Yesterday as I was thinking about real food things, I got to thinking about a friend who might be wanting to make the switch soon. I know he trusts me, so if I say “eat this not that,” he’ll be ok with it. But as he learns what’s involved, he might balk; it can seem like way too much trouble, especially in today’s world of fast and cheap and easily-grabbable food. And if someone thinks all food is pretty much equal—even if someone knows that processed food isn’t as good as fresh food, they still tend to think the difference isn’t that significant—they will conclude that “real food” might be a nice luxury for some, but it’s way too time-consuming for them. It will look like just another food fad or wacky diet.

As those of us already on board with real food know, eating this way is not a “fad” or a “diet.” It is actually more like a way of life, requiring a bit of extra time and effort (and money) to make it really work. So while my friend might like the idea of eating better, he might not like what it takes to do it. So I need to steer him toward the information that will help him understand why eating this way is worth the effort…and I realized that I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d tell him. There are so many resources out there. Where to suggest he start, without inundating him?

Hence this post. I decided that the best way to get it all straight in my own head, and the better to figure out how to pass it on to others, was to write it out.

I thought about how I’d “teach” this topic in the same way I used to think about teaching grammar. You can’t really get a good grip on writing unless you go back and (re)learn the most basic units of written communication: words, phrases, and punctuation. A person can be told how to eat in a real food way, and they can dutifully buy the right ingredients, but unless they know why they’re doing it, they can quickly become tired of the effort and go back to their old eating habits.  They need to understand the basics of nutrition: what the body needs, why it needs these things, and which foods provide them. And then there are the benefits of giving the body what it needs: most people who eat real food do it out of a desire to reap these benefits, such as a greatly improved outlook, diminishment of physical problems, and a steady mood (to name only three). Just like going back to learn basic sentence construction will give you all you need to know to write well, going back to the most basic, foundational points of what “real food” is will give you all you need to know to want to eat well.

So here’s my thinking on how I will advise my friend, and anyone else who asks, as to how to get started learning about real food:

1. Why it’s ok to eat saturated fat & cholesterol: The first thing people are doubtful about when I tell them I eat butter and eggs and such is the saturated fat & cholesterol content. They’re afraid of heart disease, and when I tell them that saturated fat & cholesterol do not cause heart disease, they give me looks that range from doubtful to incredulous (as in, “this chick’s a fruitcake!”). So the first thing I’d recommend to people is to learn about how saturated fat & cholesterol do NOT cause heart disease so that those fears are laid to rest. This also opens the door to understanding that saturated fat and cholesterol are vital for true health. Here are a few articles to start with:
   1. “Cholesterol and Heart Disease: A Phony Issue” – Dr. Mary Enig
   2. “Saturated fat and heart disease: Studies old and new” – Dr. Michael Eades
   3. “No evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease” – Dr. Briffa
   4. “The Cholesterol Myth” – Dr. Barry Groves
2. Get to know the work of Weston A. Price: The term “real food” has come to be associated with Price’s work, and for good reason. An understanding of his work is vital. Knowing what Price was investigating and why, and then understanding what he found, is foundational to comprehending why real foodies eat the way we do. Not just comprehending, but really getting it.
   1. “Principles of Healthy Diets” – covers the basics of Price’s work and the recommendations stemming from it
   2. Read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Price, the full text of which is available here
3. Read Nourishing Traditions: This seminal real food cookbook is not just a cookbook but a nutrition-basics tome. Reading the information chapters will further an understanding of Price-based health, and then having the book on hand will be incredibly useful as a person starts making dietary changes and needs to know how to cook a bone broth or make a real food version of mayonnaise.

I think these three things will give a person a solid foundation on why real food is such an empowering choice of how to eat. There is plenty more to say on the subject, obviously, but for a person just starting out, I think a pared-down, basics approach such as this would be the most helpful. It’s unpolitical as possible on purpose, focused simply on what we should eat and why. The debates, the hows, and the logistics of eating real food is to be tackled later.

I’ll write next about “Real Food 102: Real food in the real world.”