Good Reads and a Few Rules

Sorting through all of the real food/plant based diet/green living information I find on blogs, in books, and in food documentaries is very overwhelming. I just try to go with what is common sense and with what I can do to change things little by little.  It's hard to know where to start; personally I suggest starting with 100 Days of Real Food online, Michael Pollan's books, and Food Inc. in movie documentaries.

100 Days of Real Food

- Real food recipes

- tips on living a real food life

- eye opening info on the bad stuff we routinely put in our bodies

- lunch ideas

I've read two of Michael Pollan's books, In Defense of Food and Food Rules, and I would recommend both - but for different reasons.  

In Defense of Food

- scientific at times

- journalist writing about why our food culture is the way it is
- why we should reject a Western Diet

- good info, but very dense

- basic rules to live by when choosing food: eat food, not too much, mostly plants

Food Rules ***I suggest reading this first***

- breaks the three rules down into simple wise sayings from different cultures

- easy to read

- easy to commit favorite ideas to memory

- it's kind of funny, but then sad but true

- quick and easy read to get you in the real food mindset

My favorite rules:

1. If you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you're not hungry.

2. Don't eat anything with ingredients a third grader can't pronounce.

3. It's not food if it comes through your car window (ha ha)

4. Stop when you are satisfied, not stuffed.

And about 60 more.

Food Inc.

This documentary is all about the business of food.  It will gross you out and make you think twice about what types of meat you choose to eat. It didn't make me a vegan, but it does make me think about my meat and the poor fat chickens that are so super sized they can't even stand up.  Bryan fights me on how much and what types of meat we should buy (same old stuff or paying extra for pastured meat, and I give in to buying the same old stuff) so I'm trying to watch more documentaries with him so we have it in our heads and make the leafy green choice over the once living choice.



For encouragemnt: Make the changes step-by-step (oh baby).  Stay away from the teachers' lounge during Teacher Appreciation Week (ok, that one is really for me).  Keep exercising even if it seems fruitless (that one is for me too).