Eating to heal rather than just satisfy is an idea that is both brand-new and older than time. Two recent books take a delicious and practical approach to cooking for optimal wellness.
Healing the Vegan Way is chef Mark Reinfeld’s delicious attack on a culture gone wrong. From the very beginning of Chapter 1: “Research continues to mount that many of the major health challenges facing society can be prevented and reversed through adopting a plant-based diet.”
As indicated, the tone here is calm and confident. The first part of Healing the Vegan Way deals with what is wrong with the western diet and what could be right with it. This and ingredients you would do well to have on hand before really getting going.
Like the balance of the book, the recipes, when we get to them, are calm and well-stated. Some favorites from the more than 200 recipes include Raw Collard Veggie Rolls, Curried Crispy Chickpeas, Seitan-Stuffed Peppers and Wasabi Garlic Twice-Baked Potatoes.
And yeah, sure: this stuff is supposed to be good for you, but it’s also just plain good.
The Meals to Heal Cookbook takes a similar yet more focused approach. As the authors of The Meals to Heal Cookbook tell us with the sub-title of Chapter 1: “Food can change your cancer journey.”
More and more research is being done that validates the importance of eating real food and of eating plant-based foods. Real food means food that is not process or preprepared in a package; it is essential that we eat foods in their whole, natural form.
The over 150 recipes are mostly very simple and include nutritional information. A final section provides a recipe index keyed by symptom. So you can look for recipes intended to help with the very specific physical challenges presented by each disease. ◊
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