Recipes for Health and Longevity is a book written by Leanne Campbell, daughter of Colin Campbell, author of the controversial China Study. Is this a typical cookbook or something more? My review.

I have a fairly ordinary diet without any frills - I am an unpretentious comrade. I eat simple homemade food prepared by my caring wife - boiled rice, buckwheat, potatoes, all sorts of vegetable stews and salads. I myself know how to cook, but I don’t strive to try some new recipes - I’m not a gourmet and I don’t chase frills and new tastes, preferring familiar dishes.

Did you notice that I didn't mention meat? I'm not 100% vegetarian, but most of my diet is plant-based. I went to this for a long time, not without difficulties and doubts, but, in general, I am satisfied with my choice - because I feel much better and healthier than in those days when I ate meat, dumplings, sweets and any fast food.

Why did I start such a conversation? As you may have already learned from one of the previous articles, not so long ago a wonderful book by Cornell University professor Colin Campbell was published in Russia, in which he provides convincing evidence of the connection between high consumption of meat and food containing artificial ingredients with cancer and cardiovascular diseases. I will not hide it, the book turned out to be incendiary, but controversial, and subsequently I read a lot of criticism of it from opponents of vegetarianism.

And yet, for me, a plant-based diet is preferable to the usual one, because. I felt all its pluses on myself, but I did not notice the minuses, although I have been practicing it for several years.

And now the MIF publishing house has released the long-awaited sequel to the book.

If in the "Chinese study" itself we could recognize the "theory", now the readers will have practical exercises. Meet the China Study cookbook, written by Colin Campbell's daughter Leanne.

Like all modern cookbooks, "Recipes for Health and Longevity" is colorful and bright, and the photos of the food make you salivate profusely. According to Leanne, this book is not just a collection of recipes. Here are the recipes for vegetarian dishes that are prepared in the Campbell family. My first impression was that these gentlemen eat very well, real gourmets. What are the names of dishes worth: "casserole with physalis and tortillas", "Caribbean Moro" or "enchilados with sweet potato".

However, the impression was deceiving. These are fairly simple dishes to prepare, and with the right ingredients, each of them can be made even by a person who does not have special culinary skills. Of course, you should make allowances for the fact that the authors of the book are Americans, and their menu is quite different from the Russian one, which, however, does not affect the complexity of cooking - it's all about habits, not products.

Each of the dishes from the book was carefully prepared, photographed (yes, yes, the illustrations were done by Stephen Campbell, son of Colin, and they turned out to be unlike stock photos from ordinary cookbooks, very juicy and alive) and thoroughly tasted. Campbell Sr. himself laughs in the preface: “I also participated - I tasted!”.

In addition to recipes, Leanne shares her thoughts on how to grow or select plant foods and how to preserve their nutritional value through storage and preparation. For example, I was surprised to learn that deep freezing preserves the maximum amount of nutrients in fruits and vegetables.

By tradition, here is a selection of tips, this time on how to control the value and usefulness of the food you eat. From the point of view of the main family cook of the books "China Study" and "Recipes for Health and Longevity"!

1. Be sure to plan a menu in advance, for example, for a week. And take enough time to think things through.
2. Do not get hung up on familiar dishes and try to look for something new from time to time (just a tip for me).
3. Choose 3-4 main "dishes of the week" with which you will "close" dinners and part of lunches.
4. Make a complete list of required ingredients.
5. Be sure to include fresh vegetables for side dishes and salads, as well as breads, cereals, fruits, vegetables, and so on necessary for breakfast and lunch.
6. Check your stocks, mainly cereals, spices and flours.
7. Don't go shopping on an empty stomach! This can provoke you to buy a lot of unnecessary and useless food.
8. Don't throw away your menus and shopping lists. You can repeat or correct them at any time.

The book turned out to be interesting, and for the first time in many years I decided to give up my principles and prepare something of that kind. The choice fell on "Aztec Soup"(I love Mesoamerica), I'll try - I'll tell you.

Each of us has favorite dishes, but why not experiment? You, too, can try some of the solutions, foods, and spices in this book, even if you're not a fan of vegetarian food, and use the information in other recipes. In the book « » many interesting things. And most importantly - whatever you do, it should bring joy to you and your loved ones!

