Real Food Has Curves: How to Get Off Processed Food, Lose Weight, and Love What You Eat [Hardcover]

Bruce Weinstein (Author), Mark Scarbrough (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 11, 2010

CURVE YOUR APPETITE.

Dumping the fake stuff and relishing real food will make you feel better, help you drop pounds, and most importantly, take all the fear out of what you eat. Does that sound too good to be true? It isn’t—despite the fact that lately we’ve given up ripe vegetables for the canned stuff; tossed out sweet, tart orange juice for pasteurized concentrate; traded fresh fish for boil-in-a-bag dinners; and replaced real desserts with supersweet snacks that make us feel ridiculously overfed but definitely disappointed. The result? Most of us are overweight or obese—or heading that way; more and more of us suffer from diabetes, clogged arteries, and even bad knees. We eat too much of the fake stuff, yet we’re still hungry. And not satisfied.

Who hasn’t tried to change all that? Who hasn’t walked into a supermarket and thought, I’m going to eat better from now on? So you load your cart with whole-grain crackers, fish fillets, and asparagus. Sure, you have a few barely satisfying meals before you think, Hey, life’s too short for this! And soon enough, you’re back to square one. For real change, you need a real plan. It’s in your hands.

Real Food Has Curves is a fun and ultimately rewarding seven-step journey to rediscover the basic pleasure of fresh, well-prepared natural ingredients: curvy, voluptuous, juicy, sweet, savory. And yes, scrumptious, too. In these simple steps—each with its own easy, delicious recipes—you’ll learn to become a better shopper, savor your meals, and eat your way to a better you. Yes, you’ll drop pounds. But you won’t be counting calories. Instead, you’ll learn to celebrate the abundance all around. It’s time to realize that food is not the enemy but a life-sustaining gift. It’s time to get off the processed and packaged merry-go-round. It’s time to be satisfied, nourished, thinner, and above all, happier. It’s time for real food.

Shape your waist, rediscover real food, and find new pleasure in every meal as Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough teach you how to:

• Eat to be satisfied

• Recognize the fake and kick it to the curb

• Learn to relish the big flavors you’d forgotten

• Get healthier and thinner

• Save money and time in your food budget

• Decode the lies of deprivation diets

• Relish every minute, every bite, and all of life

REAL FOOD. REAL CHANGE. REAL EASY.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Weinstein and Scarbrough’s excellent and delicious advice is something you’ll want to sink your teeth into. They give you the straight scoop on what constitutes ‘real food’ and why adding it into your diet is the best insurance policy for not only achieving great health but also joy and satisfaction. Bravo!”

—David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, author of 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life!

"What do two lovers of food—one a chef, the other a writer—do when they notice their girth is growing? They explore how the food that surrounds us in our fast-paced world leads to overconsumption and little satisfaction. Go along with them as they discover how to get back in touch with the real food that wakes up our senses and helps our bodies know when we have had enough."

—Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan

“Who would have thought that loving food more would be a great way to lose weight? Or that to eat less, you might need to eat more things? With witty, well-researched prose and simple, delightful recipes, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough show us how to reacquaint ourselves with the elemental pleasures of cooking for and feeding ourselves joyfully.”

—Joyce Hendley, co-author of The EatingWell Diet

"Real Food Has Curves is a delightfully delicious insight into how desperately we need to get away from processed, 'fake' foods. The recipes are tasty, healthy, and most importantly, they're real. From the first bite of peach to the last tip on avoiding ingredients we can't even pronounce much less spell, Bruce and Mark make this book a must-have for the dot com generation." —Alison Sweeney, host of The Biggest Loser

About the Author

BRUCE WEINSTEIN and MARK SCARBROUGH are the authors of nineteen books about food, including Real Food Has Curves; the bestselling, multi-volume Ultimate Cook Book series; Ham: An Obsession with the Hindquarter; Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese; and Cooking Know-How, winner of a 2009 Gourmand World Award. They are online columnists for Weight Watchers ("A Cut Above"), have been spokespeople for the U. S. Potato Board and the California Milk Advisory Board, and regularly contribute to Fine Cooking, Cooking Light, Eating Well, Relish, and The Washington Post. They live in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

