The Balanced Plate: The Essential Elements of Whole Foods and Good Health [Paperback]

Renée Loux (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2006

Famed raw foods chef Renée Loux celebrates the growing whole foods movement with over 150 delicious, creative recipes and practical advice
for leading a healthy, whole life

In her first book, Living Cuisine, Renée Loux showed how nutritious and satisfying raw foods cuisine can be. Now she takes a broader look at the benefits of a diet rich in natural, whole foods. Under the banner of "nutritional cross-training," Renée outlines the basic principles of such dietary plans as macrobiotics and Ayurveda, and dishes up flavorful whole foods recipes for optimal health--including Ratatouille Thin Crust Pizza, Roasted Spring Vegetable Salad, and Lemon Vanilla Ginger Snaps--with a nod to gluten-free living, blood sugar balance, and boosted immunity.

You are what you eat, Renée explains, but you are also what you use to clean your house and your skin, and so sprinkled throughout the book readers will find ideas for introducing the whole-foods philosophy to their home and beauty routines, including tips for composting and choosing a healthy water filter.

When Living Cuisine appeared, Alicia Silverstone applauded Renée's recipes, saying: "Incredibly rich and delicious and full of health and restorative energy, her food is medicine." Part eco-friendly cookbook and part organic lifestyle guide, this new book reflects that same spirit, while presenting the essential elements of living well through whole foods, and living responsibly for a sustainable future.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Loux's debut, Living Cuisine, was a raw foods (food perparation with low or no heat) primer. This follow-up has plenty of recipes that involve cooking, but retains the focus on "choosing balanced whole foods over processed, denatured foods" for wellness and for pleasure. To that end, Loux introduces the Ayurvedic system of classifying food, and gives advice on "finding out where it really comes from, and choosing the safest, most nutritious options." She begins with "The True Cost of Food," laying out the number of pounds-per-acre of pesticides used in growing everything from potatoes to strawberries-and cows-as well as the large amounts of fuel used in shipping imported goods and the potential dangers of genetically modified foods. From there, she covers seasonality, macrobiotics, the basics of a whole foods pantry (including safer cleaning products), and clean water issues. The last two thirds of the book is comprised of Loux's recipes for everything from Velvet Nutmeg Nog to Lotus Manitok Wild Rice with Mâche; also included are takes on Sheherd's Pie, Salad Niçoise and Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens. The whole is produced with passion and expertise.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

RENÉE LOUX is a celebrated raw foods chef and former co-owner of the Raw Experience restaurant in Maui. She facilitates health retreats and workshops worldwide which incorporate whole living foods into a balanced lifestyle. She lives in Maui.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (September 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594864713
• ISBN-13: 978-1594864711
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Use the philsophy of this book every day but most of the recipes only a few times a week., October 17, 2006

By 

Jazzbrat (Bebop City, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Balanced Plate: The Essential Elements of Whole Foods and Good Health (Paperback)

I just discovered this book and was really excited to read it. I must say that overall I wasn't disappointed. Her explanations on how we impact our bodies and the earth by the choices we make in food and even in the products we use is truly convincing. Her enthusiasm for food is contageous. The fact that she discusses various eating plans and the philosophy behind each is really wonderful. The amount of good information presented is amazing. That said, I was a little confused about the recipes. I am of Italian heritage so I was raised on olive oil, beans, nuts, grains, etc and continue to make them my basic food choices. But just because nuts and good quality oils have health benefits doesn't mean you can use them with wild abandon. Some of the recipes in this book have way too much fat per serving. Unless you're extremely active I truly can't imagine using most of these recipes on a regular basis and being able to control your weight. For example, there is a recipe for "Massaged Greens". This veg side dish has 11 grams of fat per serving (and only 150 calories). As someone who eats alot of greens, I can say first hand that a drizzle of good quality oil is all that you really need to season greens, anything more and you drown out their flavor. The "Walnut Oatmeal Raisin Cookies" are 400 calories and 21 grams of fat per cookie! To be fair, not all of the recipes are high in fat but the majority are. The other odd thing about many of these recipes are the copius amounts of sodium. Soy sauce (shoyu) seems to be the culprit here. The "Soba Noodle Salad" and the "Soba Noodle Soup" have 3,130 mg and 3,390 mg of sodium per serving respectively. And the above mentioned "Massaged Greens": 960 mg. of sodium per serving. Alot of recipes have 600 mg or higher (although not all recipes are high in sodium). So, I was baffled that Dean Ornish would write the Forward. Unless he's loosened his militant stance on the "proper" way to eat for health, he seemed like the last person who would herald most of the recipes in this tome. So maybe one should use the philosophy of this book every single day but the recipes only a few times a week.
All of this being said, I would still recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to live better and impact the environment less.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too much seaweed, ume, and soy, July 28, 2008

By 

Catherine Schuyler (Duluth, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Balanced Plate: The Essential Elements of Whole Foods and Good Health (Paperback)

I expected this book to provide me with useful recipes and an overall healthy philosophy on food. There was some of what I expected, but far too many 'exotic' foods expected for every recipe, so that none of them looked interesting enough to try. I keep whole grains, fresh produce and herbs, and lots of basics in my pantry. What seemed to distinguish almost all of the recipes in the book were odd ingredients -- one-hit wonders, as it were -- that are expensive and ridiculous to keep around because I'll only use them once and the jar will take up refrigerator space. I didn't find it helpful, and I won't keep it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure beyond measure!, October 28, 2006

By 

Donna Morgan "culinary hound" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Balanced Plate: The Essential Elements of Whole Foods and Good Health (Paperback)

Wow! There is so much information, love and intelligence in these pages. A book that will last a lifetime. The info and perspective is inspiring and welcoming. I appreciate the open, cross-training philosophy, and the recipes are OUTRAGEOUS! Everything I have made has been phenomenal and worth repeating. I have purchased several copies as gifts and everyone has sincerely loved it. Renee's take on the health of our home environment is priceless with so many good hints of encouragement. I loved the quotes throughout. Dr. Dean Ornish isn't the only one who is a big fan! So many goodies to treasure through and through. Bravo!