The World's Healthiest Foods: Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of Eating

by George Mateljan

This book answers the question about what to eat to keep you healthy. It focuses on the World's Healthiest Foods, 100 delicious foods that are nutrient-rich, providing the maximum number of nutrients for the least amount of calories. The book is an inspiration not only for those who want to achieve vibrant health and energy but for those who also want a healthier way to lose weight by making the World's Healthiest Foods the foundation of their Healthiest Way of Eating. The World's Healthiest Foods are among the most flavorful foods in the world-so you can now eat healthier without sacrificing taste! This book provides innovative new ways to maximize the nutritional value of the World's Healthiest Foods while minimizing preparation time through quick and easy recipes that anyone can make. Most recipes take 7 minutes or less to prepare!

Genres: Health, Cookbooks, Nutrition, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference

880 pages, Paperback

First published July 18, 2006

Reviews

[Dna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tried some of the recipes in this book since purchasing it almost 10 years ago and they are usually pretty bland and outright gross. However, I've found this book to be indispensable in the kitchen, while cooking, eat, planning, etc. It's the WHF website printed out, but handy and fun to read, too. I love details about food, especially food history and little tidbits, like the Roman soldiers that used beet juice to dye their ball sacks an aggressive red. That's an example I made up, but you know where I'm going with this.

[Steve H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bulky, verbose, repetitive, and poorly bound. Sounds great, huh? However, the information contained inside this problematic work is worth it. It's essentially a printed version of the World's Healthiest Foods database. Each food gets a 4-10 page treatment of its benefits, preparation, and storage. The repetition comes in when almost every food is prepared one of two ways: healthy steaming or healthy sauteing. A useful one-time reference guide or website.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my Bible!!! If I could give it 10 stars, I would!

George Mateljan's cooking method lies somewhere between cooked food and raw food. He believes that over-cooking denatures and robs your food of its nutrients (so true!), and that food tastes best when their natural flavor is allowed to shine through. Most of his recipes can be prepared in less than 30 minutes, inclusive of prep time-cutting, washing, etc., so what you get are fast, healthy meals with max nutritive value.

This invaluable reference/cookbook will teach you numerous new techniques by which to prepare meals in order to maximize health and well-being. Honestly, I always look forward to pulling this book off my shelf or consulting his website when I take home an unfamiliar seasonal vegetable from the farmers market.

[Tami Robertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great educational book about how to properly cook veggies, what the healthiest foods are and why and even includes recipes. I had to read this book for my holistic nutrition class and it is packed with information. It gives a detailed breakdown of all the nutrients in food (even meats) and what components to watch out for with food sensitivities or allergies.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource to own! While I haven't read the entire thing front to back, I reference it often! It has very detailed nutrition information, cites scientific research, and includes recipes. Highly recommend!

[Phil Hind · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book

This book covers everything you need to know about nutrition it also has great recipes, there are link to a great web site full of qualified answers to your nutritional requirements.

[Ixiana H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive guide to health-promoting foods. It includes food selection, handling, recipes and a detailed guide of what nutrients to use for specific needs and where to find them.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first word out of my mouth when I picked this book up at the library was "Wow!". This book is massive! It looks like an encyclopedia. I took it home, glanced through the 879 very large pages and thought "Wow!" this is exactly what I've been looking for! Every piece of information I've been randomly searching the internet for is contained in this book.

This book is an amazing reference guide! Each vegetable, fruit, fish & shellfish, nuts & seeds, poultry & lean meats, beans & legumes, dairy & eggs, whole grains, and herbs & spices is listed individually with tips on how to select, how to store, how to prepare and cook, with a complete nutritional analysis of each food.

George Mateljan teaches the healthiest cooking methods and how to retain the most nutrients while cooking. He talks about how to avoid cooking with oil and other harmful effects of high-heat cooking methods.

Want to know the world's healthiest foods? Go to page 21. He listed the healthiest foods according to total nutrient richness in an easy-to-read chart.

Want to know the best way to cook broccoli? Go to page 129.

Want to know the health benefits of strawberries? Go to page 345.

Need more calcium in your diet? Go to page 738 and you'll find a list of the best sources of calcium from the world's healthiest foods.

What about Omega-3 fatty acids? Page 770. Vitamin D? Page 796.

Want to start eating healthier but don't know where to start? He has a 4-week plan with breakfast, lunch, & dinner options.

Need recipes? There are 500.

This is definitely a book worth buying!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has cataloged 100 of the most nutritious foods (that are easily available). He actually has a formula for deciding "nutrient richness": nutrient richness value equals maximum nutrients/minimal calories. Thus most of his top 20 foods are going to be vegetable (low in calories)--Spinach, Swiss chard, crimini mushrooms, asparagus and broccoli--are the top five. Fortunately, he also breaks his choices down by food type. Walnuts and beans are on his list as they are on many other top food lists. However, they have a low nutrition number because they are high in calories. His list is very good even if the "nutrient richness" number is a little quirky.

Most of the book is devoted to taking each of these 100 foods and explaining the best ways to select, store, prepare, cook, and benefit from them. Each food gets a four page plus write up.

The book is 880 pages long! It is not a book to read casually. I would use it more as a reference book or to research foods. I read a lot of the book, but not all of it.

I would rank Steven Pratt's Superfoods RX higher than this book mainly because Pratt's book is a little bit easier to read; however, they are good complimentary books. Check them both out.

[John Isenhour · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only marked this book as "read" so that I'd stop seeing it in my feed on Goodreads. It is more of a reference than anything else and a beast of a book. It sits on the shelf in my kitchen, and, while I do pull it down several times a month, I find myself searching the associated website more often. The text is based on a simple principle of providing in-depth information about foods of all sorts with a very high nutrient to calorie ratio. Sometimes the sheer amount of information can be overwhelming, but, fortunately, the book is organized so that a reader could simply read the introduction and preparation tips about foods of interest and still feel that he or she had learned a lot. The recipes are very simple to prepare, making them very practical.

