Clean Food, by Terry Walters

Picked up a new book today at Barnes & Noble, and found a new hero in its author, Terry Walters. Subtitled "A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source," this book contains more than 200 recipes made from clean, whole foods based on what's in season. Terry Walters, a holistic health practitioner, so eloquently puts into words in her book's introduction what I constantly rant and rave about to friends and family. So, here's what she says. Wish I had said it first.

"In this country, the topic of food is charged with emotion and controversy. The whole meals of my past are now an illusion. Nothing is as it appears on the surface. Our produce departments and grocery store shelves are lined with unknowns - pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, chemical additives, and process upon process, stripping our food of its inherent nutritional value. Behind each glass of milk or piece of meat is an agenda, a lobbyist, a Fortune 500 company, a distribution chain, a processing plant...you need to squint to see the farmer and you need binoculars to find the cow!" (Did I mention this woman is my new hero?!)

She goes on: "The further we remove ourselves from the source of our food, the less we are able to maintain physical and emotional balance. Our processed food diets are so lacking in nutrition that we require coffee to wake up, sugar to get through the day, television to calm down, alcohol to let go of our inhibitions, chocolate and ice cream to feel satisfied, pills to sleep through the night and drugs to provide us with the illusion of health. The vitamins and nutrients that were so rich in my mother's whole meals are hard to come by, and the nourishment from that mealtime is even more rare. Have we become a society that is artificially sustained?"

I cannot rave about this book enough! And I plan to spend the next year attempting all of its seasonal recipes, finding new favorites and enjoying the healthy cooking journey.