Rating: Summary: Good Information, Poor Proofing Review: This is an excellent book -- full of great information ... the only problem is that all of the recipes I have tried so far are lacking something or have an error in the measurements. I am shocked that none of the other reviews have mentioned this. I have always found Dr. Weil's books to be interesting and informative and this book is no exception. Rosie Daley adds a delightful and educational point of view as well. This could be a great cookbook but I am frustrated with having to scrutinize each recipe. I would like to see this book reprinted with the correct recipes.
Rating: Summary: Great book Review: Andy Weil does it again! He gives sensible and achievable ways to get yourself in better shape. He makes you realize that eating well isn't about denial but about choosing good ingredients and sharing them with friends.
Rating: Summary: Simply the most credible, knowledgeable, and sensible! Review: I've read ALL best selling nutrition books out there for the last 10 years (including all the literature on the various high protein, low protein, high carb, low carb, moderate fat, and low, low fat diets) and Dr. Weil is the guy who I believe is the most credible, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and sensible in his counseling on the subject of nutrition. In case you don't know about him, Andrew Weil, M.D., a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, is Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona. He is founder and director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at that institution, where he is training a new generation of physicians based on a model of health, not disease. Dr. Weil is an internationally recognized expert on healing, medicinal herbs, and mind-body interactions, and is the author of eight books, the last three of which have been million-copy, number-one best-sellers. He is the world's leading authority on integrative medicine, which combines the best ideas and practices of alternative and conventional medicine in order to maximize the body's natural healing mechanisms. Rosie Daley was born in New Jersey. One of thirteen children, as a child she shared the responsibility of cooking for her large family. She has worked in produce stores, health-oriented cafés, major commercial restaurants, and for corporations such as Ocean Spray, exploring all aspects of her chosen field, eventually taking on the position of Head Chef at the acclaimed Cal-A-Vie spa just north of San Diego. It was at Cal-a-Vie that Ms. Daley met Oprah Winfrey, who was so impressed with her delicious, nutritional cuisine that she invited Ms. Daley to be her personal chef. Accepting the position, Rosie developed healthy, tasty and uncomplicated dishes for Ms. Winfrey while gaining notoriety in the food world. She worked as Ms. Winfrey's chef for five years, and in 1994 published her first cookbook, In the Kitchen with Rosie: Oprah's Favorite Recipes, which has sold more than 6 million copies in hardcover, making it one of the best-selling cookbooks of all time. Two of America's most popular authorities on healthy eating and cooking join forces in this inspiring, easy-to-use cookbook. This is not a diet book. It is a lively guide to healthy cooking, day-by-day, packed with essential information and, above all, filled with enticing food.Andrew Weil, M.D.-author of the best-selling Eating Well for Optimum Health-brings to this perfect collaboration a comprehensive philosophy of nutrition grounded in science. Rosie Daley-acclaimed for her best-seller, In the Kitchen with Rosie-brings to it her innovative and highly flavorful spa cuisine. The recipes are eclectic, drawing from the healthy and delicious cooking of the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Asia, among other cuisines. For starters, you might try Grilled Satay or a Miso Pâté; for soup, often a meal in itself, a hearty Mixed-Bean Minestrone Stew or a Roasted Winter Squash and Apple Soup with Cilantro Walnut Pesto; a special entrée could be the Savory Roasted Cornish Hens with Roasted Garlic or Baked Spicy Tofu with Bean Thread Noodles, Corn, and Mango; for a simple supper, Turkey Burgers or Portobello Burgers; and for the occasional indulgence, a dessert of Almond Fruit Tart or Peach and Blueberry Cobbler. Andy and Rosie do not always agree. When Rosie calls for chicken, Andy offers a tofu alternative; she likes the flavor of coconut milk, whereas he prefers ground nut milk; when she makes a pastry with butter, he suggests using Spectrum Spread. There are no hard-and-fast rules. Lifelong health begins in the kitchen, so this is a lifestyle book as well as a cookbook. In it you will learn from Dr. Weil: • how to make use of nutritional information in everyday cooking • what is organic . . . and how to buy organic foods • the importance of reading labels and what to look for • sensible advice about eggs, milk, cheese, salt, spicy foods, wine, coffee • the facts about sugar and artificial sweeteners . . . and from Rosie: • how to get kids involved-from skinning almonds to layering lasagna • ways to have fun in the kitchen-creating scallion firecrackers and radish rosettes • low-fat and nondairy alternatives for those with special concerns • smart menu planning-letting the seasons be your guide . . . and lots more. This revolutionary book will change forever the way you cook for yourself and your family.
