This past week I have been enjoying reading Nina Planck’s book Real Food for mother and baby. I found the book to be very thorough and enjoyable. Planck wrote the book after she herself had a child. She advocates eating real food-food that has been around for a long time and avoiding white sugar, refined flours, non-engineered foods etc.
The first part of the book focused on a fertility diet-what to eat if you are planning on becoming pregnant in the future. I especially enjoyed some of the charts in the book which talked about different nutrients for women, why that nutrient is important in growing a baby, the foods that are best to eat for that nutrient and a supplement that you can take if you are not eating foods high in a certain nutrient. Planck does emphasize the importance of eating the foods and not just relying solely on supplements.
The next section of the book deals with the pregnancy diet. While I was pregnant with Elijah I followed the Brewer diet the last half of my pregnancy which Planck also recommends. Basically it calls for 100g of protein. Not only does this ensure that your baby is getting enough nutrients, but I also found that the best cure for morning sickness is PROTEIN!!! It was after battling morning sickness for a good couple of months that a dear friend of mine Mrs. Shawna Howell explained the importance of protein in my diet.
The third section of the book (the real reason that I wanted to read the book) deals with feeding your baby. I appreciated Planck’s support for breastfeeding and her advice on feeding your baby. At almost 9 months old Elijah is just now starting to act like he enjoys eating food. 🙂 One thing that she mentioned that we haven’t tried yet is feeding your baby meat as a good first food. So far Elijah has eaten a good number of fruits and vegetables and I think we will be adding some roast chicken next week. Overall I enjoyed reading the book and would recommend it. I would not however call it a must have for the bookshelf. Nice to read but probably not one that I would find myself re-reading for at least a couple of years. I would recommend getting it from your local library as I did.
Emerson Family 
I will have to check that book out thanks for the review!