A Life in Balance: Delicious Plant-based Recipes for Optimal Health

The first title in Down East Books' 'Best Maine Food' series, this inspirational cookbook proves that good food fosters good health. When conventional medical treatments couldn't stop Meg Wolff's breast cancer in 1998, doctors told her to prepare her soul. Instead, she began a diet based on whole grains, vegetables and beans - and started getting better. Now vibrantly healthy, Meg is living proof that changing your diet can indeed save your life. This cookbook is full of Meg's easy, delicious recipes and information to help inspire readers to eat better, and live better. Contains recipes from a variety of contributors including NBA great John Salley and Dr. Neal Barnard, head of the Physicians for Responsible Medicine.

A Life in Balance .Meg, after enduring the loss of her leg to bone cancer, and her breasts to a radical mastectomy when the cancer returned, decided to take it upon herself to search for answers that were far away from the traditional treatments of chemotherapy and radiation, both of which did not leave her with a particularly hopeful outlook for future years of disease-free happiness. Twelve years later, Meg has more than survived the illness which doctors predicted would take her life in a matter of months. Meg is thriving now, because she had nothing whatsoever to lose by adopting a plan for a plant-based diet, eschewing animal proteins and fats; sugars and other dubious sweeteners; and conveniently processed foods which taste great when you are stressed and in a hurry to be fed, but do not properly nourish. From this simple, yet radical dietary and lifestyle change, Meg has written A Life in Balance - Delicious Plant-Based Recipes for Optimal Health. With an emphasis on Asian ingredients which have proven to benefit the longevity of women on the Pacific Rim, Meg presents recipes which embrace whole grains; vegetables, herbs, and fruits; legumes; seaweeds; natural sweeteners; and soy products. Many of the recipes are not particularly difficult to prepare. Squashed Adzuki, a mash of four easy-enough-to-find ingredients, will be making its debut on my table very soon. Meg also presents dishes from such notable authors as Rip Esselstyn, creator of the popular 28-Day Engine 2 Diet; and Rory Freedman of the Skinny Bitch series of cookbooks. With so many varied dishes, there is no reason to be bored. The cookbook even presents some very unique and satisfying recipes for the sweet tooth in you. Yes, you can have your treat and eat it, too. . -Susan Wolfe, www.thewellseasonedcook.blogspot.com, 12/8/10

.Wolff's recipes range from black bean and cornbread casserole to pasta dishes, but plants are at the heart of this Maine resident's guidelines for eating toward health and healing. She feels strongly that a diet based on whole plant foods - that means eating primarily whole grains, beans & vegetables, no processed foods & sugar - is the path to healthy living, and credits her largely macrobiotic lifestyle to better health following two grave cancer diagnoses. Part of her message is that diet can dramatically increase your quality of life, especially for those with a life-threatening disease, and plants, rich as they are in healing compounds that fight cancer, are the conduit. They also make for delicious, colorful dishes that are hard even for confirmed carnivores to resist. Of course, we love Wolff's passion for wild blueberries; blues grace the cover of her new book, and she is an advocate of using them in delicious ways, including in fruit salads, cakes, and vinaigrettes. . - Editor, Wild Blueberry Association of North America Blog, http://www.wildblueberryhealthblog.com/2011/01/veggie-love-m 01/19/2011

.A Life In Balance is Meg Wolff's third book, this time a cookbook with a collection of easy, approachable plant-based recipes. For anyone who is new to a plant-based diet, or just trying to increase plant-based foods in their daily meals, Meg's cookbook is a terrific introduction. . .This compact cookbook, published by Down East, offers over 120 easy to follow recipes, including 31 recipes from guest contributors, including Rory Freedman, bestselling author of Skinny Bitch, Rip Esselstyn, author of The Engine 2 Diet, and John Salley, three-time NBA champion. . -Jeannette, Jeannette's Healthy Living Blog, http://jeanetteshealthyliving.blogspot.com/2010/11/meg-wolff 11/30/2010