Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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!

I have been following the blog for this book for the past year -- both the blog and the book are an absolute must read. There has been so much written in recent years about processed food, but this is like a primer for understanding and decoding all of that elitist chatter and taking real action. Their tone is accessible, non-judgmental and witty. Loving my copy, and logging on to send additional copies to friends & family.

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.

I love common sense and this book delivers it in a delicious way. In Real Food Has Curves, Weinstein and Scarbrough document their own struggle with weight gain and take inventory of their own lives (starting with the refrigerator!) to discover that fake food may be the culprit.

They don't ask the reader to give up fats, meat, dairy, carbs or any food group like some diets do. They don't ask us to deprive ourselves of anything. As they say, "Deprivation is not a motivator. It's a blocking mechanism. And once we remove the block, the pent-up desire goes nuts. ...Who's going to keep drinking leek water? Or not eating chocolate? Or only eating chicken breasts with a plain baked potato? Or cutting out this and that all to take some ridiculous supplement? How can anyone stand it?"

Instead, they simply challenge us to take a good look at what we are eating, what is in our cupboards and refrigerators, and ask ourselves is it real food, almost real food, or not really food at all? The answers lie in the ingredients. Real food ingredients translate to more satisfaction, and when we're more satisfied we will not be driven to keep eating to fill the void fake food leaves behind.

I liked their approach of getting rid of what is useless in food, upgrading our choices to what satisfies the taste as well as nourishes the body, and the challenge to simply treat ourselves better by what we eat. The authors include good recipes throughout to replace the fake food versions we might be used to. They never ask us to give up something without giving a real food alternative that's even better tasting.

After reading other books about "clean eating" or "whole food eating" with their strict lists of do's and don't's, I found this book to be one that I'm most likely to follow.

Eating "real" food really does work. I have lost almost 15% of my weight by simply doing this, and this book got me started on the right path. I am not skimping on meals, in fact, I can eat more. This books helps you really think about what you are eating. Being conscious of how you feed your body, respecting what you put in it, will simply make you healthy. This book has great meal and recipe ideas that I can use for my whole family. It provides versatility and creativity in its approach. Buying, cooking and perparing real food is easy, just requires a little forethought, and the payoff is worth it. Highly recommended!!

I love this book! It's simple, no-nonsense, and full of recipes. Their facts are endnoted, so you can check their science (I found it to be good). The recipes are clear, and usually don't require truly odd ingredients. They take you step by step through a process of looking at what you eat and why, and what you probably should be eating and why. I'd buy it again, and give it as a gift!

This book was much better than I expected and wasn't all just a rehash of the things we all already know about avoiding processed foods.

It shows you why eating real food is not difficult, and is certainly not a sacrifice and why the things you make using real ingredients will taste so much better and be far more satisfying. When your food is more satisfying, you'll eat less, the authors explain.

The book is also full of simple recipes, and lots of basic information abvout which oils to use and how to choose the best produce, how to avoid fake-foods full of chemicals and so on. The listing of foods into categories of real food, almost real food, barely real food and not real food was an excellent idea.

My only criticism is that the authors are still slightly tainted by the 'low-fat' and 'low-calorie' paradigm, which is unfortunate. (Low fat or no-fat milk or yogurt is not as good for you or as satisfying as full fat, and is full of awful milk powders. Cutting meat portions right down and adding more potatoes is also unlikely to be as satisfying, and there are imnportant nutrients to be gotten form meat as well.) Overall though I was happily surprised by how little these very popular but wrong ideas made an appearance, especially considering the authors' ties to Weight Watchers.

The book also avoids issues of food intolerance and other health related dietary restrictions, but then that is beyond what this book is trying to do - this book is more a starting point on the healthy diet path. It does one thing well, which is fair enough.

The authors clearly have a real passion for the topic but are not in the least annoyingly preachy.

If you're stuck in a processed food rut and lack the knowledge or even the motivation to change your ways this book could be just what you need.

Full of good information for those looking to get off processed foods. Great recipes too!

I'm still reading this book, but it has already made me stop and think about what I put into my mouth and how to savor the flavor of natural food. I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes and also buying some of their cookbooks.