Better Broths & Healing Tonics

by Kara N Fitzgerald and Jill Shepphard Davenport

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Better Broths & Healing Tonics is a tutorial guide with recipes by Dr. Kara N. Fitzgerald and Jill Sheppard Davenport aimed at increasing the nutrient density of foods we eat. Released 8th Nov 2022 by Hatchette Go, it's 256 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The food we put into our bodies is the fuel which makes a profound difference in our mental and physical health. Too many people access less than ideal food over a long period of time while living with mental and physical stress and a less than ideal lifestyle. This book explains the nutritional concepts of functional "food as medicine" and provides usable recipes to support gut health and reduce inflammation. 

The book isn't veg*n specifically, but there are a large number of vegetarian and vegan friendly recipes and more importantly, the authors give alternatives to make the recipes conform to a number of special diets: keto, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, AIP, elimination, etc etc. 

The introduction is well annotated and contains an information dense (but accessible) crash course on the evidence and practice and how to use the book to increase nutritional benefits from foods we eat. 

The following chapters cover specific ingredients (berries, pepper, pumpkin seeds, rosemary, and turmeric to give a few examples), special diets, and tips for making broths. The second section of the book contain the recipes for making and using the broths. Each recipe contains a background introduction, ingredients in a bullet list, and is following by step-by-step instructions. Ingredient measures are given in imperial (American) units only. Variations for different specialized diets follow the instructions for each recipe. Nutritional information isn't included.

Four and a half stars. This is a very well written health and lifestyle cookbook. It would be a good choice for public library acquisition as well as home use. There aren't too many photos throughout, but there -are- a phenomenal number of included annotations (most with links) and resources for further reading. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.