Andrew Weil MD - Fast food, good food: more than 150 quick and easy ways to put healthy, delicious food on the table

Sales of cookbooks are at an all-time high, as are the ratings of cooking shows on television. Yet fewer people than ever are cooking meals at home. What gives? Apparently, for book buyers and followers of the Food Network, cooking is nothing more than entertainment.

People say they dont have time to cook. Many also say they dont know how or lack the skills to reproduce dishes pictured in books and made by celebrity chefs on television. I love to cook, but I dont care to knock myself out in the kitchen. I enjoy simple meals that are quick and easy and use fresh ingredients of the best quality. I want those ingredients to shine, not be lost in fussy preparations. I go for bold flavors and visual appeal. Forget complicated recipes; cooking should be fun.

Popular Food Network shows portray cooking as competitive. Id rather it be contemplative. Thats why I got into it when I was a medical student. I discovered that imagining a wonderful meal and then making it for myself was the perfect way to get my mind back in balance after long stretches of working in depressing hospital wards where the only available food was wretched. Chopping vegetables became a welcome meditation. Getting a meal to come as close as possible to the way I imagined it was an exercise in practical magic.

Later, I learned the principles of good nutrition and the science of dietary influences on health, and I found it easy to apply that information to my cooking. I have always believed that delicious food and food thats good for us can be one and the same. Like most people, you have probably been served unsatisfying, possibly inedible health food. Maybe you think that eating healthy means giving up everything you like. I assure you that is not so. The recipes in this book conform to cutting-edge nutritional science; they also yield dishes that taste great. As a practitioner of integrative medicine, which places great importance on lifestyle, and as an author of books on health, I want to see eating habits improve. But I know that, first and foremost, food has to taste great.

For at least ten years now I have recommended an anti-inflammatory diet for its power to optimize health and reduce risks of serious disease. (See is the root cause of coronary artery disease, Alzheimers disease, and many other conditions that kill or disable people prematurely. It also increases the risk of cancer, because inflammation and abnormal cell proliferation are closely linked.

Diet influences inflammation, and the mainstream diet in North America is clearly pro-inflammatory. The fats and carbohydrates that predominate in it favor inflammation, and it is deficient in the protective compounds found in vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices. The first principle of the Anti-Inflammatory Diet is to eliminate refined, processed, and manufactured food. Do that, and you are well along the path to eating right for optimum health.

I used the Mediterranean diet as a template for my eating plan, because strong research data correlate it with longevity, good health, and the lowest overall disease risk. I added Asian influences to the basic Mediterranean dietspices like ginger and turmeric, for example, which are potent natural anti-inflammatory agents. And I tweaked it in other ways to increase its potential to contain inappropriate inflammation.

Look at the Anti-Inflammatory Diet Pyramid to get an overview of the nutritional philosophy underlying this book. Note that vegetables form its base and dark chocolate is at the very top. Olive oil has a strong midlevel position. I assure you that following the guidelines illustrated in the pyramid is not onerous, will not detract from the pleasure of eating, and will protect your long-term health and wellness.

The recipes in these pages are not difficult. They can be prepared quickly and they give results you will love. Keep in mind that recipes are made to be tinkered with. Feel free to experiment with them, changing ingredients to suit your taste. Above all: keep it simple. You will find many suggestions in the Pantry and Quick Tips and Basics sections to make your cooking easy and fun.

Note that recipes are designated veg for vegetarian,