Real Moms Love to Eat: How to Conduct a Love Affair with Food, Lose Weight and Feel Fabulous

by Beth Aldrich, Eve Adamson, Sherry Belcher M.S. C.N (Foreword)

Beth Aldrich, author of, Real Moms Love to Eat wants you to conduct a love affair with food and still look fabulous by simply working through her easy-to-follow 10-part plan of making over your entire outlook and relationship with food. You have to eat at least three times a day, so why not love what you're eating and feed yourself food that will love you back? Discover new and interesting ways to prepare and "get involved" with food; complete with 21-days of satisfying and delicious meal suggestions, this funny book will find a permanent spot on your bedside table or kitchen counter. Real Moms really DO love to eat!

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2012

About the author

Beth Aldrich’s non-fiction book, Real Moms Love to Eat (Penguin/NAL, 2012), won a Nautilus Book Award, and four Beverly Hills Book Awards. She published For Her Information, a Chicago magazine for women, and produced/hosted the PBS-TV series, For Her Information, in sixty markets across the United States, in addition to distribution in Israel and Turkey. She’s a proud member of Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Chicago Writer’s Association, and Chicago Off Campus Writer’s Workshop. Like her debut fiction protagonist, she studied culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu in Chicago and her dogs are always at her side. Her author website is BethAldrich.com.

Reviews

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a mom but a busy woman with a little too much extra weight. I won this book in a goodreads giveaway and I am glad I did. Beth Aldrich is engaging and truly understands the realities of food in our lives. Since reading this book I am savoring more, noticing what I love, and opting for taste over convenience. This book is a ten week life style changing plan. Each week is about five things. It is all about committing for a week and then building on the habits. This is not about deprivation. It is about finding taste, listening to your body and enjoying the time spent in the kitchen. Although Beth Aldrich has a few soapbox moments she is all about the "take it or leave it" philosophy. Try it, listen to your body, and decide for yourself. The book is full of recipes that I am looking forward to trying. Although I am not sure about the green smoothies, I do plan to use this book for months and years to come.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with the others, I'd received my copy of Real Moms Love to Eat through goodreads and I have to say I am truly grateful for it! Despite not being a mom, much less being married with kids, I do have a family who loves to eat but are too lazy or don't even know how to prepare meals. I'm pretty much in the same boat, but I do love to cook.

It's an excellent book of inspirations in regards to lifestyle and habits, especially food related ones. It's lovely to know that you can still eat the things you enjoy without having to sacrifice many of it and be healthy about it, just needing minor adjustments and using healthier ingredients. I have yet to begin on the exercises but they look very enlightening and I have read through two out of three sections, the third being a mountain of recipes I'm dying to try out throughout the next couple of weeks. They are fairly easy to understand and sound uber delicious, which I'm sure they are taste-wise too.

Besides the enticing prospects of being healthier, energetic, and having tastes of deliciousness from morning to night, the writing is humorous, witty, and inspiring. It's extremely easy to follow and well-structured.

I would recommend this book when it hits the shelves not just to moms, but also to people who love to cook yet don't know how to, or are looking for some simple, and delicious recipes to try out. You can't go wrong with this.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was darling...I love food books. I liked this because so much of it is whole raw food (though she does like low fat and fat free stuff which I would avoid, mostly it is real foods). She takes a new approach, and it was fun to read such vivid and tantalizing descriptions of what I would normally think of as plain old fruits and veggies. She breaks this up into things you can do 5 things a week, for 10 weeks. I LOVE the ideas that as REAL MOMS we have to be realistic. She gives a lot of humor to what we go through as women (lots of references to chocolate!) but I love the idea that by fueling our body 80 % of the time with real food, there is always room for treats and tired days and imperfection. I would suggest this...I got a lot of ideas for new things to try. Mostly I loved re-realizing how valuable food is, and not just the eating experience. When we make it a point to feed our bodies good wholesome food that tastes great, even preparing and planning it, becomes a joy in our life and for our family.

[Kimy Nalder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Real Moms Love to Eat is a very informative book. The author is passionate about food and eating well. I was drawn into her stories and suggestions. I plan on trying a number of her recipes. The Green smoothie or shake scares me a little but I will try it before I pass judgment.

She is very informative with her facts. The way the book is organized creates an easy path to follow. I am not sure if I can follow every suggestion, but she gives a lot of alternatives to be able to use.

