Wednesday, March 27, 2013

True Food - my new favorite cookbook



Andrew Weil, MD is the founder of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and a partner in True Food Kitchen.  He is the author of several bestselling books including Spontaneous Happiness, The Healthy Kitchen, Healthy Aging, and 8 weeks to Optimum Health. 

I've been following Andrew Weil for years. I subscribe to his newsletters, read all his articles on health, and have such a deep respect for the man because of his integrative school in Arizona. He feels that our doctors come out of medical school not knowing anything about nutrition or how to help their patients achieve wellness through diet so he single-handedly opened the first integrative school to teach this to doctors. He is effecting the way medicine is taught in this country and now others are following in his footsteps.  He is a guru in the wellness community.  

The book is based on eating an anti inflammatory diet.  Why is this important?  Because inflammation is the root of all disease. If you can reduce the inflammation in your body you will reduce your risk of disease. 

Dr.  Weil has always taught diet first, medicine second, but when he decided to open an actual restaurant showing people how to eat I immediately had to see it. Fortunately for me there is a location close to my house in Newport Beach California.  I then purchased the book and started making some of the dishes in my own kitchen.  I am a pretty healthy eater anyway but having a cookbook like this makes eating right all the more enjoyable.  The recipes are not difficult and color photos are so nice to see. It's fun to make a dish and then see if you end product looks like the photo.  Trust me they won't look as good! 

I am not a broccoli fan but the Braised Broccoli with Orange and Parmesan made me a believer.  Now I can eat it without saying yuck. The Kale Salad is one of the best selling items at the restaurant and it is in the book. There is a Citrus Sesame Sauce recipe that I use on everything. He shows it on green beans but you can make a batch and put it literally on anything.

Good eating should be enjoyable but also do something healthy for the body. The recipes in this book do just that.