Someone on the TJED Muse yahoo group asked about whole foods and what books they recommend as a whole foods classic. Here is my response:

The BEST books on whole foods are the two by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, PhD. The first is Eat Fat, Lose Weight. They explain the story behind the myth that heart disease is caused by high cholesterol. This story is fascinating and has all the intrigue and deception of a cloak and dagger mystery. They have tons of recipes in the back of the book. They explain that the key to being healthy is having the right fat in the diet, which is animal fats and coconut oil. The rights fats help you get satisfied sooner on when you are eating, so that you don’t overdose on carbs. Fats really can make you happy, and if you eat the right kind, you won’t gain weight. It is absolutely maddening to hear about the deception that has gone in this country regarding what really is healthy, but it also very informing to find out about the money behind the deception. The second is Nourishing Traditions.

Eating a whole foods diet is one my passions. I heartily believe that one of the keys to feeling good is watching what you eat.  As a La Leche League Leader (LLL), I started out with “Whole Foods for the Whole Family” (published by LLL) which is a great introduction. There’s also “Whole Foods from Around the World,” “Whole Foods for Kids to Cook,” and “Whole Foods for Babies and Toddlers,” all from the LLLI store http://store.llli.org/public/search?q=whole+foods+&s=Go You can get them bundled together for only $40!

The problem with these books though is they don’t go into the importance of soaking whole grains with whey or some neutralizing agent  to get rid of phytic acid, which all whole grains have. Phytic acid is what keeps grains from spoiling so you can store them long term. They bind up minerals. So if you spend a lifetime of eating unsoaked whole grains you could have problems with mineral absorption, and get osteoporosis.

That’s where Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions comes in. I love her book but it is so dense with tons of info, it is not an easy read. But it is worth getting! In the chapter on breakfasts she explains how to fix whole grains properly for breakfast, on p. 455. It’s chock full of recipes and also has these delightful sidebars with fascinating tidbits. One of them says that a nutritionist, Adelle Davis, was a guest on the Today Show. She told Johnny Carson, when asked for a rule of thumb on healthy eating, “If it’s advertised in the media, don’t eat it!” Truer words were never spoken! Unfortunately, that was edited out. The sidebars are full of fascinating tidbits like that that you can’t find all in one place anywhere else.

Kimberly Simmerman, a TJED mom has a great cookbook that condenses the info from Sally Fallon into a smaller cookbook. I have her preview copy, it’s called From Granola to Green. She has sold it at the TJED forum. It all harmonizes with Nourishing Traditions, except for Kimberly’s recommendation not to eat a lot of salt. NT says that salt is needed in the diet and recommends you get unrefined sea salt. Kimberly’s email (at least the one given at the front of the cookbook) is Kimberlysimmerman at gmail dot com. I like Kim’s explanation of climbing the heatlh ladder. You start at the marshmallow/cardboard box level where your food comes out of bags and boxes. Then you  move to the granola level, which is whole foods, then you move to the green level, which is whole foods that are supercharged with nutrition, because you understand the importance of soaking grain, sprouting grains and legumes, and lacto-fermenting vegetables.

The Weston Price foundation, started by Sally Fallon, is a great web site with a wealth of information, including archives of their journal and recordings from their conferences, http://westonaprice.org. It also has guidelines for children’s diet and a diet for pregnant and nursing moms.  They recently had some cool videos made, and I have some of them here on my website, made by a mom in Florida, Sarah Pope. She is a Weston Price chapter leader. Her blog is so cool! It’s  thehealthyhomeeconomist.com. I really like it. She has the videos on her web site, including how to make homemade ice cream, yum!

Sarah’s dad used to be an old fashioned doctor who would do house calls and she would accompany him. She learned a lot from her dad doing this. She wrote an article that I have found is invaluable to help any mom be a “Dr. Mom” in her own home. I summarize it on my web site here http://treeoflifemothering.ning.com/forum/topics/what-are-your-favorite-dr-mom She says one of the BIG things to keep kids healthy is to keep them off pasteurized milk, which causes ear infections and allergies and lots of trouble.

http://newtrendspublishing.com/ is the publisher for Nourishing Traditions and has interviews on mp3 with Sally along with DVDs for sale. 

There’s another cool blog out there based on Nourishing Traditions http://heavenlyhomemakers.com

Another TJED mom friend of mine, Tammie, has a blog http://nourishingfamilies.blogspot.com. She isn’t totally at the Nourishing Traditions level. She uses canola oil, which is totally not a whole food and a few other things I disagree with but she is mostly into whole foods, just not soaking grains or lacto-fermenting.

Caralee, another girlfriend/TJED mom friend, has a blog http://amodernpioneeringfamily.blogspot.com. She has a farm and uses raw milk and is totally into Nourishing Traditions. She perfected a soaked whole wheat flour bread recipe that got approval from Sally Fallon. It is on her site.

My girlfriend Tara, another TJED mom, and member of this site has a great blog too, http://happyinthekitchen-withtara.blogspot.com/. I love her post about how as a Christian woman your best time is spent in the kitchen. Thank you for that thought Tara, I love it! It’s all about building Zion by building happy healthy bodies and minds.

Happy Cooking and Eating! As.G.K. Chesterton said, the woman is the center of pillar and health in her home. Let’s build Zion from our kitchen counters!