Eat Better, Feel Better: My Recipes for Wellness and Healing, Inside and Out by Giada De Laurentiis

Eat Better, Feel Better: My Recipes for Wellness and Healing, Inside and Out by Giada De Laurentiis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jacket Blurb: This book is the culmination of a ten-year journey. . . . I've made a conscious effort to take control of my health because it had finally become impossible to ignore the fact that the choices (or lack thereof ) I'd been making for the past twenty years just weren't working for me anymore.

In Giada's most personal book yet, she gives you an inside look at her path to wellness and how she maintains a balanced life. Giada walks you through how to select food that can actually make you feel better and curate a personalized wellness routine to support a healthy mind and body. She shows you her own process of reconfiguring her diet to control inflammation--and how you can use the same steps to turn your life around. Giada also includes information on how to use complementary wellness tactics like intermittent fasting, meditation, and other self-care routines to optimize your well-being.

Giada devotes an entire chapter to her 3-day reboot--which she follows several times a year--and offers more than two dozen dairy-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free recipes to accompany the plan, as well as a 21-day menu outline that makes good, healthy cooking easy to implement at home. Even though it's so much more than a cookbook, Eat Better, Feel Better also offers 100 new recipes, ​from Italian-influenced ones like Fusilli with Chicken and Broccoli Rabe and Pan-Roasted Pork Chops with Cherry and Red Wine Sauce to her everyday healthy favorites including Quinoa Pancakes; Sheet Pan Parmesan Shrimp and Veggies; Roasted Cauliflower and Baby Kale Salad; and Chocolate and Orange Brown Rice Treats.

Eat Better, Feel Better is the perfect jumpstart to wellness.

I have very loosely followed Giada since she appeared on Food Network, oh, so many many years ago. I have a handful of her early cookbooks that, I admit, are under utilized. And, as it happens when life becomes busy and one doesn't have cable, she slid off my radar. Then I heard an interview with her on Milk Street (it might have been Splendid Table...but I'm pretty sure it was Milk Street) highlighting her career and new book. I was intrigued. I requested the book from the library.

This is part autobiography, part wellness, part cookbook.

Let me say that again: this is part autobiography, part wellness, part cookbook.

This is not a diet book, this is not how to loose weight, and Giada states this numerous times, this is what worked for HER but the audience may find aspects that work for them. This is Giada describing her journey on how eating affects one's digestive and immune system and ultimately, ones health.

The issue Giada is going to face with this book is, she has inherited skinny genes and people are going to scoff and mock her for publishing a "diet" book. However, our digestive and immunity systems don't care if you are skinny, round, an athlete, a concert pianist, tall, short, average, brown eyed, green haired, whatever. We all have a digestive system.

I picked up the book from the library and settled in for a quiet read. First several chapters are her autobiography journaling how she had digestive issues as a child, to launching her food show, and the resulting health issues she was experiencing over the ensuing years. The autobiography is inter-mixed with suggestions on how to get started on a lifestyle change: recommended foods to eat, suggested foods to avoid, and what to stock the pantry with. There is emphasis through-out that this is not a diet, this is a long-term wellness goal for improved digestive health AND, noting, while is what worked for HER, something else may work better for an individual. Also emphasized, this isn't about denying any food - enjoy your favorites, in moderation or on special occasions.

The first third of the book felt very familiar to me. I have read similar suggestions in my Ayurvedic studies and other supporting documentation on digestive health. The second aspect I noted was the ingredients being recommended were predominantly Mediterranean. The Ayurvedic connection I was seeing was confirmed in the latter part of the book. This is definitely a melding of a Mediterranean style of eating with Ayurvedic components.

Reiterating again that this is what worked for Giada, there are a handful of observations I have:

She presents a variety of recipes that could be family friendly without making a Big Deal it's [vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, minimal meat].

There are a wide a variety of gluten free recipes. A person would need access to a co-op or well stocked grocery store (or online) if opting for all-in. Bob's Red Mill might be your best option. I say this from the perspective of living in the North Central part of the States where I have difficulty finding ingredients. I have yet to find a store that carries pomegranate molasses...

While this is not a vegetarian or vegan cookbook, there are meat and dairy free recipes or the recipes have a small meat component. Some may need to swap meat or meat substitute, or increase protein for your dietary needs.

I have flagged several recipes to try, but I may have to return the book to the library before I have a chance to make them. There's a wait list so it's non-renewable. If I'm able, I'll pop back and report on the recipes.

Overall, an interesting book that brings attention to a very overlooked and dismissed aspect of our well being - out gut. It's one person's journey that they choose to share, and perhaps it will help to bring awareness to digestive issues people deal with. Is this for everyone? No. Is it a one-size-fits-all solution? No. Is it a perfect solution for everyone? No. But it starts the dialog, which is pretty cool and long overdue.


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