Book Stats:
Publication Date - July 29, 2014
Audio Version - 8 hours and 57 minutes
Hard Copy - 328 pages
ISBN - 978-1628600544
In May I decided to make a renewed commitment to clean eating. I am the first to admit that it became very difficult to stick with it once school began. The business and stress of the school year quickly led me to fall back on old, bad habits, like junk food and caffeine. So as the year began to wind down and I had an Audible credit to use, I decided to search for something that would help inspire me to change my eating habits (again). I landed on It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig. I had heard of the Whole30, and know a few coworkers have tried the program, so I thought this would be a good place to start.
After listening to the book, I’ve decided that It Starts With Food is the in-depth scientific explanation of why the Whole30 program is designed the way that it is. It Starts With Food gives detailed explanations of the science side of the program, including how macronutrients work in the body, and also explaining the negative effects of sugars, carbs, and dairy products on the body. They also share the upsides to proteins, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables.
As a big picture person, it’s easy for me to overlook details, because I get so excited about the, well, big picture. I don’t ask enough questions sometimes, and don’t say “why” often enough. It is for this reason that I am really glad that I listened to It Starts With Food before reading the Whole30 book. It forced me to develop a deeper understanding of the reasons behind the Whole30, which also gives me more confidence in the program.
My one criticism of the book, and this isn’t really a criticism of the authors so much as the method of delivery that I used, is that it was hard to digest all of the information, pardon the pun, in audio form There was so much science (a subject that is NOT my forte), that it could be hard to follow at times when just listening. In college, I always reread sections of textbooks, trying to glean every last bit of understanding that I could from the pages. Which was why I ended up checking out a hard copy of It Starts With Food from the public library, so that I could reread some sections and take some notes.
What follows is my summary of what you need to know about It Starts With Food.
Here is an outline of the sections of this book:
Part 1 - It Starts With Food
Chapter 1 - Food Should Make You Healthy
Chapter 2 - Our Nutritional Framework
Part 2 - Good Food Standards
Chapter 3 - What Is Food?
Chapter 4 - Your Brain On Food
Chapter 5 - Healthy Hormones, Healthy You
Chapter 6 - The Guts of the Matter
Chapter 7 - Inflammation: No One Is Immune
Part 3 - Less Healthy
Chapter 8 - Sugar, Sweeteners and Alcohol
Chapter 9 - Seed Oils
Chapter 10 - Grains and Legumes
Chapter 11 - Dairy
Chapter 12 - It All Adds Up
Part 4 - More Healthy
Chapter 13 - Meat, Seafood and Eggs
Chapter 14 - Vegetables and Fruits
Chapter 15 - The Right Fats
Part 5 - Let’s Eat
Chapter 16 - Meal Planning Made Easy
Part 6 - The Whole30
Chapter 17 - Preface to the Program
Chapter 18 - The Whole30: Process of Elimination
Chapter 19 - The Whole30: Reintroduction
Part 7 - Whole30, Whole Life
Chapter 20 - Strategies for Long Term Success
Chapter 21 - Fine Tuning for Special Populations
Chapter 22 - Supplement Your Healthy Diet
Read This Book If:
*You are already invested in the Whole30 program, but want a more detailed explanation
*You are interested in the Whole30 program, but skeptical of why you will be asked to give up the holy trinity of sugars, carbs and dairy
*You want a better understanding of how food “works” once it enters our body
Skip This Book If:
*You find science boring (I don’t find it boring, just difficult to follow)
*You already use the Whole30, have found that it works, and don’t really need to know more
*You would rather maintain an ignorance is bliss stance when it comes to the food you put into your body
As for the content of the book, I will save my opinion of the Whole30 for the actual book of the same name, but I will say that if I had read just the Whole30 first, I would have had some major doubts. Give up sugar, carbs and dairy? But what if I use natural sweeteners, whole grains, and organic dairy products or alternative dairy products (i.e. soy milk, almond milk, etc.) But It Starts With Food pulls no punches in explaining why these items do not make the cut with regards to the good food standards, and although I still find it extremely hard to avoid these foods (and sometimes am unsuccessful), I now at least understand WHY I am being asked to do so. This book also helped me understand why I found it so difficult to stay the course with my clean eating, and the reason I eventually fell off the wagon and gave in to my cravings. Spoiler alert - food scientists are designing junk food to be addictive. Not cool.
It Starts With Food has insightful information to share, and you can tell that the Hartwigs have poured their hearts and souls into the program that they have created, and truly want to help others change their lives which. And as they say - it starts with food.
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