By Anna Chabada
Fraser Valley Regional Library
Being conscious of how we can live for a better future is a popular topic nowadays. Words and phrases like “sustainable” “100 mile diet” and “carbon footprint” appear in the media and literature all the time. So, what can you do? Helping the environment by helping yourself is a great way to start! I have chosen a few of my favorites on the topic of healthy, holistic living, and by trying the ideas and foods that these authors suggest, we can begin to live better and help the environment along the way.
A trip to the farmer’s market on a sunny summer morning can be a lot of fun, but what to do with all the great local ingredients you buy? Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source With More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You by Terry Walters is the answer. This cookbook is a great resource for creating dishes with fresh produce and wholesome, minimally processed foods. It has many flavorful, nutritious recipes and includes foods that can be found close to your home. Walters uses a sampling of non-traditional ingredients, such as quinoa, teff and tempeh, but don’t be scared off by these, she includes an excellent guide to all her ingredients in the front of her book.
Kathy Freston, a New York Times best-selling author, has appeared on Oprah, The View, and Good Morning America for her book Quantum Wellness: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Health and Happiness. Freston writes about a holistic approach to living and describes wellness as being a combination of conscious eating, exercise, spiritual practice and fun activities. Kathy includes many of her own personal experiences, and talks about how quitting smoking, becoming vegan and practicing meditation have changed her perspective on life. This book easy to read and engaging; perfect if you’re looking to do a bit of soul searching. Follow Kathy on Twitter at http://www.kathyfreston.com and try her blog.
This is the ultimate guiltless dessert book! Whether you have a gluten sensitivity, are vegan, allergic to dairy, diabetic, or just want a sweet treat without all the consequences, Babycakes by Erin McKenna is the book for you. Erin opened a bakery in New York several years ago and since has become so well known that people have traveled across the country just to visit her bakery. Most of her recipes are refined sugar-free, gluten-free, and vegan. The best part is that you would never know the difference between one of Erin’s to-die-for desserts and the “real thing.” On my list of recipes to try, the ever-popular chocolate cupcake and the chocolate chip cookie sandwich with vanilla filling!
A fan of the Babycakes cookbook, actress Alicia Silverstone has written her own cookbook, including anecdotal experiences about her journey towards healthy eating. The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet introduces readers to how a vegan lifestyle can be an important step to helping ourselves and helping the environment. By swearing off animal products, Alicia talks about how she lost weight and gained an enormous amount of energy. Her book features nearly 100 tasty recipes that won’t have you dreaming of a nice, juicy steak. Check her out online at http://www.thekindlife.com/
Unlike the other books in this article, Mariel Hemingway does not focus on a vegetarian or vegan diet. Instead, she talks about eating a wide variety of good foods and cutting out the “noisy” ones such as sugar, caffeine and those that are highly processed. Mariel Hemingway, daughter of Ernest Hemingway, has worked on creating her lifestyle for the past 20 years and now shares it with us in, Healthy Living from the Inside Out: Every Woman’s Guide to Real Beauty, Renewed Energy and a Radiant Life. For Mariel, finding a balance between healthy food, exercise, and a serene environment is her approach to a more harmonious way of life. This is not just a cookbook but incorporates many aspects of health and wellness, and includes a great practical 30-day quickstart program to help you try out Mariel’s ideas. You can also find her online at http://www.marielhemingway.com/