"Recipes for health and longevity" is a logical continuation of the bestseller The China Study and a good guide for anyone who wants to switch to a healthy diet, and a tasty one at that.

What is a China Study? A little background

In 2004, a book by Doctor of Science Colin Campbell was published in the United States on the relationship of eating animal products with the occurrence of serious diseases in humans (cancer, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, etc.).

In September 2013, thanks to the Mann, Ivanov and Ferber publishing house, Campbell's work appeared in Russian. And it is still in the TOP of the best-selling books of the month.

The book is based on a large-scale study conducted in China, as well as interesting facts from other serious works. Thus, the China Study scientific rationale for vegetarianism, which reads like a detective story written in simple language for a wide audience.

The main conclusion of the author over 20 years of research: animal proteins have a strong influence on the development of diseases. Just imagine: a group of scientists could stimulate and stop the development of cancer in rats by simply changing the level of their intake of animal proteins.

If you have already read The China Study and accepted this information, then when you closed the book, you probably thought that you need to seriously change your diet.

But what to eat now, so that it is healthy and tasty?

This question will be answered by a collection of vegan recipes by Colin's daughter, Leanne Campbell - Recipes for Health and Longevity. The China Study Cookbook.

Features of Leanne's Vegan Recipes

In the collection 122 recipes: desserts and pastries, sandwiches, appetizers and salads, breakfasts, main courses, soups, side dishes .
The main difference from other similar books is that when choosing recipes, Leanne was guided by the principles of proper nutrition, formulated by her father based on the results of scientific research:

1. The basis of the diet is 8 categories of plant products. These are whole grains (unrefined), fruits, grains, leaves, roots (tubers), legumes, inflorescences, nuts and mushrooms.
2. Sweeteners in dishes - in a minimal amount and only unrefined.
3. A small amount of salt.
4. Cooking food without excess fat. Sauteing - on the broth instead of butter. Even in baking recipes, there are no fats in the composition.

To be honest, I did not understand the reason for the absence of fat in recipes, even in the minimum amount in the form of salad dressings. What can harm unrefined olive oil?

Some subtleties of American healthy food recipes

As for the recipes, you will have to conjure over them, because. some ingredients in Russia are not always easy to find.

For example, the author uses 11 variants of a sugar substitute ( maple syrup, agave nectar, date sugar and etc.). We will have 2 options available at most - this honey(if cooking without heating) or unrefined cane sugar, which in the Russian outback will still have to be looked for.

If you take white sugar, the original recipe can no longer be called really useful according to Campbell's theory. Therefore, every chef will constantly be faced with the question of how to replace one or another exotic component of the dish. Alternatively, cook from the products that you have, even if in the end you get a not so healthy dish.

For example, someone will not have bulgur or couscous on hand. These cereals, unusual for Russia, can be easily replaced with rice.

Despite some difficulties, everything that I cooked according to the recipes from the book turned out delicious. Therefore, I assume that the rest of the recipes that I just have to try out are just as wonderful.

A few words about the publication

As in all books published by MIF, the print quality is pleasing: white coated paper, beautiful full-page photos of dishes, hardcover, bookmark for convenience.

On a scale of 5, I would give this book a 4. 1 point deducted for ingredients that are difficult to find, but which encourage the chef to improvise. 🙂

Leanne grew up in an atmosphere of care and love, her mother always loved to cook, and the family usually had not only homemade chops and mashed potatoes for dinner, but also their favorite desserts, including ice cream.

When the girl was in high school, her father Colin Campbell was preparing the future bestseller The China Study for publication. The scientist prefers the truth, looking for a way to health and longevity for himself, his family and ordinary people, faces a number of obstacles. By the time this book fell into my hands, most of the provisions and principles of nutrition described in it were already familiar to me, and not only from other literary sources. I have experienced first hand the healing effects of a vegetarian diet based on whole, fresh and raw foods. However, Campbell is not a naturopath or a culinary specialist, he is a scientist, and his research is amazing in scope. Here you can find detailed and clear explanations of the relationship of certain foods with diseases included in the list of the most popular causes of death throughout the modern world.

