Gaia Collaborative Medicine, Inc.

Eating Right: Dr. Thomson’s Top 10 Cookbooks to boost your brain, body and spirit

The simple truth is that eating right for your health is not entirely easy. It requires you to commit both time and effort into thinking about what you’re putting into your mouth. Sometimes you need a little guidance to actually changing the bad habits you’ve formed over years of eating at your desk, only having the time to grab & go, and just jamming whatever is in the fridge in your mouth as your run out the door to get the kids to soccer practice.

Below is a selection of Tracy’s top 10 favourite cookbook and eating systems that can help you change your life and set you on a path to total health. They say it takes 21 days to break a habit. We’re not sure if that’s true for all people, or if 21 days is too much of a commitment to make when starting out.  So here’s what we suggest. Commit to making 3 healthy meals this week- 1 breakfast, 1 lunch & 1 dinner. The following week, set your goal at 2 of each. On week three aim to plan out 3 healthy meals of each and maybe throw in a snack or two- 3×3 = 9 moments where you’ve taken your health into your own hands and made a choice to change your life for good. Start today, make a conscious choice. As always we’re here to help you along the way.

1. reFresh ~Ruth Tal

Created from the award-winning meals served at Toronto’s “Fresh” – a chain of three dynamic and gorgeous downtown restaurants, the recipes in this book offer its readers a variety of inventive ideas for soups, salads, sandwiches, rice bowls, marinades, and sauces and dressings. The book also calls attention to the health benefits of various menu items including helpful information on nutritional supplements that can be incorporated into the recipes for an added boost.

2. The Art of Raw Living Food ~Doreen Virtue & Jenny Ross

This book celebrates the fresh and delicious items from the Costa Mesa, CA restaurant 118 Degrees. As you flip its pages, the colours of fresh, raw ingredients will entice you to visit local markets, or fruit and vegetable stands to find the most fantastic produce to create these tempting dishes at home. 

3. Green for Life ~Victoria Boutenko

We all know we’re supposed to eat more greens, but for many of us, the thought of chomping down on a Kale leaf or having a spoonful of wheatgrass is less than appetizing. I her book, Green for Life, author Victoria Boutenko gives us a tonne of ways to “eat our greens” in a much more enjoyable way –  by blending them with fruit!

“In more than thirty-five years of practice as a psychiatrist affiliated with the Harvard Medical School, I have learned one thing very well: Human behavior is very hard to change. Now Victoria Boutenko is persuading me otherwise… Thirty days of green smoothies will change how you feel and how you feel about your self. That’s no small achievement for one small book. “ – A. William Menzin, MD, Harvard Medical School

 4. The Thrive Diet ~ Brendan Braizier

The Thrive Diet is a long-term eating plan that will help you achieve optimal health through stress-busting plant-based whole foods. It’s an easy-to-follow diet that will help you understand why some foods create nutritional stress and how other foods can eliminate it, giving you a lean body, sharp mind, and everlasting energy.

Fully researched and developed by Brendan Brazier, professional Ironman triathlete, The Thrive Diet features: the best whole foods, a 12-week whole foods meal plan, over 100 easy-to-make recipes with raw food options that are all free of  wheat, gluten, soy, corn, refined sugar & dairy, including exercise-specific recipes for pre-workout snacks, energy gels, sports drinks, and recovery foods

5. I am Grateful ~ Terces Engelhart with Orchid

In “I Am Grateful”, co-founders Terces and Matthew Engelhart present their view of life and their business philosophy. Terces also presents her own story of personal healing, sharing with the reader her recovery from food addiction while explaining the benefits of an organic lifestyle.

The book’s gorgeous, full-color photographs accompany easy-to-follow recipes from the cafe’s most popular items, making it easy for readers to prepare live foods at home. Recipes include such cafe favorites as “I am Luscious”, a satisfying raw cacao smoothie, as well as juices, soups, and appetizers. There are also entrancing entrees like “I am Elated” spicy rolled enchiladas and delicious desserts including “I am Amazing” lemon meringue pie with a macadamia nut crust.

6. How it all Vegan ~Tanya Barnard & Sarah Kramer

When it first came out in 1999, How It All Vegan! was one of the go-to sources for people exploring healthier and environmentally friendlier dietary options. In the ten years since, veganism has become a much more mainstream diet.

The tenth-anniversary edition of How it All Vegan! includes new recipes, as well as updates and advice that better reflect the new vegan reality; it also includes a colour photo section and a new introduction by co-author Sarah Kramer, who speaks personally and passionately about the impact of veganism on her life over the past decade.

7. Sweet Gratitude ~Matthew Rogers & Tiziana Alipo Tamborra

Sweet Gratitude is a cookbook with a message: raw desserts aren’t only healthier for both people and the planet, they can also be every bit as tasty (indeed, sinfully so) as their mainstream counterparts. Tiziana Alipo Tamborra and Matthew Rogers, both master dessert chefs at the pioneering San Francisco-based Café Gratitude, present a tantalizing table of after-dinner or any-occasion delights. Illustrated with gorgeous color photographs, the recipes range from simple and quick to advanced and detailed, showing how versatile commonly used fruits and nuts are for whipping up innovative and beautiful desserts.  Ideal for anyone looking for healthier dessert choices as well as a valuable resource for people with special dietary needs including those who cannot consume dairy, gluten, or refined sugar, Sweet Gratitude shows readers how to craft what may be the most elusive item in the culinary canon: the guilt-free dessert!

8. Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen ~ Ani Phyo

This is the ultimate gourmet, living foods “uncookbook” for busy people. You don’t have to sacrifice taste or style to reap the benefits of raw foods. These delectable, easy recipes emphasize fresh, animal-free ingredients and how to include more organics into your daily diet.

Chef Ani offers delicious raw, animal-free versions of: breakfast scrambles, pancakes, chowders, bisques, and other soups, cheezes, mylks, lasagna, burgers, cobblers, pies, and cakes, and more. Included are recipes for dishes such as Stuffed Anaheim Chili with Mole Sauce, Ginger Almond Nori Roll, Coconut Kreme Pie with Carob Fudge on Brownie Crust, Mediterranean Dolmas, and Chicken-Friendly Spanish Scramble. Make your own kitchen more living-foods friendly with Chef Ani’s tips on Essential tools, Key ingredients, Stocking your pantry, and How-to kitchen skills.

9. The Kind Diet ~ Alicia Silverstone

Like many celebrities before her, actress Alicia Silverstone has put together a book that she says reveals the secrets of her great looks and knockout figure. In The Kind Diet, Silverstone attributes her health and beauty to her totally organic, vegan diet, free of “nasty” meat, dairy, white sugar, and processed foods.

In The Kind Diet, Silverstone, a passionate animal activist and conservationist, says a plant-based diet is not only good for your body but also saves animals and is one of the “greenest” things you can do.

10. Vij’s at Home, Relax Honey ~ Vikram Vij & Meeru Dhalwala

Pull up a chair—Meeru and Vikram invite you to dinner. In Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey, Meeru Dhalwala and Vikram Vij show you how to prepare the recipes they eat at home, from vegetarian dishes that go from stove to plate in less than 45 minutes to seafood, poultry and meat dishes that come together in 20 minutes then cook while you help the kids with their homework or sit down with a glass of wine.

Designed for flavour, versatility and convenience, virtually every recipe can be adapted to suit your palate, your dietary preferences or your on-hand ingredients. Clear instructions, stunning photographs, a conversational tone and a paperback format make this an affordable must-have for every kitchen—for first-time cooks to more experienced chefs.