Real Food

It is no secret that I am a wanna be foodie who promotes the likes of eating local and supporting my CSA. 

I have professed my expectations of parenting are high and my willingness to let these expectations fall to reality,  best explained by Julie here.

This book is right up there with everything I hope to be and more!  Perhaps that is slightly overstated.  Let me rephrase.  Nina Planck provides information in a frank manner and weighs an ideal circumstance with the practicality mandated by real life. 

Nina Planck

The book is broken down into the basics of eating healthy.  The same truth about food applies when you are trying to conceive, pregnant, breast feeding, and introducing food to your baby. {Note: I promptly skipped the conceiving and pregnancy chapters.}  However, as many momma know, living through this time of life raises questions that never would have been obvious before.  Nina addresses these questions    However, the parts of this book I did read left me motivated and excited about our relationships with food. 

If the rules of the food revolution scare you, have no fear.  There is no one more practical than Nina and her cheese monger husband.  Their family really loves dairy.  {Bonus!}  Here is her take on seasonal vegtables:

Good as local, seasonal, and ecological vegetables are, it’s more important for your family to eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Lots of studies show that people who eat more fruit and vegetables are healthier than those who don’t. I’d bet my last carrot that these studies weren’t conducted with local, seasonal, and ecological peas. In deepest winter, when local produce is scarce and expensive here in New York City, I go directly to the supermarket or local greengrocer, head held high, to buy greens. I have no idea what the carbon footprint of this choice is. But I know the price and convenience calculation without thinking.

This book gives you the freedom of living within your lifestyle.  I cannot emphasize enough the no-nonsense approach that Nina takes to serving her family be best available without the restrictions that much of the food movement holds high.  If you are looking for a book to read, pick this one up or her first book, Real Food.  Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

Can you tell I liked the book?