"Real Food - What to Eat and Why" by Nina Planck - Book Review

Old MacDonald had a farm, but was it an organic farm? Were his chickens "free-range" or "cage-raised"? Was the milk raw or pasteurized, and as children singing the familiar tune did we even know these options existed? In today's world, we are inundated with food choices and terminology that can be bewildering. Some of the decisions we make on a daily basis are whether to eat meat or be vegetarians, consume dairy products or be "lactose-free", enjoy sweets or be anti-sugar. E-I-E-I-O! What's a girl to eat?One author is saying we should simply eat as our grandmothers cooked, and let that be our guideline for a healthy lifestyle. In her book, "Real Food: What to Eat and Why", Nina Planck recommends eating traditional foods such as cream, butter, beef, lard and eggs. She states that these long-established foods are not the reasons for food related diseases so prevalent in society today. Rather, she blames the modern American industrialized food diet for the "epidemics of
obesity, diabetes and heart disease".Planck, currently touring the country to promote her book, is the daughter of Virginia farmers, and is neither a medical expert nor a food scientist. At an August 17 lecture in Poulsbo Washington, Planck described herself as a person who reads and interprets every scientific study on food, dietary requirements and diet related disease. She cites this research and her personal experience as the basis for her "real food" diet. Now in her mid-30's, she experimented with vegetarianism and veganism in her early 20's, eliminating meat, fish, cheese, milk, eggs and chocolate from her daily diet. Planck states that during this period, she was overweight, depressed and on medication and that it was only when she returned to the traditional diet on which she was raised that she regained her health.Planck began her research by comparing the traditional diet of Russian sheep herders and North American Inuit to the modern American diet, and found
that while Americans consumed fewer daily calories and ate a higher percentage of calories from plant sources, they had higher body mass indexes and cholesterol levels than reported by the Russians and the Inuit. In comparing the diets, Planck concludes that the traditional diet is rich in vitamins and fats that prevent heart disease, while trans-fats, corn oil, and sugar prevalent in the modern American diet cause diet-related illnesses.Subsequent chapters delve into specific food categories, where Planck compares each "traditional" food to the "industrial" food. In her chapter entitled "Real Milk, Butter and Cheese", for example, we learn that traditional raw milk came from pasture cows fed with grass and hay, while industrial pasteurized milk comes from captive cows fed with soybeans, corn, and synthetic hormones to increase milk production. In each chapter she describes the superior taste and health benefits of the traditional food as compared to the industrialized f
ood.While "Real Food: What to Eat and Why" presents another alternative to the already vast number of dietary choices we have to process, the reader who agrees with Nina Planck's philosophy will give him or herself permission to eat the delicious, memorable foods of our parents and grandparents. If Old MacDonald had a farm, one thing is for certain. On this farm they ate Real Food.

View this post on my blog: http://www.yourgamebook.com/real-food-what-to-eat-and-why-by-nina-planck-book-review.html