Are you convinced yet about the dangers of soy? Many aren’t. “Is soy bad for you? …Really?” I hear the question so often I want to scream. After decades of hearing marketing spin about how soy is a wonder food, a protein-rich legume able to rescue us from our dependence on meat, I suppose it’s understandable why so many people have yet to understand fully the dangers of soy. Really, you’re not going to get the full story unless you research it on your own. And why would you, when soy is “universally” touted as a health food? Well, it isn’t.
Pregnancy Cravings Make No Sense
I am pregnant with my third child. This ought to be news to most of you, and it explains at least part of why I’ve been posting so infrequently of late. It’s my first trimester, and (as usual for this phase of pregnancy) I’ve had very little extra energy. Parenting two kids, meeting my work obligations, and celebrating the holidays has worn me out.
But one thing has surprised me this go around: pregnancy cravings. It’s a common theme among pregnant women, but one I’ve never really shared in. My pregnancies have never been marked by strong aversions to smells or beloved foods, and I’ve never had to fight wanting to eat something that I knew to be downright unhealthy.
But this time is different.
Real Food For Mother And Baby by Nina Planck
Contrary to most books serving up nutritional advice for expectant mothers, Nina Planck’s newest book, Real Food For Mother And Baby, offers incredibly practical counsel. She writes as a real mom would, as someone sharing her own personal story about fertility, pregnancy, and her baby’s first foods. She writes about her struggles, about second-guessing herself, about what brought her to tears of frustration. In short, she was accessible both as a person and as a self-described “nutrition geek.”
Food – Not Nutrients – Is The Fundamental Unit In Nutrition
We need to shift our focus away from “nutrients” and towards “food” in order to understand the effects nutrition has on health. Why? Because whole foods are so much more complex than nutritional science can understand.
Focusing too narrowly on nutrients has obscured the true value of eating Real Food.
An Interview With Nina Planck
Nina Planck wrote the book on Real Food. Literally. Many people read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma (a FoodRenegade Must Read) and wondered: now what?
They still didn’t know what to eat. They only knew that they wanted to opt out of the industrialized food system in favor of something more sustainable, ethical, and nutritious. Nina Planck’s book Real Food: What to Eat and Why answered those questions.