These publications and cookbooks have been used in designing the menu plans for Credible Edibles. Each one is an outstanding resource for health and environmentally-conscious consumers. We highly encourage you to go out and obtain your own copy of these and other books to deepen your knowledge and broaden your recipe collection. Your body and your family will thank you for it. Just click on any title in red and you will be taken right to their website or other online information about that resource. If you have a resource to recommend, please send it to us.
Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth
by John Robbins
This book is a classic, published in 1987, served as the inspiration for millions of North Americans to change the way they eat. This book was the first one I read on the topic and set me on the path to a new way of eating. Anyone interested in how they could concretely protect the environment every single day with every bite they ear should read this great book. John Robbins is the heir to the Baskin-Robbins ice cream empire and his take on the whole dairy and meat industry is illuminating and refreshing.
Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs
Dr. Barnard is well-known in North America for his pioneering work in using diet to prevent and cure disease. He is a professor of medicine and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. This new book is a godsend for anyone diagnosed with Type 2 or adult-onset diabetes. His own research and that of others has confirmed what conventional approaches deny, that diabetes is reversible. He goes through the research and presents a program of dietary changes that has been proven to not only halt the progression of diabetes but actual reverse it! He adds great recipes, which we at Credible Edibles have and will continue to use.
Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket
by Brian Halweil
Brian Halweil is a senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute and has authored numerous books and articles. This short yet compelling and thorough book covers all the pros of eating a local diet. He gives stunning examples of success from around the world and gives us hope that, indeed, eating local can save our health, our economy and our planet.
Energy Boosters Handbook
by Dr. Sarah Brewer
This little handbook is invaluable for anyone who feels they could use more energy or senses they are not functioning optimally. The author goes through all the elements that impact on our energy levels and has a lot of important information about how we can boost our energy through diet and what traps we fall into that drain us. Some of the best energy boosters include: whole grains; root vegetables; tea; cruciferous vegetables; certain fruit; certain nuts; oily fish; and olive oil.
Fit for Life
by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond
Harvey and Marilyn Diamond have written a whole series of books about healthy eating. Their first book, simply called Fit for Life, published in 1985, was focused on healthy weight loss. Subsequent books have focused more on the role of food in achieving optimal health and preventing disease. They are superb resources for people looking to change the way they eat to lose weight and be free of illness and disease. Their recipes are also really good.
Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer Through Diet
by Richard Belliveau, Ph.D and Denis Gingras, Ph.D.
An excellent Canadian resource I heard about when the researchers were interviewed on CBC radio. It was published in 2005 and comprehensively reviews the research in the field of diet and cancer and then outlines the foods that have been proven to prevent and reduce the incidence of all types of cancer. The foods or food groups that fight cancer are: the cabbage family; garlic and onions; soy; turmeric; green tea; berries; omega 3s; tomatoes; citrus; red wine; and dark chocolate.
Healthy at 100: How You Can – at any age – Dramatically Increase Your Life Span and Health Span by John Robbins
In this amazing book, author John Robbins, of Baskin-Robbins fame, presents compelling evidence that there is no reason whatsoever to expect old age to be a time of frailty, disease or degeneration of any sort. The subtitle is The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World’s Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples. And he means it. He examines four diverse cultures reknown for incredible healthy longevity and summarises what they all have in common. He then uses scientific evidence for supporting what his analysis shows: you can have perfect eye-sight, mental acuity, agility, strength and satisfaction until the day you die at 100 or more. This book came out in 2007 and contains very recent information. Read it and take action to guarantee a healthy long life.
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
For those of you more interested in an intellectual understanding of where our approach to food has gone wrong, this book is ideal. Very readable, engaging and to the point: we have taken the wrong path and we need to turn around. The author’s manifesto is summed up in three statements. “Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.” Simple and effective. A credo to live by and one that Credible Edibles subscribes to wholeheartedly.
In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed
by Carl Honoré
Canadian journalist Carl Honoré does an excellent job of describing the wide variety of slow movements emerging across the world. Kicking off with the Slow Food Movement in Italy in the 1980’s, slow has spread to everything from cities and medicine to exercise and sex. This little book is perfect for anyone who has ever felt that life was rushing by at such a speed that quality of life was being seriously compromised. An uplifting and hopeful read that engages the reader in the adventure of slowing down to smell the roses.
Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children
by Anne Cooper and Lisa M. Holmes
This book is written by two pre-eminent chefs and good food advocates in the US. They have been at the forefront of re-designing the way children get fed at school. The book is full of shocking facts about many of the convenience foods we sometimes feed our children as well as many outstanding recipes.
The Vegan Lunch Box
by Jennifer McCann
The author of this book is an award-winning blogger and the creator of the website www.veganlunchbox.com. The book is full of kid-friendly recipes with full colour photos using a laptop lunch bento box. These recipes are truly amazing and look so good no wonder kids will eat them eagerly.
Refresh: Contemporary Vegan Recipes from the Award-Winning Fresh Restaurants
by Ruth Tal and Jennifer Houston
Jennifer Tal is the founder and now co-owner of the Fresh restaurants in Toronto. These restaurants have become wildly popular and provide incredibly delicious and healthy vegetarian and vegan meals. This cookbook is the third one to come out of the Fresh trio and presents an amazing and inspiring variety of unique and wholesome recipes. There is something for everyone in here including the absolute best, most kid-friendly tofu recipe ever!
Super Foods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life
by Stephen Pratt, MD
This book has launched a tremendous revolution in people’s understanding of what constitutes healthy food. Dr. Pratt has followed up this initial book, published in 2005, with several others. In this primer on the connection between our health and what we eat, Dr. Pratt highlights what he calls the “super” foods. He has synthesized the scientific literature in a wide variety of fields to come up with his list of 14 super foods: beans; blueberries; broccoli; oats; oranges; pumpkin; wild salmon; soy; spinach; tea; tomatoes; skinless turkey; walnuts; and yogurt.
Thrive: A guide to optimal health & performance through plant-based whole foods
by Brendan Brazier
This is the perfect book for any athlete or parent of an aspiring athlete who is concerned about whether a vegan diet is appropriate for a top level competitor. Brendan is the 2003 Canadian 50 km Ultra Marathon Champion and places at the top in international triathlon events. He has been vegan since his teen years and is living proof that a diet without any animal products can be not only supremely healthy but sufficient to fuel impressive physical feats of strength and endurance. A short book, with recipes, that is well worth the read for anyone who has ever wondered if living without any animal products is healthy and sufficient for even those involved in the heaviest physical activities.
Ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health
by Liz Pearson, R.D. and Mairlyn Smith, H.Ec.
This book was released in 2007 and contains the very latest research into healthy eating. Written by a Canadian registered dietician and a chef and cookbook author. This is a very accessible and practical book, full of both research findings that are easy to read and understand and tons of great recipes. Their ultimate food list includes: healthy oils; as close to 10 servings of fruits and veggies per day as possible; plenty of herbs and spices; whole grains; low fat milk; beans; fatty fish; nuts; flax; tea and water; red wine; and chocolate.