Of course, Campbell's discoveries and his experiment in changing his own diet could not but affect the whole family. And so Leanne gradually learns to live and cook without such harmful products as sugar, refined oils and flour, reducing the amount of salt. But the main decision, the rejection of meat, does not come easily. Most of us, while enjoying cutlets and sausages, never face the very moment of an animal's death. In theory, it’s easy to say that “it’s necessary, it’s inevitable, and what to do if you need to eat and get proteins and calories” ... But in reality, few people are ready not only to get meat on their own, but even to observe how carcasses are cut. What can we say about cases when this carcass is not a faceless creature grown somewhere in closed walls, but an acquaintance with whom you greet daily, chat, call by name and smile at his cheerful “me-e-e”!

As time goes on, Colin Campbell has already become an honorary professor in the Department of Food Biochemistry at Cornell University and received an award from the US National Institutes of Health. Today, his name is number one on the list of the 25 most influential figures in the field of nutrition. Leanne is married and has two wonderful sons.

As a vegetarian mother, she faces a number of challenges. First of all: how to feed a family, children? An adult who has made a conscious choice towards a healthy diet is looking for recipes that will help not to miss the old, meat, fatty, refined food. And the child wants variety, brightness, respect from friends, and, of course, he needs a complete set of vitamins, minerals, amino acids for full growth and development. The China Study provides a definitive answer to the question "what not to eat if you want to live a long, healthy and active life," but it doesn't offer much advice on what to eat after you've given up.

So Leanne, with the help of her father and sons, is preparing a cookbook called Recipes for Health and Longevity.

Many women write to me, including those seeking to lose weight or become healthy, some of them have already switched to vegetarianism or even a raw food diet. And unfortunately, not everyone achieves the expected effect. For example, I already know several women who became vegetarians after reading Allen Carr's book "The Easy Way to Lose Weight." They refused animal products, but they didn’t lose weight, and, I’m afraid, they didn’t improve their health. I am sure that the problem is just in the meager set of dishes that are included in the usual vegetarian menu in our countries. The proposed recipes are often even more harmful than usual, because. they use sugar, white flour, cheese, a lot of butter and salt, and are often suggested to be boiled or fried for a long time. In addition, I live in Tashkent, and when switching to a healthy diet, I encountered the fact that I can’t cook according to foreign recipes, because. many ingredients are not sold with us, and ordering them is too expensive. In Russia and Ukraine, in almost all cities you can buy much more, and thanks to online stores, almost everything: chia seeds, maple or Jerusalem artichoke syrup, carob, coconut oil, green buckwheat, and much more.

And here I have this beautiful book. Honestly, none of the recipes I could not use. Firstly, again, due to the scarcity of some ingredients (agave syrup, black rice, quinoa, physalis, etc.). Second, I try to avoid heavy combinations like legumes and dough in the same dish, and don't cook each ingredient longer than necessary. That is, for example, a vegetable stew with dumplings, to which carrots, parsley and peas are added at the same time, and stewed for more than 40 minutes along with dumplings - this is too complicated and hard for me. Also, pancakes, the basis for pies from ready-made crackers and canned ingredients are difficult for me to attribute to healthy food.

But I think that people who are accustomed to the bright tastes and rich textures of meat dishes, having decided to go vegetarian, and especially those who want to become vegan, that is, replace milk and eggs in their diet, will find a lot of useful things in this diet. book. The fact is that it is not only full of recipes, but also ideas, tips on how to choose products, how to prepare milk substitutes, mayonnaise and other sauces, and so on. In addition, a number of recommendations for preparing a menu and organizing a full-fledged family meal from Leanne will greatly help mothers.

I thank the publisher Mann, Ivanov and Ferber for provided copy

My collection of cookbooks has been replenished with a new book of vegan recipes from the publishing house Mann, Ivanov and Ferber. It is called Recipes for Health and Longevity by Leanne Campbell. Her father wrote a well-known popular book, which says that it is unusual for a person to eat animal food and it is healthier to eat only plant foods.

Leanne Campbell decided to complement her father's work with a vegan cookbook. People who choose to go vegan according to the China Study will find many healthy recipes here.

Recipes dietary, low-fat.

The main principles of the book "Recipes for Health and Longevity" by Leanne Campbell:

• minimum processing of products,
• proper storage of products to preserve maximum nutrients,
• less fat
• less sugar
• less salt.

