MoM 33 Good Food Principles

In a world of ultra-processed noise and conflicting nutritional studies, how do we actually decide what to put on our plates?

Those who subscribe to our monthly newsletter will have already explored our INSIGHTS, where we pull back the curtain on how tools like the ‘Pyramid’ and ‘Score’, tools shaped less by biology than by the heavy hand of industry lobbying. We look at the timeless wisdom of real food; food as it should be, before it was refined, reinforced, and reshaped for the sake of a bottom line.

To help you navigate the modern supermarket with confidence, we’ve distilled these truths into 33 Good Food Principles. It’s a return to a simpler way of thinking:

THE FOUNDATION: What to Choose

1. Eat Real Food: The bedrock. Prioritise whole, natural ingredients.

2. Five Ingredients or Less: The shorter the list, the closer to the source. Seventeen ingredients is chemistry, not cuisine.

3. Be Curious: Learn where your food comes from. Curiosity is your best defence against deception.

4. Honour Tradition: Ancestral recipes survive because they work. They are the result of millennia of trial and error.

5. Choose Planet-Friendly Foods: Your health and the planet's health are the same. Choose sustainably grown, eco-conscious produce.

   
   

HOW TO CHOOSE: Practical Wisdom

6. Take Time to Eat: Speed kills presence. Enjoy textures and flavours; avoid eating on the go.

7. Buy Wisely, Eat Mindfully: Plan ahead to avoid the impulse buys the supermarket is designed to trigger. Planning is resistance.

8. Cook with Care: When you cook, you reclaim sovereignty. Master the basics to preserve nutrition and reduce waste.

9. Grow Your Own: Even a windowsill with basil reconnects you to the cycle of life. You don’t need land; you need intention.

10. Prioritise Animal Welfare: How an animal lived and died affects the biochemistry of what you eat. This isn’t sentimentality; it is science.

PRACTICAL CHOICES: Day-to-Day Decisions

11. Seek Local and Seasonal Diversity: A tomato in winter tastes like cardboard. A local tomato in August tastes like sunshine. Choose sunshine.

12. Use Every Part: Stems, peels, and scraps are not waste; they are fertility waiting to return to the soil.

13. Minimise Packaging: Every layer of plastic is a barrier. Remove the barriers.

14. Waste Nothing: In my grandmother’s kitchen, nothing was wasted. This wasn’t poverty; it was respect.

15. Encourage Transparent Labelling: Look for what is ‘after the slash’. Make transparency profitable.

NUTRITION PRINCIPLES: What Your Body Needs

21. Eat Your Greens: Green is life. The darker the leaf, the more concentrated the nutrition.

22. Seek Whole Fibre: Swap refined grains for beans, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Fibre feeds the microbiome that keeps you alive.

23. Choose Good Fats: Extra virgin olive oil and omega-3s are your friends. Industrial seed oils are the enemy.

24. Meat as a Treat: Honour the animal. Quality over quantity, always.

25. Opt for Smart Carbs: Choose complex carbohydrates that release energy slowly.

26. Naturally Sweet: Fruit, dates, and honey provide sweetness without the violence of white sugar.

27. Cut Salt, Discover Flavours: Use herbs and umami to discover that real food has plenty of flavour on its own.

28. Nurture Your Microbiome: Your gut influences your mood, immunity, and energy. Feed your ‘internal garden’ well.

COMMUNITY AND CULTURE: Food as Connection

29. Eat Together: Communal meals are not a luxury; they are how we stay human.

30. Share the Abundance: Food is a human right. When you have enough, share—not from pity, but from recognition of our connection.

31. Embrace Diversity: At our communal tables, Syrian sits beside Polish. Food is the ultimate bridge.

32. Lead by Example: You cannot change the world overnight, but you can teach a child to make pasta tonight.

33. Engage with Community: The strongest resistance to industrial food is a connected neighbourhood. Join a garden, a market, or a food network.

Eating is a web of habits. If you tug on one string, the others usually follow. Rather than doing everything at once, just start where you are. If life is hectic, look for foods with fewer than five ingredients. If you're on a budget, focus on planning. Once you start cooking at home, the rest, like eating real food and sharing it with others, tends to follow.

You don’t have to change everything at once; you just have to start.

Follow the journey @movimentometropolitano.