Book Review: Real Food Has Curves

As promised... finally here's my book review of Real Food Has Curves

I really really liked this book! I randomly picked it up at the library when I was browsing for something new to read. What's funny about this book, is that there was absolutely no new information for me. Its really mostly common sense... and yet... I couldn't put it down!

Written by two foodies who write and cook for several different magazines and even Weight Watchers, its laid out in such a user friendly way it was a great resource. I even took notes and made several photocopies some of the 100 recipes inside, for future use. If I had enough money, I would totally buy this for a shelf reference.

Basically, they discuss how we've gotten to eating food that's not really "food" anymore. Highly processed, over sugared, over salted, over fattened food that has helped create the obesity crisis in our country. They offer easy ways to cut out all the crap we eat, and easy ways to bring real food back into our daily menus. They try to teach you how to get back into really enjoying what you eat, savoring, and taking pleasure in all the textures, flavors and aromas, that have made eating such a treat for centuries. Sounds great doesn't it?!

The main key is that they break down (and teach you to do it too) food into these categories. Here's also some examples of each to help you understand.

Food
Fresh pasta
Bone-in whole chicken
Fresh tomatoes
Almost Real Food
Dried Pasta
Boneless/skinless chicken parts
Natural, salt-free canned tomatoes
Barely Real Food
Frozen, cooked pasta
Canned chicken
Flavored, salted, stewed tomatoes
Not Real Food
Canned Pasta
Frozen, breaded chicken nuggets
Condensed tomato soup

I know it seems obvious, but the goal is to eat as much "real" food as possible. The next alternative is "almost real food" and of course, avoid anything deemed "not real food" as it has the most preservatives, added salts and fats and sugars, all usually used as preservatives, and all add unnecessary calories and bad stuff.

Another funny, and yet not surprising fact is that the "average" person only spends 8 minutes a day preparing their meals, down from an average of 72 minutes circa 1975. EIGHT MINUTES! Of course we don't have as much free time as we used to, but this doesn't mean we have to cut quite so many corners. This means that most of us are not cooking our food, or chopping veggies or deboning fresh halibut. Again, they make a plea/recommendation to take the time and effort to cook your own food and prepare. They gave a great example of how many parents use fish sticks as a quick "go-to" solution for their kids dinners. Thinking that they save so much time and money to do so. When on the contrary, they find that making oven-fried breaded fish fillets only actually take 4 minutes longer to prepare (28 minutes vs. 24) cost 20 cents less per serving and have 110 fewer calories per serving. The difference of course, isn't time, but EFFORT.

Finally, my favorite suggestion they give, which I'm going to try, is to try one new recipe or food item per week. Browse your grocery aisles and find some new sauce, oil, pasta, fruit, spice or whatever per week. It makes your cooking experiences more entertaining and engaging. And when you put more thought into what you eat, you'll eat less and less often. I think its a great idea, and can't wait to try some avocado oil, which they recommended as an alternative to olive oil in certain recipes. Sounds fun, right?!

So there you go. I highly recommend you check this book out and give it a read. It makes me really excited to go grocery shopping and spend some time planning fun menus and trying new foods! They also have a blog in which they try new recipes and give hints and tips also. So I recommend checking that out as well :)
Real Food Has Curves

Bon Appetit!