You know “those” people. They stalk the produce aisle, pay $4 for a gallon of milk, and spend hours pouring over labels and nutritional stats, maybe you’re one of them, maybe they live next door to you, or maybe you avoid them like the plague…
In case you’re feeling a bit confused, I’m referring to whole foods shoppers. For the past year or so of my life I’ve been opening my mind to the many benefits of buying and cooking with whole foods. What are whole foods? Well, the basic concept is food that is grown or raised naturally without additives, preservatives and the like, and is not refined or processed. Sounds kind of complicated right? I was a bit overwhelmed at first when I started doing research about whole foods. The amount of resources on the subject is very weighty, so naturally it can be very difficult to decipher what is true golden knowledge from the fakes.
Well if you find yourself in this predicament or are just interested in eating more healthfully, then I highly recommend snagging a copy of Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair. I stumbled upon it at Amazon.com one day, while browsing for cookbooks and it immediately caught my eye. The cover boasts, “Recipes for Babies, Young Children, and Their Parents”, and Ms. Lair delivers that and much more. Feeding the Whole Family is a wonderfully comprehensive guide to wholesome eating and cooking. Lair gives the basic principles and identifies a well-balanced whole foods lifestyle in a very straightforward way as well as offering shopping helps, pantry building guides, menu plans and tons of delicious recipes.
One of the most interesting things I found in this book was the focus on family meals. It gives very specific attention to feeding babies and children in every stage of their development,which I found very informative and sensible. It guides parents to raise their children to become healthy eaters from infant-hood and so on. Theses chapters highlight everything from breastfeeding to toddler finger-foods, to packing healthy lunch boxes. It gives recipes for homemade baby cereal and natural baby food that are simple and extremely economical. (Yes, eating whole foods can save you money.)
Feeding the Whole Family is an easy read, not at all overwhelming. And best of all, it gives pure helpful information without being preachy or condescending. It’s realistic in the sense that real lifestyle changes shouldn’t be rushed into like a fad diet, but made slowly and consciously. As Lair so perfectly states, “Make small changes over weeks and months, and create the time and space needed to give your family deeply nourishing food a little at a time.”
My Life As a Modern Wife 