3. Good Organic Gardening - May-June 2016 AvxHome.in

REVIEWS | Books
Cover to cover
Leafing through books for gardeners and nature lovers
The Oldest Foods on Earth
By John Newton, NewSouth Books, $29.99
“Before we arrived in 1788 the Aboriginal people of the tropical North chose from among 750 different
plant and animal foods,” writes Sydney food and environment journalist John Newton, nailing his
colours to the mast on the first page of his new book, subtitled A History of Australian Native Foods.
And in the past two centuries, European Australians have hardly touched the unique foods that
nourished the First Peoples of our land for 50 millennia — a situation Newton intends to redress
with this fascinating and entertaining study, complete with recipes from the likes of Peter Gilmore,
Maggie Beer and Beau Clugston. And it’s not only about the taste; just as lean kangaroo is one of the
healthiest meats around, the Kakadu plum has the highest levels of vitamin C and antioxidants in the
plant world. If trendy imports like quinoa, açaí berries and goji berries are regarded as superfoods,
asserts Newton, then Australian native foods are “super-duper foods”.
Good Better Green
By Zita Steyn, Hardie Grant Books, $29.99
“Eat your greens!” Most of us heard this exhortation many times as children. In the case of Zita
Steyn’s own mother, giving up sugar and eating more greens was how she overcame chronic fatigue
syndrome and nursed herself back to health. The story stayed with South African-born Steyn, who
quotes Hippocrates’ assertion that “all illness begins in the gut” and points out in her introduction:
“Green vegetables, especially the dark-green leafy kind, are the most nutrient-dense foods available
to us.” Yet so many of us settle for a limited green diet of tried-and-true favourites such as peas,
beans and broccoli. The 90 recipes in this book will broaden your palate as you explore the vast
variety of ways of incorporating leafy greens into everything you eat, from soups and sauces to mains
and desserts — from nettle and artichoke pâté to apple and green cabbage cake. With Steyn’s help,
it’s not only easy being green, it can be interesting and delicious as well.
The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook
By Mickey Trescott, Murdoch Books, $39.99
Autoimmune diseases are something of a modern epidemic. At some point in our lives, one in five
of us will be diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder — a condition where the body’s immune
system mistakenly declares war on its own tissue — and conventional medicine is largely baffled as
to its causes and treatment. For US author Mickey Trescott, it was a case of “Chef, heal thyself!”
In her own struggle with Hashimoto’s disease and coeliac disease, she realised the cure was far
more complex than just removing gluten from her diet. After eliminating certain food groups and
embracing others, she eventually settled on a version of the paleo diet, a simple, earthy approach
to food choice and preparation. This beautiful cookbook, featuring 115 recipes, four-week meal
plans and tips on shopping, batch cooking and preparing ahead, could be your first step on the
road to health and vitality.
Eat Right for Your Shape
By Lee Holmes, Murdoch Books, $35
With her Supercharged Food blog, WellBeing magazine column and several books on the subject, Lee
Holmes is virtually a one-woman industry in the field of nutrition. As an expert on India’s Ayurvedic
healing system, yoga teacher, wholefoods chef and certified holistic health coach, Lee is uniquely
qualified to explain the interplay of bodily systems with nutrition, yoga and breathing exercises. Her
mission here is to incorporate all this knowledge into a balanced diet and lifestyle that’s right for your
unique body shape or dosha, to use an Ayurvedic term. Not just a cookbook using natural, seasonal
foods but also a yoga and meditation handbook, Eat Right for Your Shape embodies Lee’s own
mantra (to use another ancient word): “Following your own path will serve you greatly when adopting
Ayurvedic principles, so let go of comparing yourself to others and make your own way to your
preferred weight and maximum health.”
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