Cookbooks for Healthy Eating
Eating healthy doesn't have to be a chore - it should be fun and easy. Start by choosing a healthy eating cookbook from the list below. Then start shopping and cooking for better health! Try some healthy cooking recipes at home with your family, or check out your favorite cookbook for healthy eating on the go.
Don’t see your favorite book? Is there a cookbook you return to time and time again? Let us know and we’ll add it.
(to order any of these books, click on the image below and you will be linked to amazon.com)
Featured Book(s):
The books listed below can help you understand how our food system reached the state it is in now, learn how to shop in grocery stores and make the best choices, find out what to order if you MUST go into a fast food outlet, or discover the world’s healthiest foods. We add content all the time to this page, so keep checking back for more recommendations.
Food Rules, An Eater's Manual
By Michael Pollan
eating doesn't have to be so complicated. In this age of ever-more elaborate diets and conflicting health advice Food Rules brings som simplicity to our daily decisions about food. Whether in the supermarket or at an all-you-can-eat buffet, this is the perfect guide for anyone who ever wondered, "waht should I eat?"
The End of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler
David Kessler was head of the FDA and was instrumental in getting nutritional labeling added to foods. Now he's written a book on the brain science behind why we overeat and what to do about it. Did you know that sugar, fat and salt in combination act on our brains much like drugs do? That chocolate cake really does make you feel better. Unfortunately we become conditioned hypereaters. Kessler dissects why and what to do about it.
Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding
This is a great book for anyone who eats on the go. David Zinczenko is the Editor in Chief of Men's Health magazine and they have compied a handy and really useful set of suggestions for what to eat in restaurants from Applebees to Wendy's. The first chapter lists the 8 foods you should eat every day and the 20 you should avoid at all costs. The worst? Outback Steakhouse's Aussie cheese fries with ranch dressing - a whopping 2900 calories and 182 g of fat. Most of the book is taken up with identifying the best and worst meals at 60 fast-food and chain restaurants, but he also provides advice on decoding menus, recommendations what to eat during holidays and special occaisions, what to buy at the grocery store etc. It's a terrific pocket resource guide. Note that because his audience is largely male (he writes for Men's Health after all), some of his suggestions will be too caloric for most women, so be warned. This is a book to buy and keep with you. And now there's a kids version, too. If you have a family, I'd buy both.
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.
The book is subtitled "Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants." and provides a comprehensive overview of why we have been eating "healthier" and getting sicker. Pollan explains why food that is highly processed and has nutrients added back into it (think Wonder Bread or vitamin water) is part of the problem and not part of the solution like we've been lead to believe. He offers good advice on what to eat, which he sums up on the cover. It's well written, well researched and will change how you look at the food in your grocery store.
Michael Pollan's earlier book on food book covers his desire to provide for himself the contents of a meal: he either grew, foraged or hunted everything he served. He has written extensively about the food supply in the US for the NY Times Magazine over the past few years, including his purchase of a steer so that he could gain access to feedlots and slaughterhouses. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, his description of and reaction to killing a boar is really insightful.
The Onmivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Marion Nestle, who runs the Nutrition Program at NYU, is a world leading expert on nutrition and healthy eating. In this books she explains how to make the best selections in the grocery store (hints like: spend most of your money on items from the store's perimeter). It can help anyone make better choices.
Read about one family's plan to eat locally for a whole year. It's a delightful book that's also very informative about farm policy and the environmental impact of shipping produce across the country or around the world. It's got recipes at the end of each month's chapter and strategies for eating fruits and vegetables in winter ... and it will make you LOVE your local farmers' market!
Cookbooks and Recommended Web Sites
Listed here are my favorite cookbooks and magazines for easy, fast, and healthy recipes – some have websites that are great to search for that perfect desert or side dish to accompany a meal. Explore, experiment and educate yourself on what works for you.
Cookbooks
Having trouble getting your kids to eat things that are good for them? Has meal time turned into a power struggle with a child? The Sneaky Chef helps you cope by giving you the real life experience of the author and lots of recipes that incorporate healthy foods in ways kids barely notice.
Greens, Glorious Greens! is a great book all about buying, storing, cooking and eating greens. I'm cooking my way through it and haven't found a dud recipe yet. Many are even kid tested and kid-friendly and all are quick. Healthy eating has never been so easy.
Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2007
Raw Food Cookbook
Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook
Websites
Healthy Recipes from Integrative Nutrition
http://www.integrativenutrition.com/recipes.asp
National listing of small, individually owned health food stores
http://www.greenpeople.org/healthfood.htm
Organic Consumers Association
http://www.organicconsumers.org
Slow Food
http://www.slowfoodusa.org
Slow Food promotes small scale, organic farming globally.
Cook Books and Magazines
Cook's Illustrated http://www.cooksillustrated.com/default.asp (NOTE: Subscription required for web access to recipes - can purchase a web-only subscription).
Cooking Light http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking/fd/
Real Simple http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/channel/meal
The Best 30-Minute Recipes from the Editors of Cooks Illustrated http://www.cooksillustrated.com/bookstore_detail.asp?PID=330
Other Reading
Eat, Drink and Be Healthy - The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating by Walter C. Willett, MD
Food Politics by Marion Nestle
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Digestive Wellness by Elizabeth Lipski, PhD, CCN
The World's Healthiest Foods, Essential Guide to the Healthiest Way of Eating by George Mateljan