An Interview with Nina Planck

Here is an excerpt from an interview with Nina Planck, author of Real Food and Real Food for Mother and Baby

FR: You have a new book coming out in April on Real Food nutrition for fertility, pregnancy, and baby’s first foods. What inspired you to write the book?

Nina: Our son Julian! I found the advice about prenatal care and diet spattered with myths and misunderstandings. I found we’d forgotten the traditional diets of our past – fertility diets, for example, were common. Instead of taking a folic acid pill, our maternal ancestors ate wild fish roe, fatty crabs, and grass-fed butter when they wanted to get pregnant and were pregnant.

FR: You’ve earned a reputation as a food renegade thanks to quite a few controversial stands you take concerning raw milk, saturated fats & cholesterol in the diet, and even veganism. What’s the most controversial thing you argue for in your new book?

Nina: Everything I recommend is based on tradition and science. Once all milk was raw. Pregnant women didn’t avoid it and they didn’t avoid raw fish and raw milk cheese. The foods aren’t inherently bad. What’s wrong is the food supply. That’s where we need reform. We need safe foods – whether they are industrial or traditional. Women think (because the OBs tell them) that swelling is a normal part of pregnancy or that it’s caused by eating too much salt. But the real cause in most cases is lack of protein. No poor person the world over would choose beans and rice instead of a piece of chicken if she could get it. Protein is just too valuable. You can’t build a baby without it. If people think nursing your baby until he’s two (or older) is strange, they need only examine their own culture. The world average for weaning is four years or so.

For the full interview click here