 Can't be beat for healthy, simple, and yummy recipes |
| Review Date: September 4, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Ann Sieber, Houston, Texas |
When Walt Willett came out with this book in 2001, I read it through and through and found it a voice of nutrition reasonableness that set the tone for this decade's emphasis on whole simple cooking, and away from nutrition fads.
However, as sound and time-tested as Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy has proved in its nutritional guidance (and which are excellently described in the other Amazon reader reviews), what I want to address today, nine years later, is what a treasure the collection of recipes has proved. (The recipes are not by Willett, by the way, but by Maureen Callahan.)
Eat, Drink, Healthy has about the highest percentage of surefire hit recipes of any cookbook I've encountered. I own and use many of the classic texts of simple basic wonderful cooking -- Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Laurel's Kitchen (original and revised), The New Basics Cookbook. These are all great and amazing cookbooks and I recommend each highly. However, it is the 57-page recipe section of Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy I find myself returning to over and over when I need renewal in my cooking enthusiasm.
These recipes are simple to prepare, healthy by definition, yet almost all have some interesting approach or ingredient that makes them delicious and different. I go to my other cookbooks when I want to be experimental, willing to try some fancy in-depth procedure, or take a chance on newness, knowing that some cooking flops are inevitable. But when I'm feeling blah about cooking, I want something that's going to be simple, that isn't going to take a bunch of hard-to-find ingredients (many of Eat, Drink's recipes can be made with what's on hand), but is going to be yummy and get me fired up about cooking, while feeling healthy while doing it -- and not healthy-dutiful, if you know what I mean. (Yes, steamed vegetables over brown rice, I'm talking about you.) I'd say 7 out of 8 of the recipes in Eat, Drink are keepers, and that is quite a high ratio, because I'm just not into spending the effort to cook so-so food.
So here are some of my favorites so far: Roasted pine nut hummus (so easy! my last-minute go-to for potlucks), Mediterranean stuffed breast of chicken (stuffing made from artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, and feta, yum!), Tandoori tuna, BWT wrap (beef, watercress, tomato, red onion, cuke, with horseradish spread), spicy shrimp and peanut noodle salad, onion-crusted tofu-steak sandwich, chipotle chicken chili, spicy sweet potato fries (baked, with chili powder, cumin, and paprika). It is taking me a while to try all the recipes in this book, since I find myself cooking the same recipes over and over again because they are so great. I'll let you know what new winners I find, and let me know what you like.
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simple and effective
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| Review Date: August 27, 2010 |
| Reviewer: stefano, |
This book gives a clear picture of what is the state of the art in nutrition science and healthy eating. I thought I knew enough on this topic, but I realized that I was just lucky to be brought up in a Mediterranean where many of the recommendations of Dr. Willet are already heeded. Now I think I can make few corrections (whole grains for refined ones, first) and improve further my diet.
The book reads easily, it is pleasantly and slightly redundant (easier to remember) and can be read by anybody. |
A Thoughtful And Academic Read
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| Review Date: August 12, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Charles Prosper, Los Angeles, CA |
This book does a good job of delineating the factors in planning and practicing the consuming of a healthy diet and nutritional principles. It most definitely have an academic flavor, and is the type of book that you would want to pick up to do research on the subject of health and nutrition.
Overall, I found the book informative interesting but not necessarily riveting in the detailed explanation of dietary factors from one chapter to the next. |
Excellent buy for amazing low price
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| Review Date: June 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Vimal Mathew Joseph, Tulsa, Ok-USA |
| I am happy with this buy, forgive me if I'm wrong, but my aim was to buy a brand name book. And I found it- Harvard is the brand name. Also delivery and book quality is good. Thanks |
A great book on nutrition.
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| Review Date: May 23, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Act, Rome, Italy. |
| I loved this book. It revolutionized the way I eat. Full of information and a pleasant reading. I am very picky about books, but for this one, I want to tell you: READ THIS BOOK! |
The Truth About Fats
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| Review Date: March 27, 2010 |
| Reviewer: drmarvk, |
It's unfortunate when good information is mixed with incorrect information. Regarding fats specifically, saturated fats are NOT the cause of heart disease! If you do your research, you'll find that saturated fats comprise more than 50% of cell membranes, giving them stiffness and integrity... that's every single one of your trillions of cells. Also, as the consumption of saturated fats plummeted in the 1900s, and the consumption of polyunsaturated oils skyrocketed, heart disease went from virtually non-existent to the #1 killer in the US, now killing one person every 34 seconds in the US alone. Another bit of incorrect info is regarding good and bad "cholesterol". I have cholesterol in quotes, because it's not really a form of cholesterol... LDL and HDL are really lipoproteins, carrier molecules for cholesterol and other fats. If you're not sure about this, look it up on Wikipedia. LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein. But it's not the bad guy either. These carrier molecules also have cell-targeting signals...ie. they take cholesterol to specific cells that need repair, as cholesterol is a repair substance. It's not the bad guy either.
As many doctors now acknowledge, inflammation is at the root of heart disease. This inflammation is coming primarily from free radicals, which are produced when polyunsaturated oils (which turn rancid very easily when exposed to high heat from processing and cooking) get oxidized or turn rancid.
Honestly, I would have given this book a lower rating, but my purpose is not to affect a book's rating... just to try and get accurate information out there.