At the beginning of the book, the author tells her story, how and why she came to a plant-based diet. I was interested in reading. Then there is a section dedicated to children. Leanne answers questions about how she raised and raised her children on a vegetarian diet.

I really liked section on healthy substitutes for unhealthy foods . The author offers plant-based alternatives to meat and fish, eggs and milk. Although it would be nice to give plant-based milk recipes in the book itself. For example, or coconut.

There are interesting options for replacing fats and oils in baking. I will definitely try to bake something dietary with prune paste instead of butter.

The book is beautiful , made qualitatively, on good thick paper in hardcover. There are many recipes in the book, most of them are provided with photos of ready meals. Here is the content of the book:

Disadvantages of the China Study Cookbook

But I also have criticism.

Photo quality claims

Some photos are blurry, dishes are out of focus. At the same time, for some reason, blurry photos were placed on entire large pages. What can be considered there, I do not know. I should have taken better photos for this book. Or reduce them in size and place them under the recipes, and not on separate pages. It would have looked much neater. On large pages, the lack of focus is too conspicuous.

For example, the photo of these muffins is blurry, the focus is completely missing:

Inconsistency with Russian specifics

The book is clearly aimed at the American market. Recipes are not adapted for Russian readers. Many recipes contain products that we can hardly get. Of course, in megacities you can buy anything, but people from small towns are unlikely to be able to buy any exotic.

The book has this lovely note:“Products used in recipes can be bought in supermarkets and health food departments, pharmacies, as well as ordered in Russian and foreign online stores or prepared independently according to recipes available on the network.”

And if a person does not have the Internet, what will he do? How will he prepare the ingredients needed for the recipes?
For example, recipes with tortilla are often found in the book. An example recipe is Favorite Breakfast Burritos, page 78.

It is suggested to take 4 large whole grain tortillas. I understand that in America, tortillas are sold on every street corner. But for Russia it is exotic. Even regular tortillas, let alone whole grain ones. It would be logical to give a recipe for homemade tortilla in the same book so that a person can cook it himself.

In this same recipe for favorite burritos, the author recommends using "your favorite low-fat, salt-free salsa" from a can. Also purchased, as I understand it. There is no salsa recipe.
To be fair, I note that I did find the salsa recipe in this book. But completely by accident, because it is much further away (page 244) and inside another recipe - like a little addition. See:

By the way, I wonder how this recipe ended up in this book. Indeed, at the beginning of the book it is said that products should be subjected to minimal processing in order to preserve the maximum usefulness. And here the potatoes are baked twice - first 1 hour, then another 20 minutes.
I had the same question on the granola recipe on page 77.

What else is there to complain about? In recipes for sweet pastries, I found the mysterious "Sucanat sweetener", which is suggested to be used instead of sugar. I had no idea what this thing was. I went online to find out. And what do I see? This sweetener is nothing more than brown sugar, only with a high content of molasses (molasses). That is more useful. But sugar is still sugar, whatever you call it.

I think I'm done with criticism 🙂

Well, let me give you a little credit. The book has sewn-in ribbon bookmark . You can lay down a recipe so that you can immediately open the book in the right place. A trifle, but nice.

There are blank spaces at the end of the book. lined pages on which you can write down your ideas and recipes.

Who Can Use The China Study Cookbook?

The book "Recipes for Health and Longevity" will be useful to you if

• Do you like culinary experiments?
• you are interested to get acquainted with new recipes of American cuisine,
• You are familiar with the basics of cooking and know how to select substitutes for various products.

In this case, feel free to take the book for yourself or as a gift to loved ones who are also interested in vegan cooking and healthy eating.

If you only know cooking and have no experience in cooking vegan and vegetarian dishes, then it will be difficult for you to cook something according to the recipes in this book. Better start with something simpler. Pay attention to others.

Personally, I love culinary experiments, so the book will certainly come in handy for me. I liked many of the recipes. So I will definitely cook dishes according to Leanne Campbell's recipes, after adapting them to our Russian products.

Follow my site for updates - I will post adapted recipes with photos.

Where to buy the book "Recipes for Health and Longevity"

The publication can be purchased both in print and in electronic form in the following online stores.