In Real Food: What to Eat and Why Nina Planck does an excellent job of explaining complex scientific nutritional information so that a layman (me) can understand it.
I am a long-time fan of Michael Pollan. He presents the problem of eating industrial food (as opposed to real food) in a very readable way, but doesn't solve the problem, so to speak, as well as Ms. Planck does. Reading this book has prompted me to TAKE ACTION to change the foods I eat.
(This is where my husband and some of my friends roll their eyes and say, 'There she goes again...') time will tell if this is truly a life-long change or a short-lived fad. Time will tell. I am betting my health on it! (Okay, that was a bit dramatic! Sorry!)
Real food is traditional foods that humans have been eating for millenia:
- Unprocessed traditional oils and fats: butter, coconut oil, olive oil, chicken fat and lard. NEVER hydrogenated!
- Meat (chickens, cows, sheep, etc) raised the old-fashioned way - on farm pastures. Eating grass, bugs, etc - what they were meant by nature to eat.
- Eggs from pastured chickens, ducks, or geese.
- Fresh fruits and vegetables. Ideally locally grown without chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
- Wild fish and seafood
- Minimally processed whole grains
- Full fat dairy foods, ideally raw from grass-fed cows
- Wild game (rabbit, deer, etc.)
- Traditional cultured and fermented foods: yogurt, sauerkraut, and sourdough bread
- Unrefined sweeteners: honey, maple syrup, evaporated cane juice (in moderation!)
NOT real food:
- Processed foods of any kind - cereals, industrial breads, etc.
- Imitation anything - soy "meat" products, margarine (fake butter), non-dairy creamer or 'dessert topping', processed cheese, etc.
- Light or low-fat products. Sugar is often added and these are without exception highly processed foods.
- Powdered eggs
- Bleached white flour and sugar
