The Los Angeles Times Book Review: “A Convincing Case for Getting ‘Real’” by Hannah Wallace
This review of “Real Food: What to Eat and Why” was written by Hannah Wallace and published in The Los Angeles Times on July 24, 2006.
In 1939, a Canadian dentist named Weston Price published "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration," a seminal work of nutritional anthropology that purported to show why isolated cultures had no tooth decay and less arthritis, diabetes, cancer and heart disease than people living in industrialized nations... his principles… are enjoying a renaissance among a small but growing legion of nutritionally savvy citizens.
Nina Planck is one of Price's foremost disciples. In her new book, "Real Food," Planck, who grew up on a vegetable farm in Virginia, cites an array of studies that have, in the intervening 70 years, supported the prescient dentist's theories. It is a highly readable (if at times repetitive) summary of the current scientific evidence for her thesis that "industrial" foods are to blame for ailments as varied as heart disease and infertility.
Planck's overarching premise -- that trans fats (mostly derived from partially hydrogenated oils) are to blame for our epidemic rates of heart disease and cancer -- is hardly shocking. More controversial are her assertions that many of the "real foods" we've been taught to fear are harmless…
A writer making such claims should have a solid pedigree. Although not trained as a nutritionist, Planck has firsthand experience with real food. Raised on grass-fed beef, raw, unpasteurized milk and the nutritional advice of whole foods pioneer Adelle Davis, she founded London's first producer-only farmers market in 1999 and returned to New York City to run the Union Square Greenmarket...
More controversially, Planck takes on the mainstream cholesterol establishment, arguing convincingly that LDL, or bad, cholesterol does not actually cause heart disease but rather is a symptom of heart disease... harder to digest (forgive the pun) is Planck's fervent ode to raw, unpasteurized milk… In general, Planck's assertions are backed up with copious evidence: books by nutritionists and doctors, quotes from experts and physicians, studies from respected medical journals. And she has a talent for presenting hard-to-grasp biological processes in plain English…
Planck has written an important book, and her timing may be perfect. With any luck, "Real Food" will resonate with Americans (starved for so long on low-fat diets) and bring Weston Price to a much larger audience than he could ever have imagined.
