Healthful (even sweet) reading
Get ready for summer by hitting the books, with this quartet of works to keep you motivated
‘The Ashram Cookbook — The Way We Eat: Recipes for Healthy Living’
Catharina Hedberg
Assouline, 200 pages
When Catharina Hedberg opened the Ashram in Calabasas in 1974, “People were in horrific physical shape,” she said. “They could hardly walk up the driveway.”
More than four decades later, the founder and owner of the rustic-chic health retreat — where guests pay $5,500 for an intense week of diet and exercise — has just launched her first book. It has 100 vegetarian recipes from Ashram chef Suzie Spring Bohannon including popular dishes such as savory curried oatmeal.
“When I started, most people didn’t know what some vegetables were,” said Hedberg. “Today everyone is receptive and eager to learn more. The idea is to incorporate some of these adventurous vegetarian recipes into their regular meal plan.”
Info: $50 at assouline.com and Assouline store at the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., G-154, West Hollywood.
‘Sweet Laurel’
Laurel Gallucci and Claire Thomas
Clarkson Potter, 256 pages
The first time Laurel Gallucci baked a cake with little more than almond flour, coconut oil, maple syrup, Himalayan sea salt and organic eggs, her friend Claire Thomas said, “It’s basically a salad.”
The duo, founders of the Sweet Laurel bakery, which delivers grain-free, paleobased cakes around the country, decided to pour their expertise into their first book, which is predominantly dessertbased.
“When people are trying to avoid grains and refined sugar, for whatever reason, it’s the desserts they miss the most,” said Gallucci, who began her no grain/sugar/dairy diet after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. The gorgeously illustrated book — co-author Thomas is a photographer — includes a tres leches cake made with coconut flour and vegan caramel (dates, almond butter), and matcha sandwich cookies, using the potent, powdered green tea.
“Food should be celebratory and inclusive,” said Thomas. “It shouldn’t be about what you can’t have.”
Info: $28 at sweetlaurel.com
‘Glow 15’
Naomi Whittel
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 320 pages
In 2016, Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi won the Nobel Prize for his research on autophagy, which translates literally as “self-devour.” In her new book, Naomi Whitell shares how adhering to a 15-day regimen that promotes autophagy is the key to weight loss, skin regeneration and overall detoxifying.
“It’s a simple program that uses exercise, sleep, nutrition and natural beauty treatments to help activate the self-cleansing process in the body,” said Whitell, chief executive of a nutritional supplements company.
Among her easy-to-follow tips: fats first, carbs last.
“It’s less about what you eat and more about when,” she said, advocating the first meal of the day be avocados or macadamia nut pancakes. The plan also calls for intermittent fasting every other day.
Info: $19.04 on barnesandnoble.com naomiwhittel.com
‘Nurture: Notes and Recipes from Daylesford Farm’
Lady Carole Bamford
Random House UK, 304 pages
Covered in pure gray linen, this seriously aspirational book by Briton Carole Bamford will make you want to chuck it all for a rural life. Bamford, owner of an organic farm in Staffordshire, England, writes about holistic living; the farm’s cooking school takes visitors out to forage for herbs and wild berries. Bamford, who launched the book in Malibu, intersperses her story and the striking photos with nutritious recipes: plum and bitter almond jam, flat-iron chicken and kale.
You don’t need an organic farm in the English countryside to live a sustainable life, she says: Just trying to shop and eat locally makes a difference.
Info: $50 at Ranch at the Pier, 23000 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. On Amazon starting June 26. daylesford .com