Real Food - What to Eat and Why

Real Food by Nina Planck has to be one of my favorite books on nutrition so far. It's completely evidence based with solid studies backing up all her facts and just speaks to the logic in me. So many diets and books are out there now of watch out for this or that and reduce this or that, etc. Real Food is refreshing in that it goes back to simple nutrition. No bothering to read labels, count calories, dissect the ingredients - just ask, could I have eaten this before industrialization happened? If yes - go for it! If no, don't eat it or at least realize it's been processed and thus devoid of much nutrition and filled with potentially harmful substances instead. You do have to be mindful of the origin of food though as a GMO tomato is not the same as an organic one and neither is the same as a local ecologically grown one.

I especially love how succinctly yet thoroughly she addresses common food myths such as the ones about fats and cholesterol. (I used her book as one of my references for the "Food Facts" section of this website). It definitely made me rethink my own diet and though I tweak my family's meals to accommodate our different needs I'm doing so with lots of tasty butter, eggs, and cheese. I'm also looking forward to experimenting with lard in my pie crusts which I stopped making once I realized how bad shortening is and had no idea what to use instead.

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