Rating: Summary: Riding Oprah's coattails Review: The Healthy Kitchen has all the elements of a smartly packaged cash grab... The Healthy Kitchen is, basically, a general foods cookbook with very little to separate it from most other typical cookbooks. The problem lies in the fact that it is presented as being all about health (mind, body and spirit). The recipes and the book do not offer much insight into healthy living and the concept of a spiritual connection is virtually non-existent. the phrases "healthy" and "mind. body and spirit" are merely catch-phrases used to draw in a wider readership. I was hoping to get some more interesting writing or, at the very least, beautiful photography, but instead I got a typical cookbook with typical recipes and a tired, watered-down message. Rosie Daley has had her time in the spotlight...
Rating: Summary: Superb!! Review: "The Healthy Kitchen" is a fantastic collection of delicious recipes that also features Dr. Weil's wise and helpful thoughts on the connection between good food and good health. It's a book that I plan to pull of the shelf and use on a regular basis. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: These recipes are great! Review: This book is wonderful! I've cooked two of the recipes already this weekend -- they were easy and took me about 10 minutes to do. The tomatoe corn soup and the broccoli and avocado salad turned out great and my friends loved them. Bravo for teaming up a world-class chef with a doctor who knows about healthy cooking and eating. I'm sold!!!
Rating: Summary: Delicious!! Review: Dr. Weil and Ms. Daley have written what will be the standard text for the new healthy cuisine that tastes great and makes a positive contribution to ones overall health and well-being. This is not spa food, which I find to be rather bland. It is much more flavorful fare that will satisfy everyone who loves great food. The book is beautifully designed and the recipes are rounded out by Dr. Weil's thoughts on the many joys and health benefits of food. "The Healthy Kitchen" is a "must buy" for all home chefs -- novice to expert.
Rating: Summary: The Healthy Kitchen Review: Don't waste your time or money. There is nothing new or exciting about this cookbook. Nor is there any valuable new information. For those, like myself, who are interested in the relationship of food to body, mind and spirit, and who are hoping to see some new wisdom on "health in the kitchen", you will be disappointed. If you are even vaguely knowledgable about food combining and eating healthy, this book will blow your mind. To make matters worse, there are photographs of Dr. Weil throughout the book and he is overwieight and looks physically out of shape, as if he never exercised a day in his life. It wouldn't bother me except that his book is so specific to creating a better body...I got lost in the oxymoron of the visuals. It's actually laughable. The book reads and looks like Dr. Weil is a guy pushing a friend's cookbook . It's conflicted.
