First Up: Janet and Greta Podleski

A few months ago, my wife borrowed a low fat cookbook from her sister. Until that point I hadn't had many memorable experiences with the "healthy" cookbook genre, as many of them subscribe to the "If it tastes good spit it out" theory.

When my wife made the first meal from the cookbook, I was blown away. I was simply amazed. It was a vegetarian lasagna, and it was absolutely delicious! I just couldn't believe it that something without meat could taste so good (I'm like that guy in the Burger King commercial, a "meat-a-tarian"). The book was called Crazy Plates by Janet and Greta Podleski.

Since then, we've purchased Crazy Plates as well as another by the Podleski sisters (they currently have 3) and have yet to try something we didn't like. As the caption on one of the books says, it's "Low-Fat Food So Good, You'll Swear It's Bad For You!"

The other thing that I really like about these books is that they are full of very useful tips and information about everything from diet myths to exercise to where to find some of the harder to find ingredients. You will get a complete education from all of the comments. They are also very well organized and have an excellent index, so not only can you find the recipes easily, you can find all of the useful tidbits of information as well.

I highly recommend all three books written by Janet and Greta Podleski. While there are some recipes in each that are very similar, each book has enough unique content that it is worth having all three. Any one book on its own is also enough to provide you with recipes and information to last for months.

Give them a try, you won't be disappointed.



Looneyspoons: Low-Fat Food Made Fun!

Crazy Plates: Low-Fat Food So Good, You'll Swear It's Bad for You!

Eat, Shrink & Be Merry! Great-Tasting Food That Won't Go from Your Lips to Your Hips!

Eating Healthy Doesn't Have to Be Boring!

I remember reading comic strip once. The main character was told by his doctor that he needed to avoid foods with high fat, sugar and cholesterol. He character asked how he would know what foods had that. The doctor said "If it tastes good, spit it out!"

Unfortunately, this has become the common misconception about healthy eating. Too often when we think of healthy eating, we think of plain rice, melba toast, boiled, unseasoned chicken breasts and celery. With a diet like that, it's no wonder most of us can't follow a diet plan. Gross!

The great news is, eating healthy doesn't have to be boring! There are a lot of healthy foods out there that are absolutely delicious! Fruits are the obvious one. Fruit is clearly very healthy, but also quite tasty! Fresh strawberries, juicy oranges, pineapples, melons. But there are countless other delicious foods that won't add to your waistline. Whole wheat pasta with marinara sauce, grilled fish, bbq chicken, lean roast beef.

Admittedly, it can be quite a task thinking up all of those delightful delicacies. Fortunately, for the more creatively challenged among us, there are a wide variety of cookbooks out there that have already done this job for us. This website is dedicated to reviewing the best ones that I've tried.