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The 150 Healthiest Comfort Foods on Earth
"This book tantalizes my taste buds and is everything I love--real comfort food that is as nutritious as it is delicious!" --Holly Clegg, author of the trim&TERRIFIC(R) cookbook series
Feel good about satisfying your craving for comfort food! You can now savor the taste--and healthiness--of warm, delicious, and comforting classics including mac 'n cheese, lasagna, chicken nuggets, pancakes, potato skins, and shepherd's pie, thanks to acclaimed nutritionist Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., and whole foods chef Jeannette Bessinger, C.H.H.C.
The two transform 150 comfort food favorites into good-for-you dishes without sacrificing an ounce of taste
- cutting back on sugar to lower blood sugar impact
- increasing fiber and protein
- boosting nutrients with added fruits and vegetables
- focusing on higher-quality fats such as olive oil
- reducing calories by reducing overall fat
The result? Delicious new classics such Fresh Phyllo Chicken Pot Pie; Higher-Protein, Lower-Cal Creamy Fettuccini Alfredo; Whole-Grain Home-Grilled Pizza; Satisfying Real-Food Pumpkin Pancakes; Lower-Cal Loaded Potato Skins; and Grass-Fed Italian Feta Meatballs in Tomato Sauce. Your taste buds--and your health--will thank you!
Feel good about satisfying your craving for comfort food! You can now savor the taste--and healthiness--of warm, delicious, and comforting classics including mac 'n cheese, lasagna, chicken nuggets, pancakes, potato skins, and shepherd's pie, thanks to acclaimed nutritionist Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., and whole foods chef Jeannette Bessinger, C.H.H.C.
The two transform 150 comfort food favorites into good-for-you dishes without sacrificing an ounce of taste
- cutting back on sugar to lower blood sugar impact
- increasing fiber and protein
- boosting nutrients with added fruits and vegetables
- focusing on higher-quality fats such as olive oil
- reducing calories by reducing overall fat
The result? Delicious new classics such Fresh Phyllo Chicken Pot Pie; Higher-Protein, Lower-Cal Creamy Fettuccini Alfredo; Whole-Grain Home-Grilled Pizza; Satisfying Real-Food Pumpkin Pancakes; Lower-Cal Loaded Potato Skins; and Grass-Fed Italian Feta Meatballs in Tomato Sauce. Your taste buds--and your health--will thank you!
534 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Jonny Bowden
45 books101 followersJonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, also known as “THE ROGUE NUTRITIONIST” is a board-certified nutritionist with a master’s degree in psychology and the best-selling author of thirteen books including “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth”, “Living Low Carb”, and “The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth”. He has appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS and Dr. Oz’s XM Radio and television shows as an expert on nutrition and weight loss, and has written or contributed to articles for dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Us Weekly, “O” The Oprah Magazine, The Daily Beast, Vanity Fair Online, Time, Oxygen, Marie Claire, Diabetes Focus, GQ, US Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Self, Fitness, Family Circle, Allure, Men’s Heath, Prevention, Natural Health, and many other publications. Dr. Jonny is a consultant to the Natural Products Industry and serves on the scientific or medical advisory boards of several companies, including Barlean’s Organic Oils, Resverage and EuroPharma. His latest book, “The Great Cholesterol Myth”-- co-authored with renowned cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, MD.
Visit him online at www.jonnybowden.com or follow him: twitter.com/jonnybowden
Visit him online at www.jonnybowden.com or follow him: twitter.com/jonnybowden
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 6, 2017
I got a lot of value from the descriptions about certain comfort foods. Why they were bad and what goes into them. The food recopies didn't align with my personal style, its a very western diet. Though the book did change the way I look at food. Everytime I eat now, i'm looking at food differently and having internal dialogues. I am going to read the other book 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth; which I believe will have what I am looking for.
March 10, 2026
I am not going to get much use out of it, but it would be helpful for some people. We already try to do more of a Mediterranean diet, but we have health issues and food allergies in the family. We have people with wheat allergy and gluten intolerance, tree nut and peanut allergies, soy allergy, lactose intolerance, rice intolerance, allergy to most artificial sweeteners, recommendation to limit protein, recommendation to avoid whole grains, recommendation to restrict fats (especially saturated), recommendation to avoid red meat, etc. There are people in the family who refuse to eat mushrooms or yogurt. So, most recipes require adaptations or won’t work at all. So, this doesn’t work well for my family.
