The Food Babe Way is the first book by popular food blogger and activist, Vani Hari, better known as the Food Babe. Food Babe became a household name for her efforts to press Kraft to remove harmful food dyes from their products targeted to children, exposing Subway’s use of the now infamous “yoga mat” chemical in their bread products and pushing Chipotle to live up to their “Food With Integrity” tagline.
The book begins with Vani’s journey as an “Accidental Activist” where she details her successful petitions targeting big food companies that sell us poison, often by using deceptive marketing tactics. The chapter goes on to point out the ignorance and complicity of the agencies within the federal government that should be protecting Americans from these harmful additives in our food.
“The Sickening 15” is then revealed highlighting damaging ingredients in food products such as high fructose corn syrup, carrageenan, monosodium glutamate and the silent killers not listed on labels like antibiotics, bisphenol-A (BPA) and growth hormones in meat. Food Babe then reviews current and past popular diets pointing out a running theme that very few of them encourage the consumption of organic and non GMO foods.
Part 2 of The Food Babe Way gives the readers 21 habits to implement over 21 days with simple techniques such as adding lemon water to your morning ritual, passing on fast food and adding a green smoothie to your daily meals. There are also more advanced habits like daily fasting and learning to travel organically.
The final section of the book gets into The Food Babe Way Eating Plan. Vani provides specific meals to have each week for breakfast, lunch and dinner and includes over 50 recipes! Click here for a Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream recipe my daughter and I made.
My only criticism would be the promotion of animal products. Her research on this topic is better and more open-hearted then a lot of what is out there, but as a species, I think humans need to evolve past using animals for food, especially considering the “humane meat” issue is merely a marketing scheme to reach the conscious consumer. The water and plants it takes to produce meat could feed the world many times over and technology has created many high quality, organic, plant based supplements that are excellent sources of vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, vitamin D, etc. But, Vani does consider herself “highly vegetarian” and points out the unhealthy ingredients in “fake meats” that a lot of vegans gravitate to.
I would advise some readers to not be afraid to stretch the 21 daily habits into 21 weeks, if need be. This is because we are all products of our long term, subconscious programming and it may be more difficult for some to adapt to so many new changes in just 3 weeks. Although, the quicker time is ideal, don’t be afraid if you fail to try it over a longer time frame. After all, 21 weeks is less than half a year and is not very long considering you’ll be around for decades to come!
Overall, The Food Babe Way is an excellent guide for one beginning their journey into better health or even for those who need some maintenance to improve their dietary habits and well being and gets my personal stamp of approval!
