Well+Good Cookbook: 100 Healthy Recipes + Expert Advice for Better Living

This book is a beautifully shot and designed collection of 100 recipes with just about as many contributors. The organizing theme of this book is general “wellness” so each recipe notes which wellness category it falls into. Its organizing categories are dairy-free, gluten-free, keto, low-fodmap, low-inflammation, paleo, vegan, vegetarian. The recipes are classified further as to whether they help with better digestion, energy, mood, sex, skin, and sleep.There is a chart at the back that shows which categories each recipe falls into, and the vast majority are gluten-free, dairy-free, low-inflammation, and vegetarian. Vegan is the next most common, followed by paleo and then far fewer low-fodmap.I tested a few recipes that were quite good, but because the recipes are written by all different authors, this really only attests to skill of those particular authors and the editing of the book (not the consistency of the recipes).Still, they were quite good, and clearly and consistently written. For mains, I made the Tempeh Tikka Masala, which was easy, quick, and filling. The Coconut-Lime Black Bean Stew took longer due to its use of dried beans, but it was a tasty, stick-to-your ribs rice-and-bean dish that produced more like 6 servings in my opinion. The Raspberry-Almond Muffins, made with almond meal, almond extract, and raspberries were incredibly delicious, and the almond and raspberry flavors worked together really well, though you MUST bake with paper liners or they will burn (I found this out the hard way).My favorite chapter by far was the snacks chapter. The Turmeric-Tahini Yogurt Dip is so easy and tasty. It is now in my regular rotation. I paired it with the Zuchini Seeded Cracker, which are also tasty. I used a combination of teff and buckwheat flours and they worked great. The Peanut Butter Cups were your standard freezer peanut butter cups that have been on Pinterest since 2011, and the recipe produced way too much chocolate in ratio to peanut butter filling. But they still hit the spot. The Mini Golden Milk Cream Cups are very similar to other raw, vegan cheesecakes out there with the addition of turmeric. Also tasty.There are a good number of approachable recipes in here. Some very basic, been around forever stuff. Turkey patties. A few uninspired salads. Basic smoothies. If you want it all in one place, then this might be useful. There’s definitely a heavy reliance on protein powder, which isn’t my favorite. And I went through almost a whole jar of coconut oil making the above recipes, so there’s a good amount of that, too.Another thing, because the recipes are all written by different authors, there’s not a lot of consistency in ingredients. This can’t be avoided in compilation collections, but it may mean you have to buy an ingredient and use a teaspoon of it and then have no other ideas on how to use it from this book. There’s some hard-to-access and expensive ingredients, but I could find much of what I needed for the recipes I tried at my local, small-town grocery stores.I take issue with some of the information in this book. On p. 21, in the description of cacao, it says “Cacao is very different from cocoa powder, which contains milk, sugar, and lots of other additives and fillers.” This is not true. Cocoa powder contains none of those. Hot cocoa mix does, but your average cocoa powder is just the cacao bean that has gone through a different processing process. In fact, the peanut butter cup recipe I tested from this book calls for cocoa powder. This is such a simple, basic fact, I was shocked at this error. I also think that much of the information in the sections on better sleep etc. come off as pseudo-science, but that’s a personal judgment.And one more personal note and the reason I am choosing to give this book three stars. This book is LITTERED with language of restriction, guilt, and self-denial when it comes to food. Craving sugar? Broil a grapefruit! Want a crepe? Grate up some zucchini instead and call it a crepe! Where is the balance? I just fundamentally disagree with the statement “I only put what is necessary in and on my body” (p. 183). Where is the joy?Don’t get me wrong, I do not think there is anything problematic with allergies, health problems, or ethical beliefs that inform certain diets. And I also love experimenting with different flavors, flours, and recipes. But who is this book for? If you’re low-fodmap or vegan, why not buy a book for those diets instead of this one? It seems the organizing principle of this book is just that a “wellness diet” is a diet with something—anything!—cut out of it (though gluten, dairy, sugar, and meat are the main demons), and that does not sit well with me. Can you not be well if you eat everything? What does not eating something have to do with being “well” and “good”? I don’t think this book is good for anyone trying to escape diet mentality, disordered eating, or restrictive behaviors.To summarize: The recipes are good. The photos are gorgeous. I like several of the authors. I don't get what this book is trying to say about wellness. I could do without all the moralizing and asceticism around food in the headnotes.Thanks to Clarkson Potter for the free book. Though I received the book for free, this is a completely honest assessment.

