George Mateljan presents the world's healthiest foods and includes over 500 delicious recipes to ensure that our diets include foods that have the "greatest number of health-promoting nutrients." He gives detailed information on 100 foods that are not only flavorful; they are the foods you need to enjoy a vibrantly healthy lifestyle.

What you will notice when using the recipes or including the foods recommended for your diet, is an increase in positive energy, creativity and a feeling of being happy to be alive. After only three or four days you can start to experience renewed vitality and visible changes in energy levels and overall health. Some of the highlights include:

What are the Word's 100 Healthiest Foods?

The Healthiest Way of Eating Plan - complete week-to-week plan with page numbers for the recipes to make each day.

Through this book you learn to cook with herbs and spices, incorporate whole grains into breads and eat a healthy balance of protein and carbohydrates. The foods are organized according to nutrient-rich qualities. A shopping list at the end of the book makes this user-friendly and encourages you to remember to buy the healthiest foods each and every time you go shopping.

If you have an interest in Sea vegetables (like toasted Nori you can also use for sushi) for their anti-inflammatory properties, they are easy to buy in sheets and I found you can add some to even the simplest of chicken soups to create a more healthy meal. A recipe for Hijiki Cucumber Salad makes use of Hijiki and you can add in tamari and ginger.

Many of the recipes include intriguing variations.

Imagine dipping fresh breads into a garlic dip made with fresh garlic, lemon juice and garbanzo beans. Do you only have five minutes to create a healthy snack? Try the Cranberry and Fresh Pear Cobbler. I loved the idea of adding yogurt and topping the tasty treat with granola. This idea has endless variations throughout the seasons and you can substitute any number of fresh fruits in season. This no bake recipe is delicious any time of the year. Other recipes you may enjoy:

• Tuna Salad without Mayo (he uses lemon juice, tofu, herbs and olive oil)
• Healthy Sautéed Scallops (garlic, lemon juice, olive oil)
• Steamed Mashed Potatoes
• Tropical Banana Treats
• Grapefruit Sunrise (You can also use frozen watermelon and orange juice for a similar experience)
• Papaya with Lime

In the winter this book becomes very useful when you make your own chicken soups or stocks. You can then add the healthiest vegetables and even sliced organic greens to make delicious winter soups you can freeze and reheat at a moment's notice.

Interested in how to use Turmeric? Advice is given on how to add the powder at the end of cooking for the best results. This is an anti-inflammatory agent used by the Chinese and in India. Dr. Weil talks about a tea that is made by people who live long healthy lives. You can also find it in tablet form, but it is more delicious when you cook.

"Turmeric's powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacities help explain why many people with joint disease find relief when they use this spice regularly." ~pg. 701

The section on herbs and spices gives you ideas for what to include in your spice cupboard (dried) or refrigerator (fresh). Black pepper, ginger, dill, cilantro, rosemary and cinnamon are included. The section on dietary fiber had a few surprises, like raspberries are listed right along with carrots and eggplant so you can expand your ideas on what counts as fiber, vs. what you thought was fun for dessert.

A special section for fighting disease gives ideas on how to feel better fast. If you want to improve your hair and nail health, you can start to eat more "biotin-containing" foods and increase foods with Omega-3 fatty acids that can also help with migraines and depression. So truly as you increase health in one area, you increase overall health.

This book is definitely about lifestyle and incorporating healthy choices into everyday living. As I'm writing this, I just finished cooking a spaghetti squash and have chicken with herbs roasting in the oven. The aromas of home cooking are inspirational and the healthy way you feel when you cook with the foods recommended in this book is priceless.

In what seems like no time at all, you can bake squash, cook up a chicken dish for dinner and even make homemade bread with rye and oats. Having a bread maker, a blender, a good set of sharp knives and a few essentials like a steamer basket and a set of pots and pans (especially a stock pot for soups) will take you a long way while using this book. You don't even have to make your own stocks because stock paste is readily available in most grocery stores.

Cooking can be as fun as creating art or making music. You are fully participating in the dance of life and feeling healthy and alive is the bonus of the "healthiest foods" lifestyle. Now when you go to the grocery store you can buy items you never tried before, because you have all the recipes you need and many of the recipes don't even require "cooking." Most of the ingredients are very familiar and the extensive index helps you to locate ingredients fast. So if you have strawberries from your last shopping trip, you can quickly turn to page 647 and make a fruit smoothie.

This truly is one of the most exciting "cookbooks" you will ever buy because it not only incorporates delicious foods into your diet, you become healthier with each recipe you try and you understand why you feel better. Honestly, this book will change your life!