I think my family needs an anti-inflammatory gluten-free cookbook that limits common allergens. This book includes recipes with red meat. The authors choose ingredients to make the foods have more protein, such as adding nuts or eggs. They choose high-potassium fruits and vegetables, which are good for the heart and suitable for most people. They opt for low-salt versions or making sauces from scratch. (And now, health recommendations are for full-fat dairy instead of low-fat.) Unfortunately, their recipe goals don’t work for us.
The Capsaicin-Rich Jamaican Jerk Chicken looks interesting. In the description, the authors point out that marinating the meat overnight shows it reduces the formation of cancer-causing compounds, which is helpful advice. Tamari is often gluten-free, unlike soy sauce, so that is a plus, but it doesn’t work with soy allergy in the family. I tend to use coconut aminos as a substitute for soy sauce.
Healthy notes show up throughout the book. For example, they use grade B maple syrup because it has more minerals (such as zinc, manganese, potassium, magnesium, iron and calcium). They recommend nitrate-free meats, but otherwise they suggest you take Vitamin C to neutralize the damaging effects of nitrate metabolites.
Lean and Light Curried Chicken Casserole uses high-protein yogurt, a problem because of adding protein and a flavor someone doesn’t like. It adds brown basmati rice, which is a problem for the rice intolerant person. Rice is one of the foods that is higher in arsenic, and brown rice more than white rice. (We can sometimes get away with white rice, but not brown, so perhaps it is a sensitivity to the arsenic.) And, the recipe includes peanuts, which one person has a severe allergy to. So, this is one of the recipes I wouldn’t bother with, since I already have curry recipes I use.
I will give this 3 stars.
I think my family needs an anti-inflammatory gluten-free cookbook that limits common allergens. This book includes recipes with red meat. The authors choose ingredients to make the foods have more protein, such as adding nuts or eggs. They choose high-potassium fruits and vegetables, which are good for the heart and suitable for most people. They opt for low-salt versions or making sauces from scratch. (And now, health recommendations are for full-fat dairy instead of low-fat.) Unfortunately, their recipe goals don’t work for us.
The Capsaicin-Rich Jamaican Jerk Chicken looks interesting. In the description, the authors point out that marinating the meat overnight shows it reduces the formation of cancer-causing compounds, which is helpful advice. Tamari is often gluten-free, unlike soy sauce, so that is a plus, but it doesn’t work with soy allergy in the family. I tend to use coconut aminos as a substitute for soy sauce.
Healthy notes show up throughout the book. For example, they use grade B maple syrup because it has more minerals (such as zinc, manganese, potassium, magnesium, iron and calcium). They recommend nitrate-free meats, but otherwise they suggest you take Vitamin C to neutralize the damaging effects of nitrate metabolites.
Lean and Light Curried Chicken Casserole uses high-protein yogurt, a problem because of adding protein and a flavor someone doesn’t like. It adds brown basmati rice, which is a problem for the rice intolerant person. Rice is one of the foods that is higher in arsenic, and brown rice more than white rice. (We can sometimes get away with white rice, but not brown, so perhaps it is a sensitivity to the arsenic.) And, the recipe includes peanuts, which one person has a severe allergy to. So, this is one of the recipes I wouldn’t bother with, since I already have curry recipes I use.
I will give this 3 stars.
August 6, 2021
The cookbook turns classic comfort foods into healthier versions without comprising taste. The recipes start off with a brief introduction of the changes made to make it healthier and there are frequent note sections to make the recipe even healthier as well as substitutions or variations that can be made.
