When making the decision to switch to rich from a nutrient-poor, unhealthy eating style, the most
important concept to know is that you can eat whatever you want.
Psychology demonstrates that if you know you can eat a certain food—even if it’s not serving your
highest needs or doesn’t make you feel good afterward—and you are empowered to make a choice,
you will be far less likely to choose poorly.
All sorts of unhelpful psychological barriers and triggers are set up by a sense of powerlessness or
limitation. Remember when you parents said you couldn’t drink alcohol, so you just couldn’t wait to
turn 21 so you could booze it up? This is the same principle, and it works the same way. The Great
Rule of Eating is not about nutrition; it’s about psychology.
Both animal foods and refined foods are so pervasive in our culture (and based on statistics,
probably in your own diet right now), that most people are confronting a fairly radical shift when
they make the switch—along with a lot of momentum in your environment. Some people are
currently eating 90% or more nutrient-poor, so a switch to 90% or more Nutrient Rich® is a major
change in direction!
Therefore, even as we talk about eating 90% or more plant-based Nutrient Rich® foods, you must
know that you can still eat whatever you want, or you will begin thinking you are “dieting” or “on a
diet.” That’s exactly what I don’t want you thinking. Eventually that tendency will disappear, but as
you start, it’s a major point.
There’s just one catch...
At one point, I debated about whether or not I should include The Great Rule of Eating in this book
because I thought it might lead people astray, thinking they can eat nutrient-poor foods all they like,
and everything will be just fine. It could become the ultimate rationalization. “Hey, I can eat
whatever I want—John Allen said so!” You know the old saying—“give people an inch and they’ll
take a mile."
And taken by itself, with the wrong mindset and no context or knowledge, this rule could be abused
as an “out.” But then I remembered what my highest value is: freedom to make choices, based on a
well-structured mindset and a knowledge base. That context, knowledge and perspective makes
this rule work.
I also realized I needed to trust your intelligence and common sense. If you’ve read this far, by now
you know my message is not “eat nutrient-poor foods all you like, and everything will be just fine.”
So we also need to recognize and acknowledge Part 2 of The Great Rule of Eating—you just can't
eat whatever, whenever AND get the results you want.