If you’re feeling bombarded by daily news telling you to eat this and not that, you’re not alone. It’s especially confusing when one food is good for you but it’s also bad for you, depending upon your personal health history.
At 372 pages, this new book from Reader’s Digest is really appetizing: “Food that Harm, Foods that Heal Cookbook.” I especially like the three-part approach for easy reading:
1) Foods
2) Recipes
3) Meal Plans
Let’s pick a food: The book lists almost 150. How about “apples”? The listing tells you How They Harm: pesticide residues, bacterial infection, allergies. Next is What They Heal: Alzheimer’s disease, colon cancer, high blood pressure, weight gain, blood sugar swings, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol and teeth and gums. Now obviously an apple a day won’t cure those conditions, but the idea is that the nutrients in an apple are good for you, like fiber, flavonoids or antioxidants, procyanidins or cancer-fighting antioxidants, quercetin—another antioxidant, and Vitamin C. The book suggests how to buy, store and cook, and directs you to recipes found later in its pages.
How to eat for health
Next you’ll find a compendium of more than 250 recipes, each featuring at least three healing foods—no Big Macs on these pages—followed by meal plans for more than 100 ailments. Let’s say you’re looking at the ailment “Colds and Flu.” The page gives you a plan for three meals and a snack, and lists recipes you’ll find later in the book.
Note that the meal plans are brief, and that if you’re diagnosed with an illness or condition, you’ll receive much more detailed information about managing your lifestyle and your nutrition from your healthcare provider. Still, these plans give you a firm place to start from and tips on how to better manage your condition with good nutrition.
We all want to eat better and feel better. I honestly think this book is a great way to do that. I’m excited by many of the recipes, feel they’ll “freshen up” my cooking, and want to share them with friends.
Bon Appétit! May you beat disease and live longer. Putting the right things into your body has just got to help it.