The book has a nice variety of recipes. Overall I looked the book, it has great photography and the recipes are well written with a few small problems that wont affect the outcome. (For a good review of these problems read the lengthy review by BirdNest. I would add that some of the recipes that were not marked as gluten free could have easily been made gluten free with a small change.Ordinarily, I would would overlook the small errors as the don’t really affect the outcome of the recipes and give this book a five star rating. But this book represents itself as a healthy cookbook. They break the recipes down into categories like Vegan, Gluten Free, Paleo, Vegetarian... but they don’t give caloric or nutritional information for the recipes. This to me is a glaring error.If you’re concerned about your nutritional health or weight loss I cannot recommend this book due to its lack of nutrition information. If you’re looking for a cookbook with overall healthy recipes this is a good cookbook to add to you collection.

This was one of a couple of books that I had placed in my shopping list a while back and almost did not buy as I do not eat meat and this does have a few meat based dishes. But it kept showing up in various places that I routinely read - blogs, wellness websites, heck even my LinkedIn feed so I was intrigued enough to make the purchase and I am so glad I did.It differs from your average cookbook as the recipes and lifestyle tips featured are from many health and wellness gurus as opposed to one author. People such as Mark Hyman, Kimberly Snyder, Amanda Chantal Bacon and Melissa Hensley. There are yoga people, doctors , celebrities known for wellness, lifestyle experts so this book is just an overall wellness guide peppered with short anecdotes with tips, stories or advice.The thing I ADORE about this book is the variety of innovative, interesting fresh dishes that I will use time and time again. Using different people results in so much diversity you will never get bored.There were some really interesting breakfasts such as a really pretty blue magic smoothie bowl that can be whipped up in seconds to a strawberry CBD smoothie with basil and a coffee smoothie that can replace the kids favorite frappuccino sneaking in cauliflower and taking out the sugar!The ‘Light Fare’ section begins with a spiced eggplant dish from Top Chefs Parma Lakshmi then contains dishes from jalapeño pancakes, to a light Gazpacho dish , salads, slaws and soups. The nut and seed bread is simple to whip up and a fiber powerhouse.The mains have a mix of meat, fish and vegetarian / vegan dishes. Some are simple comforting dishes such as warned lentils with a poached egg to more complex dishes but still easy enough that I would try and tackle.Sweets and snacks had some interesting surprises such as Kombucha gunnies. The tahini fudge is delicious and I have made a big batch to keep on hand when ever a sugar craving hits. However it’s not all sweet and I particularly love the fact they have a sweet onion dip that uses cashews as the base.There is a large and really interesting drinks section with alcoholic choices, spritzers, CBD coffee , matcha and activated charcoal lattes and some night time drinks that prepare you for ‘hot sex’ or ‘sweet dreams’I cannot believe I nearly passed on this book. I love it and will use it a lot. Cannot wait to sip on some of their lattes this weekend while I decide what dish to make next.

I love the recipes in this book! The pictures are nice and enticing, and the recipes are clear to follow. I made two recipes from this book for a dinner party and the people liked it so much they asked for the recipes. :)

Beautiful cookbook and illustrations. Have already tried quote a few recipes and they all turned out very well!

Love it. Cheaper on here then in store or boutiques. Such good information

I love how the recipes are so healthy. Looking forward to trying some of them.

I just received this book today and it came a lil damage and dirty. (I didn’t order a used one.) If I had known that it would come like this, I would have paid less for a used one.

Fantastic !Can’t wait to try these recipes