A great book that accurately addresses the issue of fats and heart disease is "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. |
One of the best books available about nutrition
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| Review Date: February 5, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Chris Sabanty, |
This is a great choice for anybody who wants to learn about nutrition. Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy's core purpose is to provide a new, better food pyramid that isn't influenced by industry. After explaining the new pyramid, it provides detail for each part (fat, carbs, protein, fruit, vegetables, etc.) in subsequent chapters. What makes these chapters very useful is they're filled with helpful data and are backed up by high-quality research. Also, as a bonus, the book contains a wide variety of healthy, decent tasting, easy to make recipes.
If I were looking for a downside, I'd say it's not the best diet/weight loss book you could find. The book will help with both but it's primary goal is to educate about proper nutrition and healthy living. |
Well organized, informative. But some major topics are lacking.
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| Review Date: January 26, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Rossana, San Diego CA |
The book is easily readable, well organized and explained. The scientific evidence presented is solid.
I have some comments though.
I am unsure about how reliable is the recommendation of a daily multivitamin supplement. Recent scientific evidence suggests the opposite. Take a look at this 2009 paper: [..] title "Antioxidants prevent health-promoting effects of physical exercise in humans". Don't worry if you cannot access the full article just read the abstract. Apparently getting pills of anti-oxidants removes the benefits of physical activity in terms of natural reactions to a temporary oxidative process. I would love to hear the opinion of the author of this book about this study (which was published after this book). The author webpage, which is under the domain of his University, does not report any contact, otherwise I would have tried emailing him to ask if, considering this new published study, he still believes it is good to take daily supplements.
Also, I would have loved to read about probiotics, and products containing them. This IS a big chapter in nutrition and I do not consider a nutrition book complete without talking about probiotics products. They have big effect on the flora of the intestine and thus on the immune system. Which means they play big role in cancer prevention. This book should have mentioned them, how to eat them, the right products (such as kefir..)
Finally, another missing topic is how to cook things. It stresses the importance of certain foods such as vegetables but it does not take into account that often you can destroy all the good properties of a food by cooking it incorrectly. And it is absolutely not trivial to know how exactly something should be cooked. Some foods are better assimilated if raw, others if cooked. Some mentions to at least the most common foods is a must, and it is lacking in this book. |
Latest scientific info on nutrition, but a little basic
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| Review Date: January 4, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Alberto Vargas, San Francisco, CA USA |
A family member urged me to get this since I supposedly do not eat healthy. Turns out I am doing OK according to this book :)
This book introduces a new food pyramid based on the latest information from several large scale nutrition and health studies. It dispels myths contained in the official food pyramid, low-fat and low-carb diets. It redefines good and bad fats, presents carbs based on glycemic index, and suggests different daily doses of vitamins in some cases than FDA daily recommendations. Some of these things may not be news to many readers - I did learn some interesting new facts (e.g. soy proteins not as great for you as thought earlier).
I like how the author puts weight management and daily physical activity as the basis of his new food pyramid. Also, his tone is calm and professional, and there are many references to authoritative scientific studies. When there is contradictory scientific evidence, esp. about some widely held belief (e.g. "eggs are bad for you"), he tells you so. At least a third of the book is taken up by recipes, which I found strange given the explanatory tone and content of the rest of the book.
Weaknesses of this book:
- does not individualize recommendations by gender, body type, race, etc
- does not address food combinations and interactions (e.g. for some people, fish and dairy do not work well together in the same meal, but stuff like that is not covered)
- does not really provide weight loss advice, even though he mentions obesity as a prevalent issue, explains BMI, etc
- rather generic at the end of the day
- font is annoyingly tiny (probably not author's fault but makes it harder to read)
Overall, a good read to bring you up to speed on nutrition. However, if you are well read on this topic already, you will find this book too basic and redundant. |
Excellent guide to healthy eating
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| Review Date: December 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Guy Cobb, |
| I've been very happy with the information and guidance in this book. I've been following the advice for about a month now as part of a diet and exercise program, and I'm down about 25 lbs and feel great. The recipes at the back of the book are an especially nice touch. |
Eat, Drink and Be Healthy
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| Review Date: December 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Deedee, Florida |
Book was presented as used, but appeared to be new. Delivery was quite fast.
Easy to order. |
completely worth it
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| Review Date: October 18, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Christopher E. Lee, |
| Absolutely the best nutrition guide I have found outside the classroom (even a great supplement inside the classroom). Has current data unlike some that are out-dated, talks about the results and doesn't just list them, and is really in-depth and thorough. Also has some really amazing recipes in the back that I use all the time now. I think that just by looking at this book on amazon you are interested in learning more and in that case this book is for YOU! I wish everyone would read this that way all the nutritional myths major marketing companies spend millions on can be debunked. I recommend it |
Helpful
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| Review Date: October 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. C. Read, Linwood, N.J. United States |
| Recommended by a friend/relative who swears by it and it reads well and is a big help. |
New way of life
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| Review Date: September 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Malcolm C. Adam, Redondo Beach CA |
| This book was recommended by my cardiologist and I had a surprise 5 stents inserted. It offers great information and guidelines to change your eating habits. Outstanding. |
Grandma was right
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| Review Date: September 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: K. Housh, |
| It's not a weight loss diet, it's a way of eating that reduces your risk of nasty diseases. There is real science behind the findings and an admission that as science evolves, a new book will have to be written. Eat your veggies! |
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