Jan 18, 2014

Weekend Cooking: Two Books That Offer Healthy Guidelines for the Food We Eat

Many of us have made the decision this year to take control of the food we put into our bodies and to maintain healthier eating habits. For me personally, I began this journey two years ago after realizing that for the first time in my life, I needed to go on a diet. But it wasn't a diet I needed. It was a lifestyle change that I could adapt and continue to practice for the rest of my life. I began reading the nutrition labels on the food I was buying and learning what to stay away from. There's a lot of information in those labels if only you take the time to understand what they mean. Now I look at food a lot differently than I used to and I don't buy food just because it tastes good. Even though it may taste good, that doesn't necessarily mean its good for you. For two years now I've completely cut out processed foods from my diet and I can tell a significant change in my body. Most of the food I eat I prepare fresh at home from ingredients I choose. I rarely eat fast-food and when I occasionally slide, I immediately regret it because of how it makes me feel and then I vow never to to it again.

For today's post I wanted to share two books that I've come across that have helped me tremendously in my quest for eating healthy. The first book, HEALTHY FOOD GUIDE,  is a self-published ebook by Ceps Weston and is available on Kindle (for 2.99). Though not written perfectly, the information provided in the book allowed me to overlook the sub-par writing. (In my opinion) I read this book in a day and though its not an in depth, technical book, it is very helpful in identifying ingredients you should definitely stay away from and why.  This book would be great for those just starting to realize that they want to have more knowledge about what they are putting into their bodies.

The second book I want to mention is a much more in depth look at food in general and the benefits of eating real food, not food that the 'industry' tells us is healthy and good for us. This book came out in 2008 and was featured on many of the morning news shows for its bold statements about how the food industry manipulating the public into thinking they're providing us with healthy alternatives. Its a very interesting book written by Nina Planck, who is a renowned food expert who grew up on a farm in Virginia eating 'real' food and selling it at farm stands. Her knowledge of food is very broad and is not at all related to food trends, just simple whole foods.  This book is aptly titled REAL FOOD: What To Eat and Why. In it, Ms. Planck shares her wealth of knowledge about foods that have been around for thousands of years and the benefits of them. For anyone looking to learn about food and maintaining a healthier lifestyle I highly recommend this book.  I promise you won't look at food the same way again.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope this post was helpful to you in some way. for more great cooking posts, please stop by Beth Fish Reads and check out all the other contributors for this weekly event. 

8 comments:

  1. Oh, I just saw Planck's book while I was browsing Amazon the other day! Glad to know it has helped you on a path toward better eating/living!

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  2. Both of these sound like a good starting point for the road to better eating. Seriously, I think eating real food is the big key to good health and maintaining a steady weight. Good luck with your continuing journey. I'll have to look for Planck's book.

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  3. Love this post! I haven't read either book, but they sound great and I 100% agree with their concepts for better eating. A few years ago, I read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food (his motto is “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”) and it totally changed the way I ate (mostly fresh, non-processed foods, more veggies, grass fed meat when I do eat it, etc). It made a huge difference and now lots of processed foods actually taste gross to me.

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  4. I need to do the same thing you did. Watch what I eat and cut out processed foods. The Planck book sounds very helpful.

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  5. Thanks for featuring these two helpful guides.

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  6. Although I refuse to make my eating a New Year's resolution, I do need to become more mindful of how, when, and what I eat. These look like two good books to help me on the way.

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  7. The Planck book looks very interesting! Our family is very mindful of what we eat and while we don't eat healthy all the time we are crazy about label reading. You are right-there is a ton of information there-and we need to get better at thinking about what we are putting in our bodies. We are what we eat after all.

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