All the arguments about nutrition are really about what is the problem ingredient in the western diet. Is it the fat? Is it the lack of fiber? Is it the refined carbohydrates?But we don't have to worry about it. We just have to try to get off that diet to the extent we can.

Eat slowly, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.

Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does

Okinawa, one of the longest-lived and healthiest populations in the world, practice a principle they call hara hachi bu: Eat until you are 80 percent full.

In a way, the most morally troubling thing about killing chickens is that after a while it is no longer morally troubling.

A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius.

But human deciding what to eat without professional guidance - something they have been doing with notable success since coming down out of the trees - is seriously unprofitable if you're a food company, a definite career loser if you're nutritionist, and just plain boring if you're a newspaper editor or reporter.