| Books:
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, by Sally Fallon 
Sally Fallon’s cookbook is so much more than a cookbook. In the center of the pages are really wonderful recipes, but on the borders of the pages are quotes and information on why certain foods, and ways of preparing foods, make all the difference. You can browse through it looking for recipes, and be learning a lot at the same time. The information is broken down into nice little digestible chunks. The essential message of this book is that if you look back to the ways foods have been traditionally prepared in every culture, there are certain basic things we have forgotten—and nutritionally these make all the difference. For example, for grains to be truly digestible for humans, they must be soured before cooking, such as sourdough bread vs instant yeasted breads. Likewise, raw or unpasteurized milk allows the body to absorb far more nutrients than pasteurized. Animal fats and egg yolks are extremely nourishing, as are soups made from bones. Her work is based on the work of a dentist named Weston Price who traveled around the world looking at cultures whose teeth were in good health and whose jaw structure fit their teeth appropriately. What he found were certain dietary traditions regarding the preparation of foods (which we have all but lost). When those traditions were given up, the health and bone structure of the people changed dramatically within one generation. I recommend this book to all my patients.
This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader One of the many things I love about this book is the way Joan weaves useful information—about gardening, composting, cooking, and the politics of local and seasonal food—into a very entertaining story about battles with neighbors and being flooded by the Hudson River while trying to renovate a house. Essentially, she converts you to her point of view in such a friendly way that its hard to even notice that your thinking has changed by the end of the book. I read it during the summer I first planted a garden at the clinic, and felt I had good company along the way.
Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance: Transforming Food Production in Cuba I haven’t had a chance to read this yet, I just found out about it. However, one of the things I was most impressed with when visiting Cuba was their nation-wide transition to sustainable agriculture which was their creative solution to losing access to most of their pesticides and fertilizers after the collapse of the USSR. |
