Waking up feeling tired, lethargic and depressed is an all too common experience. Looking at your reflection in the mirror and knowing that you are out of shape and overweight is a chastening experience to start and end your day. Whatever your situation, don’t you owe it to yourself to get in shape – and stay in shape? If you have the honesty and self-discipline to recognise that neglecting your body is a sure-fire recipe for poor health and an inferior quality of life, then this book can help you.
Riki Davies, an experienced medical herbalist and nutritionist feels so passionately about the benefits of healthy eating that she has privately published this excellent book. The title is interchangeable because if you eat well you may well enjoy your life better.
This is neither a cookery book nor a dietary guide. It is both and much more besides – a wealth of digestible information prepared in an easy and engaging style. Technical references are kept simple. Even if you are clued-up on your alkalines and antioxidants, calories and caffeine, nutrients and vitamins, your salt and your sodium, and many of us are not, Love Life – Eat Well will educate and encourage you.
Can you name 23 herbs and spices that are good for you? And how to grow and prepare them? From her 50 well presented recipes for all meals I have so far tried Riki’s muesli, majdara and ‘healthy soup for the soul!’ and will be sampling many more. I told you she is on a mission! Her book is relevant for adults of all ages and is particularly helpful for women of middle years facing (and quite possibly suffering from) the menopause.
Women’s Health Concern
http://www.womenshealthconcern.org/help/bookshelf/lovelife.html
“Love Life – Eat Well” Video Review
Review by The Herb Society
The book is supremely practical, although it commences with a 42-page section on the principles of healthy eating – everything from what processing does to food, the acid-alkaline balance in our bodies, salt and sodium, sugar and sugarsubstitutes and particularly beneficial food, some nutritionists tend to have strong views. Riki is no exception – for example on the importance of reducing red meat, dairy foods and fizzy drinks and she also has strong faith in antioxidants. On none of this do I feel qualified to judge, and this is not a book that is referenced as to its research sources. However, what she says seems eminently sensible and in the large section on growing your own she is clearly highly knowledgeable.
The rest of the book is divided into recommendations for breakfast, lunch and dinner with special section on smoothies and juices, soups, dressings/sauces and dips, with an excellent section on healthy deserts that shows this is no ‘hair shirt’ approach to food!
The book concludes with a look at so-called superfoods and the roles of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids.
The culinary sections are illustrated by colour photos of the prepared recipes, as is each of the vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices in the grow-your-own section. It shows the considerable effort the author has put into the work.
For many years ‘Western’ medicine has avoided the importance of nutrition to health compared with other healing traditions such as Ayurveda. This has never seemed to me to be sensible, indeed it seems counter-intuitive, and perhaps has led to such exasperation at the state of food in our schools and hospitals.
This book is welcome in showing a shift in emphasis and the author is to be congratulated on producing such a comprehensive, practical guide.
Sue Minter
Herbs Vol.37 No.3 2012
Review by Antony Haynes – Nutritional Therapist and Author
Love Life – Eat Well
By Riki Davies
This is such a useful book that provides comprehensive information to eat well and love life, just as it says on the cover. It is packed with information and presented in a well-structured way.
Riki has written in a chatty style, which makes it easy to read.
The recipes are really great and I have tried a few of them myself and they tasted wonderful. I particularly like the choice of foods, how to prepare and cook them, and the suggestions for juices and smoothies.
“If only…”, I thought, if only the nation could adopt these eating habits, we’d be so much better off! The more people that read this book and take on Riki’s suggestions, the better off we’d be!
A brief review by Antony Haynes BA(Hons), Dip ION, BANT, CNHC, Nutritional Therapist, lecturer and author of The Insulin Factor & The Food Intolerance Bible.
“Love Life – Eat Well” Reviews From Amazon
Riki’s Book
Tips on how to prepare nutritious foods to achieve a healthy body.