[Pinki Pal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can say after I read the book I went off sugar and took my family off sugar for a year. It was the best year of our lives. Some of my children were too young to remember but the older two do and give me a bad time about it but they do say it was a good year. they first thought I was crazy but as adults they try to avoid sugar as much as they can.They feel better when they do avoid sugar. It helps my husband's and my health as we try to avoid it. There is same thing to the theory about eating sugar. I appreciate this book and the way he presented it. I wasn't led to feel he had any purpose other than to show us how sugar affects our bodies.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an great reference on preparing, cooking and storing the most nutrient dense whole foods. Although I don't use many of the recipes, I've learned the better ways to prepare foods I was already eating and incorporated less popular vegys like kale and mustard greens into my diet. The book explains the best way to cook foods to maximize nutrient content. It has tips like cut up broccoli at least 10 minutes before eating or cooking to facilitate the activation of enzymes which convert nutrients into their active form.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has become our Green Bible. The information is very good. The cooking is simple and very healthy. I have not tried anything that was not delicious. For each food it tells you chemically why you should eat it. How to buy it, store it, prepare it and cook it. Nothing takes more than about 15 minutes. He sautes in chicken broth instead of oil and steams most vegetables. I use it as a reference book. The index is excellent. Much of the information is repeated over and over, but that works very well if you use it as a reference. Enjoy

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is what helped me lose all my weight before I got pregnant with Aleah. It teaches about the science of food, which is a real eye-opener. I have a lot of gratitude for the food that God has given us to nourish our bodies. It was such a helpful book. I plan all of my meals based on the principles in this book. I only wish I had the determination I had a couple years ago to stick with eating the worlds most healthiest foods!

[Ruhegeist · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually have a really old book by George called Healthier Eating Guide and Cookbook that looks like a precursor to this book.

I really don't enjoy cooking and my experience with trying to cook healthy meals tends to result in less then tasty dinner which only furthers my not liking to cook. I'm happy to report that after 2 recipes from the book, I'm an extremely happy girl. Even E liked it and ate leftovers! I'm sold on this book. Great reference and education tool.

[Marci · Rating 5 out of 5]

If one needs one Nutrition book for reference, this is it! It's the Goldilocks factor--not too complex, not too dumb-downed. The book explores the benefits and nutritional facts of 100 basic foods and incorporates said foods into SIMPLE(less than 1/2 hour prep and cook time)recipes. I asked my local library to buy this book but was told that the book was TOO OLD for purchase (more than 2 years??)
I have a Nutrition Certificate and use/recommend this books in my workshops.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Book covers all of the nutrient rich foods and gives fast easy recipes to prepare them. It tells you all the vitamins minerals that are contained in various foods and assigns foods a nutrient value. It inspired me to cook more healthy and try vegetables that I have never eaten before. This is a great reference / cook book to have on hand and refer to when creating your menus, making your grocery list and recipes.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by my Naturopathy doctor and is one I'd love to own. Gives some great information on how to get the most out of your food (I have been overcooking vegetables my entire life and I had no idea.. lol). Focuses mainly on eating raw vegetables and fruits but offers recipes on almost every type of food (vegetable, fruit, meat) that you can think of.

[Lili Inu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing compilation of nutritional information in one book! I haven't read everything yet - over 800 pages long. The book also includes simple quick recipes as well as the healthiest way to prepare them. I am giving this book 5 stars for the nutritional portion. The recipes are just an added bonus and I can't wait to try one of them.

[Brett Hinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that is well worth the purchase price for any family to have on hand. It outlines his formula for determining the "healthiest" foods and covers how best to cook them. My wife bought it for me a couple of years ago and it has been a present that continues to be used frequently. It is more of a reference book than something you would read and put away.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exhaustive resource about healthy foods, minerals, vitamins, and so much more, plus recipes! I had to read this book for my holistic nutrition class, and while I'll admit I was unable to read it in its entirety over the semester, it is a great resource. I will keep it on my shelf for easy reference.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far--AWESOME! Details about the world's healthiest foods--how to choose them at the store, store them, cook them, and use them to improve your health. It's not a quick read (over 1000 full-size pages) but I am excited to keep going!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a catalog, not a book, so I cannot claim to have read every word. I did, however, find myself trying new fruits and vegetables and hanging onto a few of the recipes. For healthly-eating fanatics, this is the Bible.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent nutritional reference that clearly outlines the health benefits of almost all fruits and vegetables, including their optimal season and cooking suggestions. Also covers fish, meat, poultry & spices. Huge book packed with a lot of valuable information.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing! It is full of easy, healthy, and tasty recipes. It gives tons of nutritional info as well. basically this book is great for people looking to start a healthy lifestyle but think it is difficult to prepare easy and healthy meals.

[Jim]

Most likely better listed as currently browsing, this book is huge. One of the few books I purchased in the last six months.

Just added his blog feed to his author's page
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...

[Emy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and use it all the time to find out the best ways to cook veggies and keep the most nutrients in. Turns out it is usually steaming and for way less time than I thought. This is my go-to guide for how to prepare any vegetable or fruit.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It really is the essential guide on what makes a food healthy & why whole-foods are best for your health. It offers quick notes on eating to certain disorders from enhancing energy to what foods are essential for good heart health.

[brooke sellers · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential tool for a health counselor like me. It's a great reference to have on hand, though I should note that almost the entirity of its content is available online at www.whfoods.com.

[Flavia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the information on different foods. Great guide for building the best diet.