Suggested Summer Reading List

This month I thought I would add some book recommendations to our reading list. Our entire family loves to read. When my girls wanted to stay up later as kids, they knew all they had to do was beg me to read them another story! Reading has always been my soft spot! Having a ranch, large vegetable garden, and orchard means most of my reading occurs during the slower winter months. So with May already well upon us, I am reaching the end of my reading season. (I still manage to get a few books read even during the summer!) Here are some I have recently enjoyed:

Real Food, Fake Food by Larry Olmsted

Warning, this book will change the way you look at food. Our family now only buys olive oil that is extra virgin and has a PDO seal. You may never want to eat parmesan cheese out of a can again!​

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

This is primarily a recipe book, but also contains the author’s opinions on our food culture, or lack thereof, and traditional food cultures around the world. You don’t have to agree with everything she states to enjoy the many recipes it contains. I cook with this book every week, selections such as fermented cabbage, fermented ketchup, and fermented ginger carrots. I make different stocks- chicken, beef and even fish! She has the best fried liver recipe I have come across yet, and I have even made some of the raw beef dishes- the Korean style one being our family favorite. I don’t have to worry about serving raw beef since I know where my beef comes from with how healthy and chemical free it is!

The Wahls Protocol by Terry Wahls, M.D.

This book has been a game-changer for me, since recovering from Lyme disease. It is an eating plan geared toward people with chronic autoimmune conditions (think Lyme disease, diabetes and MS for example), but it would be beneficial to anyone. Dr. Wahls was a faithful vegetarian until she started researching dietary treatments for her own rapidly progressive MS. She came to the conclusion that to recover, her diet had to include some meat protein. As a physician, I appreciate her objective approach and willingness to change her biases based on the evidence she discovered. Her claim that instead of aging, people “youthen” on her diet plan is a real thing. I hadn’t been on the diet more than a month when two different friends, on two different occasions came up to me and declared I was looking younger! Now that’s icing on the cake that won’t hurt any dietary plan!