Rating: Summary: Good Mix of Healthy Culinary Advice. Review: `The Healthy Kitchen' by holistic medicine expert Andrew Weil, M.D. and professional chef Rosie Daley promises to be the very best union between expertise on food and health. It is not limited to simple weight reduction or to curing any other specific medical problem. It is true to the holistic doctrine of treating the whole person. The book generally takes the form of a dialogue between the two authors. The contributions of the two different voices / areas of expertise are clearly delineated by printing them with a header indicating the speaker and differently colored pages to signify which voice is speaking. Regarding the good doctor's contribution, I believe it is all sound, reflecting a synthesis of the most recent conventional wisdom on health and food. The value of this material will depend much on how much you have read in this area before reading this book. If you have read any of Weil's earlier books, especially the title `Eating Well for Optimum Health', you will have already read almost all of Weil's material reproduced on the his green pages in this book. Much of this information has also appeared in other recent books on nutrition; however, I believe there are several tips in the book on kitchen practices which are unlikely to appear in a book general nutrition. One example is Weil's comments on cooking oils, especially the recommendation to never heat oils to the smoking point and to never breath the smoke of heated oil, as it is highly toxic. This is why he recommends grapeseed oil, as it has a very high smoke point. I am especially happy with Weil's bringing out the distinction between simple and complex carbohydrates and that in spite of the current low carb diet fads, one should not avoid all carbohydrates. Even more important is his discussion of the glycemic index of foods, which is a measure of how fast a food is converted from the gut into glucose in the blood. High glycemic index foods such as most sugars and starches have the undesirable effect of quickly raising blood sugar, triggering the production of insulin. This also has the effect of making you feel hungry again, soon after eating. Low GI foods remain in the stomach longer and maintain satiation longer. The culinary half of the partnership is shared by the two authors, with Ms. Daley providing the recipes and Dr. Weil providing `color commentary' and comments on the health benefits and risks of various cooking techniques. All recipes include a nutritional analysis, giving the weight in grams of calories, fat, saturated fat, protein, carbohydrate, cholesterol, and fiber per serving. The serving size is not indicated directly. Rather, the recipe gives the number of servings in the dish. Given the totally acceptable variability in the practices of home cooks and the variability of nutritional content of ingredients, I would use these figures only as a means of comparing one recipe to another. As usual, portion sizes seem to me to be rather small. The recipes are divided into very familiar headings, giving us chapters on: Breakfast, Beverages, Appetizers, Salads, Soups, Entrees, Accompaniments, and desserts Desserts. The last chapter gives a week's worth of menus with a composite nutritional analysis for the entire day's menu. The selection of dishes fits your expectations for a healthy eating book. There are no beef or veal dishes and the authors flatly state that they are excluded to avoid saturated fat and environmental toxins. On the positive side, there are several pasta dishes. Dr. Weil offers the very wise suggestion that he typically looks to Oriental cuisines for his pasta recipes instead of to Italy, as Oriental dishes have less fatty sauces. There are many fish, shellfish, chicken, and tofu dishes, plus an emphasis on grilling and roasting techniques. Overall, the book borders on but does not enter the world of dietary extremism parodied by a menu of tofu, bean sprouts, and wheat germ. It celebrates things like garlic that many people enjoy and which are also good for you. It devalues carob as a pale imitation of chocolate and endorses chocolate in moderation, especially as an accompaniment to fruit. If you have a limited budget for cookbooks and are concerned about food and health, this is a very, very good book. The list price is lower than almost any other recent hardcover cookbook you are likely to find and the recipes are very good. They are not simple. This is not quick cooking a la Rachael Ray. My only concern with the book's nutritional advice is that it may be just a bit dated. It touts the benefits of garlic; however, I think the nutritional value of garlic has been devalued recently. It is still tasty and quite safe. My main concern with the culinary material in the book is that it does not adequately provide a good substitute for white bread. While bread appears in one chapter title, it does not appear in the index and the closest I can find to a bread recipe is a recipe for blueberry pancakes. This may be too much to ask from a $27 book, but it would have made the book a lot better. Highly recommended, especially if you own no other books on nutrition by Dr. Weil. Requires some preexisting culinary skill. Not fast cooking.
Rating: Summary: Good taste, but hard to assemble Review: The beauty of this cookbook is that it offers interesting, tasty foods that are healthy beyond being low fat or low calorie. In other words, they offer healthy food, not diet food. Each recipe includes a nutritional guide, but there are also notes on the actual nutritional value of many ingredients and on various food groups. The problem I've found is that many of the recipes call for foods that just aren't easy to come by. This is a cookbook for the focused chef with time to shop and prepare full menus, not for the casual health-conscious cook.
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