Meg Wolff - A Life in Balance: Delicious Plant-based Recipes for Optimal Health

Contents

Title

Other books by Meg Wolff:

Becoming Whole: The Story of My Complete Recovery from Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer Exposed: The Connection Between Food and Survival

Copyright 2010 by Meg Wolff

Additional recipes copyright by contributors, used with permission

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-0-89272-906-7

Cover design by Miroslaw Jurek

Interior design by Lynda Chilton

Front cover photograph by Russell French

Author photograph by Patricia McCarthy

Sandy Pukels recipe for Arame Stuffed Mushrooms originally appeared in Sandy Pukel and Mark Hannas Grains and Greens on the Deep Blue Sea, published by Square One Publishers (2007). It is republished here with permission from Sandy Pukel and Square One Publishers.

Kathy Frestons recipe for Old Bay Tofu Cakes with Cream Horseradish and Creole Mustard Sauce Over Shaved Fennel Slaw is a creation from chef Tal Ronnen. It is reprinted here with permission from Kathy Freston and Tal Ronnen.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available on request

Printed in the United States of America

5 4 3 2 1

Books Magazine Online

www.downeast.com

Distributed to the trade by National Book Network

I dedicate this book

to everyone who is making

an effort to eat

in a more deliciously

healthy way.

20 percent of the profits from A Life in Balance: Delicious, Plant-Based Recipes for Optimal Health will be donated to Share Our Strength, a non-profit organization that works locally and globally to help end childhood hunger.

foreword

T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., is the worlds foremost authority on plant-based diets. Hes conducted more than forty years worth of research on the subject.

His landmark book, The China Study, Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health, is the single-most influential book Ive ever read. When I first read it in 2005, I was amazed by how Dr. Campbell, a nutritional biochemist at Cornell, had spent his life doing scientific research about plant-based diets. Id been eating that way since 1999, and was reassured to learn that it is, in fact, the healthiest way to eat, to maintain good health and prevent, and possibly even reverse, many of the degenerative diseases that plague our modern society.

I wanted to ask Dr. Campbell to write the foreword to my first book, Becoming Whole: The Story of My Complete Recovery from Breast Cancer, and for a year, I tried various ways of connecting with him. Then, sitting on my bed, re-reading The China Study (honest) on New Years Day 2007, the phone rang. It was Dr. Campbell, thanking me for my persistence, and agreeing to write my foreword! I was so grateful then, and I am again now.

Of the many questions I hear from those who hear my lectures or read our book, The China Study , on the evidence for a whole-food, plant-based dietary lifestyle, one of the most common is What do I eat now? And then, What does this kind of diet look like? How do I go about doing that?

Now I have a really good way to answer these questions: Read Meg Wolffs new book.

I am very much aware that, for many people, beginning a new lifestyle can be intimidating in so many ways, but when the change is made, the rewards of eating this way far outweigh the costs.

Megs book tells a real-life example of the power of a plant-based diet, not only to prevent but also to reverse chronic disease. While many in the medical establishment may not support this strategy, I am nonetheless finding that more and more individual physicians and other primary healthcare providers are turning to this kind of nutrition as treatment for their patients. The idea that eating vegetables and fruits (almost all their parts) can do more than simply prevent future ailments and diseases is a very exciting concept. We now know that this same strategy can be used to treat ailments already present.

More and more people are willing to make drastic lifestyle changes in the name of better health. We are reaching a tipping point, and a critical mass of success stories like Megs is accumulating.

Meg healed herself through a diet based on whole grains, beans, and vegetables, and a big dose of determination. The science behind eating this way made absolute sense to her and she ran with it, ultimately becoming living proof of the heavily researched idea that changing to a plant-based diet will improve your health.

Megs is an excellent and personally inspiring story, and people want and need excellent examples. Shes not the only example, but hers is as good as it gets. This all-important link between what we eat and our health is finally becoming understood...were beginning to see such a hopeful turnaround of thinking in this country.

This great new cookbook from Megfull of her own simple, delicious recipes and those from numerous celebrated contributorshas the potential to help millions of people better understand how easy it can be to make improvements in their diet. Her contributors range from Olympic athletes to medical doctors to suburban housewives to firefighters to NBA basketball starsshowing that ANYONE can make their lives better by improving their diet and making their best life even better. People resist making changes, but this book will help people to realize that it doesnt have to be daunting.

I appreciate Megs approach. She is inclusive, and wants people to feel good about ANY good changes they make... and she doesnt expect anything from anyone... she encourages steps in the right direction and educates people along the way.

This book shows how easy it is to take positive steps to a healthier future. The recipes in this book are simple to prepare. They contain minimal or no added oil, sugar, and salt. Megs approach is to use whole foodsfoods unchanged from their natural state.

I can only wish Meg and all her readers of this book the very best as they participate in a much-needed healthcare revolution.

T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.

Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry, Cornell University

Co-author of The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health

preface

Of course, I first knew of Joan through her running and the Olympics. In 1998, when my kids attended Cape Elizabeth schoolswhich Joan did, tooI admired the statue of her in front of the town library.

I later met Joanie at a fund-raiser for breast cancer research. Later, my friend Dr. Lisa Belisle, Joanie, and I tossed around the idea of writing a cookbook together, but the timing just wasnt the best. My husband Tom, a longtime runner, also knows Joanie through his work with Nike and mutual running friends.

Joan is one of the most industrious, busy people Ive ever encountered. Shes a huge backer of Friends of Casco Bay, is the founder and chair of the annual world-class Beach to Beacon road race, and is involved in countless organizations and efforts. Im proud to know her and have her be a part of my book.

It is with admiration and many shared interests that I applaud Meg and embrace her collection of healthy and tasty recipes included in this book. It delights me that so many of the recipes highlight ingredients that can be found close to home and heart, in home gardens or local farmers markets.

Megs myriad vegetables and grains in these recipes makes cooking an adventure and keeps the palate pleased.

As a mother, athlete, community volunteer, and gardener, I understand the importance of living a balanced life and eating a balanced diet in a way that also supports the local community and environment in a healthy and sustainable way.