Along the same lines as In Defense of Food, but with more detail about what makes real/traditional food so good for you. ( )

Always looking for help distinguishing between competing health claims for local vs shipped food, organic vs farm-raised, animal welfare etc. This one helped. ( )

I found her discussion of "real" vs industrial foods helpful--a distinction that I like better than processed/unprocessed. Eat whole grains, vegetables, and fish is a familiar message. Eat non-industrial fats (butter, lard, etc), eggs, and milk from grass-fed cows is less so, and was thus the most interesting part. I wished that the author had better educational and professional qualifications to write the book, but she had clearly done a lot of research. Also, (for my friends on GoodReads) this is a lendable Kindle book, so I'd be glad to loan it to you if you have a Kindle. ( )

If you've read anything like this book, then there is no need to read this one also. It will simply be a tiresome repeat of what you've already researched. However, if you are new to the Real Food ideology, then this is a fine starting place. Planck goes through each food group - dairy, plants, proteins - and explains their importance to the body, the nutrients they provide, and what source provides the most. Planck's writing style if cheerful and clear, and she's obviously done her research. Information about nutrition is sprinkled with personal anecdotes and stories. The list of resources in the back is helpful and extensive. But despite all this, I have some issues with this book.
First, she commits my greatest pet-peeve when it comes to diet books - extolling foods that are expensive and hard to find. Not everyone has access to the places and shops and vendors that supply these foods. Nor can we afford pasture-raised organic meats or grass-fed fresh raw milk or just picked heirloom tomatoes. This sort of grocery list is only for someone who makes significantly more than your average person. And yes, one might argue that spending on good food prevents spending on medicine and medical bills later. But a weekly budget of this sort of food for a family of four might run you $250 easy - which is ridiculous! This is even assuming one lives near real-round farmer's markets or vendor's selling raw milk - which I don't. In the end, for someone on a budget, her ideology, while sound and wise, isn't feasible for most people.
Second, there are no recipes or meal plans or anything practical to assist the reader. It merely tells you what to eat, but doesn't help you take practical steps. Any no, I don't count telling you to "drink raw milk" as a how-do.
In the end, this is a good book for a concise, clear explanation for how to make better choices for food. But it's not anything different that what you might find in many other books on the same thing. ( )

i am trying to be more liberal with my 5 star ratings, and this book happens to be the first beneficiary.

the premise of this book is similar to the premise of a lot of books that have come out recently. the most healthy things to eat are real foods, foods that were eaten hundreds of years ago. meat, dairy, real fats, etc... what i liked about it is she went into detail with what the nutritional value of different food items. she explained the nutritional differences between powdered milk, grain fed cow milk, and grass fed cow milk. she also explained how certain industrial food is processed and how the processing diminishes the nutrition. i learned a lot more than i thought i would from this book.

a lot of it, i couldn't really understand, for the life of me i'll never understand omega-3 and omega-6 and fatty acid chains and the chemical structures of saturated, unsaturated, polyunstaturated, fats...

i hesitate to give this book 5 stars for 2 reasons.

1. at times the tone was quite pretentious. if she said one more thing about the delicacies of her vegetables sauteed in real butter with raw milk yogurt and cheese on the side, i think i may have lost it.

2. going along with point 1, i think this book had very much of a preaching to the choir tone. since i guess i am part of the choir, i liked it, but it very well could have been because it was what i wanted to hear, so i wasn't reading with any skepticism. she didn't present many opposing view-points or give much credibility to the fact that maybe conventional nutritional wisdom has a little something to offer... what i actually want to do is read a book that counters some of the points that she makes..

...but really i liked the book. it made me want to eat more good meat, more fish, more whole milk foods, and start cooking with coconut oil and lard.
( )