More than a cookbook

Thursday, November 17, 2016
Dietician’s comprehensive guide to cooking food as medicine
Food As MedicineFood As Medicine: Cooking For Your Best Health (Signs Publishing, 2016)


Disclaimer: I love cookbooks, particularly ones about healthy cooking. This is quite a contrast to the way I felt about four years ago when I was big—literally—into decadently unhealthy food.

So, when I had a peek at Food As Medicine: Cooking For Your Best Health, I couldn’t wait to get my own copy. This thick hardcover by dietician Sue Radd is more than a cookbook. Food As Medicine is a “comprehensive introduction to cooking food as medicine in your kitchen.”

Its 150 plant-based recipes look amazing—the photography in Food As Medicine is excellent. The recipes are simple—no obscure ingredients you find only in specialist shops—and healthy. Their accessibility means you have few excuses not to give each a try.

Some of my favourite recipes include roasted vegetables on couscous with Moroccan dressing, cannellini bean and carrot soup with parsley, chocolate truffle cakes with raspberries, caramel date sauce—only two ingredients!—and sunflower seed sour cream. Delicious.

One of Food As Medicine’s points of difference is its focus on plant-based nutrition, which is not only healthy for you but also better for the environment. You can easily modify the recipes for dietary requirements but many are gluten- and lactose-free anyway. And seasonal menu plans will help you make the most of the recipes.

Before you start cooking, follow the eminently practical guide to making over your kitchen, pantry, fridge and freezer to maintain your healthy lifestyle change. Radd also provides comprehensive information explaining the latest scientific health research. The “More Detailed Health Information” section at the back of the cookbook is excellent. It’s followed by “Helpful Notes on Various Foods,” which explains what makes the fruits, vegetables, grains and other foods used in the book good for you.

Whether you’re looking to make healthy changes to your diet, lose weight or find inspiration, Food As Medicine is a great place to start. I recommend adding it to your Christmas wish list—it might just help you keep that New Year’s resolution to lose weight.

Food As Medicine in print

Food As Medicine: Cooking for Your Best Health is available from Adventist Book Centres in Australia and New Zealand and from hopeshop.com.

Purchase from hopeshop.com

Food As Medicine online

Subscribe to Food As Medicine updates at www.foodasmedicine.cooking or like Food As Medicine on Facebook.

Visit www.foodasmedicine.cooking

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Adele Nash
Author

Adele Nash

Adele Nash is a writer and communicator who loves sharing good news, going on adventures and taking memorable photos. She is a former Communication Coordinator for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in northern New South Wales and Assistant Editor at Signs Publishing.