too!

11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.

That thing covered with random items/ coats/ backpacks/ bills/ empty snack containers/ cat fur that you only clean off when guests come over, that table there is a good place to eat your real deal meal!

12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible and always with pleasure.

Love that. It’s the people you surround yourself with that matters the most. See if you can get them to join you at that freshly cleaned off table and adopt some of these healthy habits you can’t wait to get going with!

In ALL HONESTY and in FULL DISCLOSURE I am in no way perfect with this list of 12. It’s an ongoing process. I wander the middle isles of the grocery store, I sometimes eat dessert that isn’t just fruit, sometimes our dining room table is a disaster and we eat on barstools at the kitchen counter, we want to and will join the CSA, yet I know them and work towards these 12. Go for it, I know you can too!