The author Beth really loves food which makes it easier for me to accept that I love food. Anyone who sees me automatically knows I love food. I don’t just eat when I am hungry, but also bored and stressed as well. This book has inspired me (again) to try and choose better snacks when I am bored or stressed as well as when I am hungry.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of this book reflects my own journey in eating whole and natural foods. I part ways with the emphasis on eating raw/juicing, but I did pick up some good ideas that will stay with me. Eat something raw at every meal. Rather than give up a food you love, eat less and healthier version. Try new vegetables and new ways of cooking them. Avoid plastic! I've already done that for many years, but I'm now following her suggestion to wrap my baked goods in waxed paper before storing in plastic bags, and I'm looking for a set of pyrex storage dishes. I can see the point of view in the book appealing to younger generations, and I hope it will encourage them to eat better and feed their children well in a culture of fast food, packages, and chemicals.

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolute LOVED Real Moms Love to Eat! Being a fan of chocolate it made me feel wonderful that it's ok to actually enjoy the food I eat. What a concept but it truly works! The books speaks to mom and all about how to not view food as your enemy but something that nourish your soul and more. I love how it teaches a sensible way to stay healthy in what you eat and stay positive that we are human indulge a little! I would recommend this book to every mom out there and not just moms but anyone struggling with the ugly word diet. There's hope!I'm so thankful that I recieved this book through a Goodreads giveaway and I look forward to more wise words!

[Sharley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book with lots of information. The author writes like she has a lot of knowledge on the subject. I really enjoyed some of her anecdotes and recipes. Definitely a good read for a book on ideas on how to be healthier. It is well structured making it an easy read.

I believe the best part about this book is the fact that you can really learn to view food as a friend, not a foe. Always as moms we think that giving some of the not-so good foods to ourselves or our children will detrimental to our health or even will make us gain weight. Beth shows us some ways how to still feel you are eating those same foods without the guilt. Absolutely great!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lured in by the title of this book and felt a little tricked after reading a few chapters and realized that "Real Moms" love to eat healthy food, not junk. Aside from that, I really liked this book and found it inspiring. I tried several of the recipes and fed them to my family. My husband loved the raw lasagna and my kids really liked the banana bread. Thumbs down to the lemon cashew cookies - YUCK! After reading this book, I got rid of lots of plastic containers and other stuff in my kitchen that I never use. This is a book I want to keep around and read again just to stay on track.

[Linda Hufstedler]

This book is funny, informative, and written in a manner that made me want to keep reading. I could identify with so many things that I read. I have passed this book along to my daughter so that she can enjoy the humor and the recipes. I would recommend this book to any woman whether she is a mom or not.

[Karen Origer-Greco · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read. There are so many great recipes to try, I don't know where to start first. I'm constantly looking for ways to improve my health and to do it through food is fabulous. This is definitely a book I can relate to. I think I might actually try a green smoothie.

[Carrie]

Hooray! I always enter the cookbook giveaways and I never win them, so this is exciting to me! I'll be having my first child in the next 2 weeks or so, so maybe this will help me to lose some of the baby weight! Thanks Goodreads!

[Linda]

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I just received it, so I haven't had a chance to start it let alone have any insight to share yet.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, informative, motivating!

[a · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect Real Mom companion for living a healthy, happy life!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book for "Real Moms" is definitely a book that makes me want to get up and do better with my diet. After all, she says that you can have your cake and eat it too...in moderation, of course. I though Beth wrote in a fun way that was really engaging to the reader. I certainly want to give her "diet" or eating plan a try since I could stand to lose a few pounds.

The book isn't just about food though - it is also about the way we store our food, process our food and cook our food. She talks about plastic containers, non-stick pans and utensils and kitchen gadgets we can use to process our food. There were times that I thought she was going a bit overboard with the pans and plastic (using wax paper to line a bag before putting her food in a plastic bag). While I get why she does it, it seems too much for me.

Some of the ideas she has also require a lot of time (smoothie in the a.m. in week 1) and as a "real mom", that is not something I have abundance of and Beth does realize that. Basically, she just wants us to try our best. I think I can handle that.

I learned about a few things in this book. It's funny because I knew about high fructose corn syrup being bad, it didn't occur to me until reading this (I'm not sure why) to look at my juice - holy wow! I guess I won't have that anymore either and I thought I was being good by not drinking soda! And wow, my "lean" frozen meal has a lot of sodium - again, I knew it did but for some reason, it didn't register just how bad they are for me.

I recommend this book to all women out there who would like to lose a few pounds. The book talks about steps to make that happen and it contains recipes that you can use - and a lot of them sound good to me. Stay tuned to see if I am successful with this approach!

[Yy]

I won this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Thanks.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips on food for families.

[Beth Aldrich]

Delicious recipes, healthy eating tips, and realistic nutrition information for busy moms.