BRUCE WEINSTEIN and MARK SCARBROUGH are the authors of nineteen books about food, including Real Food Has Curves; the bestselling, multi-volume Ultimate Cook Book series; Ham: An Obsession with the Hindquarter; Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese; and Cooking Know-How, winner of a 2009 Gourmand World Award. They are online columnists for Weight Watchers ("A Cut Above"), have been spokespeople for the U. S. Potato Board and the California Milk Advisory Board, and regularly contribute to Fine Cooking, Cooking Light, Eating Well, Relish, and The Washington Post. They live in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books (May 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439160384
• ISBN-13: 978-1439160381
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #566,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I learned how to eat by reading this book. June 1, 2010

By Julie

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book inspired me. It was basic and easy to read. I have learned how to really taste food, enjoy food, savor food and go for the good stuff. I have learned that taking a few more minutes not only to shop and prepare but actually eat my food is actually helping me lose weight. I have almost completely stopped eating processed food and junk and have focused on healthy whole foods. It wasn't that huge of a lifestyle change. This book taught me how to search for flavors in foods and when I taste them it is like a treasure hunt. I have been reading and following the steps for 2 weeks and have lost 8 pounds. I have not been counting calories, just eating better. I feel like I have not been depriving myself at all. I have been giving myself new opportunities.

I have tried for years to lose weight and eat better and this is the first book that has made me happy to do it. It was written for me!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Ever!!!!!! May 12, 2010

By S. Rodgers

Format:Hardcover

I'm quite familiar with Weinstein and Scarbrough's work and I think that this one might just yet be my favorite. Maybe it's because it's the perfect combination of cooking, medicine, and basic food information. Maybe it's because it just make so much damn good sense and it's written so well. Whatever the reason, Real Food Has Curves (which I just received this afternoon and have not been able to put down) is fantastic! Everyone should have this book!

46 of 54 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Artificial Food is Not Satisfying June 5, 2010

By Garridon

Format:Hardcover

I've been looking for a book like this for a while--covering how to make meals more satisfying and more interesting without resorting to heavily processed. The purpose of the book is to get flavor out of good ingredients.

They discuss how a lot of processed food is marketed for its "healthy" benefits--until you look at the label and discover that it's a lot of chemicals and sugar. They give you some of the things to look for, like mysterious "natural flavors" or "cheese food" or "artificial flavors." All of this takes away from the flavors and leaves us unsatisfied and snacking to fill the void. All I did was try changing out my breakfast in the morning with better choices, and I noticed right away that I didn't crave sweets during the day. This is well worth a look just for this.

They also introduced me to the concept of different flavored oils, like walnut oil or grapeseed oil. Instead of treating this as something to be feared, they tell us to experiment for flavor. Get good flavor, and we don't need as much.

Where the book didn't quite do as well for me:

There are 100 recipes in the book (no nutritional information for those looking for calories--it was intentionally left out because the purpose was to focus on healthy, satisfying ingredients), some with more unusual ingredients. I would have liked to see a couple of alternatives, since I don't want to spend all my time driving all over to find one ingredient. I'm probably never going to make anything with wheatberries because it's too difficult for me to get.

The other was on planning meals. Every single recipe book assumes that this is easy to do and will solve all your problems and lectures on doing it. I can't do it. I spent about a day trying to figure out how to cut recipes down to fit a solo eater (a nearly impossible task), then try to work a meal plan where I won't waste ingredients. That's at least another half a day. Get to the grocery store and discover that three of the required ingredients aren't there this week, and by Tuesday, the meal plan has fallen completely apart. Not everyone can operate with an outline, and I'm one of them. I do better walking into the store sans list, buy what looks good, and the throw meals together during the week. I spend less when I do this, and I go out less when I do this. Be nice if books like this reflected the needs of people like me, too.