However, I have several problems with the cookbook. As a visual person, I love seeing pictures of the recipes so I know how it looks and it often helps me decide what to make, but at most 25% of the recipes have a photo. Another problem is that under the meatless recipes, there are recipes that contain meat products such as the fettuccine aldredo which contains chicken broth and chicken bullion despite it being the first meatless recipe. Another "meatless" recipe is eggplant parm that contains turkey bacon for a richer flavor. As a vegetarian, I expect meatless recipes to contain no meat (FYI chicken and turkey are meats). Obviously I can make the substitutions myself, but there should not be any meat in meatless recipes. Lastly, a minor issue I have is that the steps in the directions are not numbered. When I follow along in a recipe, it is helpful having the steps numbered so I can easily find what step I am on and what I need to do next. This is difficult to do especially for the longer recipes.
Overall, there are some side dishes and desserts I am interested in making, but the cookbook is not for me.
However, I have several problems with the cookbook. As a visual person, I love seeing pictures of the recipes so I know how it looks and it often helps me decide what to make, but at most 25% of the recipes have a photo. Another problem is that under the meatless recipes, there are recipes that contain meat products such as the fettuccine aldredo which contains chicken broth and chicken bullion despite it being the first meatless recipe. Another "meatless" recipe is eggplant parm that contains turkey bacon for a richer flavor. As a vegetarian, I expect meatless recipes to contain no meat (FYI chicken and turkey are meats). Obviously I can make the substitutions myself, but there should not be any meat in meatless recipes. Lastly, a minor issue I have is that the steps in the directions are not numbered. When I follow along in a recipe, it is helpful having the steps numbered so I can easily find what step I am on and what I need to do next. This is difficult to do especially for the longer recipes.
Overall, there are some side dishes and desserts I am interested in making, but the cookbook is not for me.
June 15, 2021
As a norwegian, I'm pretty shocked. Each recipe has a description by the author, which coupled with looking at the foods in this, really opened my eyes to how unhealthy american food is. With some of these recipes I was thinking: How is this healthy?! But I guess compared to what it normally would be... Also it seems like americans seem to eat out a lot? And apparently that food is terrible? It's so crazy to me. I also reacted to that the author kept perpetuating the myth that MSG is bad, which is a pretty common thing in the US.
Anyway, the book is split up into mains (poultry, meat, seafood and meatless), side dishes, desserts, breakfasts and lastly appetizers, snacks and drinks. Kind of a weird order if you ask me. All the recipes are listed in the contents and the appendix of course, but also for each section, which I found redundant. There is also quite a lack of pictures in this, I think that really would have helped sell the whole ''healthy comfort food'' thing.
If things are really that bad in the US... I guess this book is needed.
Anyway, the book is split up into mains (poultry, meat, seafood and meatless), side dishes, desserts, breakfasts and lastly appetizers, snacks and drinks. Kind of a weird order if you ask me. All the recipes are listed in the contents and the appendix of course, but also for each section, which I found redundant. There is also quite a lack of pictures in this, I think that really would have helped sell the whole ''healthy comfort food'' thing.
If things are really that bad in the US... I guess this book is needed.
June 7, 2021
If you like your comfort foods expensive and take a long time to make, then this book is for you. Don't get me wrong: the recipes are decent, the descriptions and instructions good, and the pictures are gorgeous. But I do not want to spend $20 for some chocolate so I can make a chocolate sour cream cake (8 oz. is $20, the smallest amount I could find. The Callebaut unsweet chocolate comes in 11 lbs. bars for $80 with delivery). And I don't want to spend at least $20 to cook tostadas for my family (I'm really not sure of the portions either unfortunately so it would probably be $40). I am absolutely sure if I changed the ingredients I could make "comfort foods" that would be good, but it would maybe defeat the purpose of the book?
August 6, 2023
Full of good ideas
150 healthiest comfort foods on earth take regular recipes and change them into healthy recipes. I wouldn’t say that these are health food. But they are better recipes. Even though I have allergies, I can take some of these and make food that would be healthy for my family.
150 healthiest comfort foods on earth take regular recipes and change them into healthy recipes. I wouldn’t say that these are health food. But they are better recipes. Even though I have allergies, I can take some of these and make food that would be healthy for my family.
February 5, 2016
It was okay; not outstanding. I certainly like the concept, just the execution was mediocre in my estimation. I think that there are other books in this niche that are better. You never know until you look - so maybe it is for you, just not for me.
December 6, 2014
Having your comfort foods... But with healthier ingredients!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews