Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Diet Book Review: Darya Pino Rose's Foodist

[Full Disclosure: Received a free copy of the book from Darya and have been a contributor to her blog Summer Tomato in the past]

Darya Pino Rose has a PhD in neuroscience and a passion for healthy eating. She first married her inner scientist to her inner foodie with her blog, Summer Tomato, which was named one of TIME Magazine's 50 top websites back in 2011. This past year she took it one step further and published her book, Foodist: Using Real Food and Real Science to Lose Weight Without Dieting in which she details her personal journey to a style of eating and living that she has termed being a "Foodist".

Citing science when science is available, Rose explores the impact of dietary choice on health and weight, and then cites her own personal examples to support how to implement what she refers to as, "Eat More" habits. Those Eat More habits - they're her recommended starting blocks - respect the fact that life change works better if you don't start by trying to eliminate all the bad stuff, but rather try to first increase the good. A stalwart of farmer's market's, Rose encourages readers to cultivate love affairs with their kitchens - as it was her own love affair therein that led her not only to the publication of Foodist, but also to the design of her funky custom purposed Mercado farmer's market bag.

For those who aren't yet living a cooking from fresh whole foods lifestyle, this book is a great place to find some inspiration. With tips on shopping for fresh produce such as remembering that farmer's market fruits will indeed be exceedingly expensive compared to a supermarket's but that farmer's market vegetables are often comparable in price, to some of Darya's favourite recipes, to a list of "mouthwatering" words that Brian Wansink's work would suggest will heighten your family's enjoyment of their meals if used to describe them, Darya entices us all to use our kitchens more frequently.

As to whether or not you'll lose weight, as Darya puts it, and with a reference to Chip and Dan Heath's fabulous book Switch,
"By educating yourself more on the issues surrounding food, you can fuel your elephant's determination to take the high road and keep the noble course. You might even lose some weight in the process."
Ultimately I think Foodist's focus is placed much more directly on healthful eating, than weight management, but that's not a bad thing as regardless of the impact improving the quality of your diet might have on your weight, its impact on your health will markedly mitigate the risks of weight in the first place.

Like any great love affair, the more you put into yours, the more you'll get out of it. A Foodist's lifestyle is no doubt a healthful one, but no doubt too, there's not an insignificant amount of effort and the joint luxuries of time and means required. I also have no doubt the payoff is worth it, but I do look forward to reading a hopeful future edition of what might be titled, "The Family Foodist", when Darya's family grows and she finds new and innovative shortcuts to Foodist style living.

If you'd like your own copy, here's an Amazon Associates link.