Book Review: Joy Bauer's Food Cures

Read and reviewed for Front Street Reviews

What defines good nutrition?

Nutritionist Joy Bauer is well known through her role as the nutrition expert for the Today Show. She has written a reference guide to how the food that you eat can and does affect your health.

The book is divided into six sections: First, is the introduction to the author and her health practice. Second, losing weight contains an introduction and break down of the process of losing weight. Third, looking great deals with eating to help keep your skin, hair and smile all looking brilliant. Fourth, living long and strong talks about ways one can change their eating habits to help with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and degeneration of bones, muscles and memory. Fifth, feeling good talks about what you can do to help problems with your mood, migraine headaches, PMS, insomnia and celiac disease. The sixth section smooth sailing breaks down how to correctly read nutrition labels, Joy talks about her good food picks, and you can find references on the subjects covered in the preceding chapters of the book here.

Each chapter is laid out in an easy to reference way. The author starts each by introducing the subject, using her knowledge as a nutritionist. She uses examples of stories of her patients and what they did to work through their health issues, and talks about food changes and supplements you can add to your diet. Next, she breaks the process of implementing the food program into your life in four steps. Step 1, start with the basics gives you a quick run down of things you will need to do to help along your health goals. Step 2, your ultimate grocery list gives you a comprehensive list of the foods you should be including in your new eating habits and is very helpful for stocking your kitchen and pantry. Step 3, going above and beyond gives added tips to things you can do to improve your health goal. Step 4, meal plans includes sample daily menus including the foods that will improve your health goal. Also included in this last section are recipes using these foods, each of which are calculated to provide a 1,200 to 1,500 calorie daily goal.

I was taken by surprise by this collection. I expected a book focusing more on weight loss. The sections dealing with common ailments such as skin, and digestion problems were a pleasant surprise. I also found that the inclusion of easy to prepare meal options and recipes balanced to help along those who were trying to loose weight a very helpful one. This is a book that I have found to be a great reference for health, and good food choices.

Book Review: Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson

Read and Reviewed for Armchair Interviews

Mollie Katzen is well known in the food world for her involvement with the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York. She has been creating recipes and writing vegetarian cookbooks for adults for many years. However, until she witnessed her son’s preschool class making applesauce one day, she didn’t think her three year old would have an interest in preparing food.

When she talked to his teacher, Ann Henderson, she discovered that cooking was a weekly occurrence for the class. Something clicked during this conversation and she remembered her “play cooking” as a child with her mother’s old bowls in the backyard. Several years later, Mollie and Ann teamed up to write a cookbook for parents and their preschoolers to use to experience the fun of early cooking at home.

Because this unique cookbook is designed for both adults and preschoolers it does not follow traditional cookbook layout. First, the recipe is written traditionally for the adults to go through. Next, the recipe is written in a pictorial version for the kids to use. The authors also give tips to make these more fun and safe for the children. Ideas such as colored tape on the handle of the butter (or plastic) knife to teach them which end to hold, and creating a cooking station at the kitchen table where it is safer for the kids to reach using an electric skillet. Each recipe is presented in a colorful way, with ideas on how to introduce young and picky eaters to try new foods.

Recipes such as popovers, green spaghetti, bagel faces and pretend soup are simple enough to not confuse young cooks, but complex enough to inspire their imaginations and leave them with good healthy fun food to eat. Each of these recipes has been made and taste tested by Ann’s preschoolers and the book is peppered with quotes from the kids on what they thought of the foods that they made. I’m looking forward to spending some time with the preschoolers in my life and trying out some of the fun food recipes found inside this fun little cookbook.