So I’m finally getting around to reading this tome. It looks quite daunting, but by reading it bit by bit I think I’ll make it through. Also, by planning to post on each chapter as I read it, it will probably help me keep on top of it and make it all the way through the book. I’ve already read here and there throughout the book, but now I’m determined to read it cover to cover and try some of the recipes. I’ve already posted the mayonnaise and the sauerkraut that I’ve tried and have turned out great. Since I’ve success with the first two it gives me encouragement to press on!

This past week I’ve read the preface and part of the introduction. The introduction itself is just under 80 pages. So I’m going to break it up. There is so much information and I want to be able to digest it instead of just glossing over it.
The preface starts off b. It y talking about the reason for writing a book like this. Its main premise is as stated:

“ The premise of this book is that modern food choices and preparation techniques constitute a radical change from the way man has nourished himself for thousands of years and, from the perspective of history, represent a fad that not only has severely compromised his health and vitality but ay well destroy him; and that the culinary traditions of our ancestors, and the food choices and preparation techniques of healthy nonindustrialized peoples, should serve as the model for contemporary eating habits, even and especially during this modern technological age.”

Wow! What a sentence. I had to just copy what Fallon said in her book, because, how do you shorten that or make it more concise? It is such a great definition of what the book is all about. The preface goes on to talk about how diets have changed and how that proves the research of Weston A. Price back in the 1930s. His research seems to imply that as we introduce white starches, pasteurized and processed foods into our diets we see increases in tooth decay, infectious disease, degenerative illness and infertility.

Fallon attempts to take the research and explain it and provide a cookbook that will provide new and inventive recipes to be incredibly healthy and delicious.

The introduction starts out with statistics on disease and how sick the American nation really is. The statistics are sad and sobering. One of them was that 1 in 5 is mentally ill and 50% of the nation suffers from some sort of chronic illness. WOW! We weren’t designed to have malfunctioning bodies. What is happening?

Fallon goes on to describe the seemingly obvious fact that the more processed foods we eat the worse our nutrition is and the more disease there is. She also talks about how food is processed especially grains and how it is in every products that we eat. Unfortunately food industry and government is tied closely and therefore it effects what is recommended for a healthy lifestyle. It all links back to money.

I’ve learned a lot in the first 5 or so pages! I’m so excited to study this more deeply and I hope you are along for the ride!

Read Part II