The Food For Life Cookbook: 100+ recipes created with ZOE from the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author and ITV Lorraine gut-health expert Hardcover – 10 Oct. 2024

I am trying to sort out my diet and eating habits. I suffer with serious constipation issues and no amount of water or laxative offer a long term/permanent solution; I feel sluggish and can’t be ask to eat most of the time. No, I’m not slim. On the contrary I have put weight on my waist, etc. Places I never used to worry about. A mixture of high level stress and self neglect and strange symptoms. Not interested in just losing weight. I want to be healthier or even, dare I say, healthy! I have researched and bought a few books. Then a friend came to visit and brought this book she had just purchased for me to look at. I borrowed it for a couple of days, flicked through the various recipes and read the intro and it made sense. I ordered it straightaway. The book arrived quickly and well packaged and I absolutely love it. The recipes are so appetising and quite easy to follow. I hadn’t cooked properly for ages, would buy beautiful vegetables that would end up in the bin because it was easier to randomly boil pasta and add the same shop bought pesto ( I used to always make my own pasta sauce in the past) and if I felt bothered I would make a basic salad with it. That clearly didn’t help my issue. When I first look at the recipes in this book I felt some « cooking » excitement bubbling up in me. Finally I am eating all these vegetables instead of binning them. So far I have made the seed bread, the kale pasta sauce and aubergine parmigiana and drooled over half the book. I am finally having breakfast and lunch everyday ( most of the time I just couldn’t be bothered to cook/ eat anymore. ) and I have the leftovers for lunch. There are so many recipes in this book that I want to try! I really want to bake that carrot cake!!! The beauty of this book is that it’s more than a recipe book or a fad diet book, it’s a life style change, for the better. It has all the things I love ( nuts, seeds, vegetables and mouthwatering recipes) that are doable and tasty. The advice really makes sense. I have only used it for about 4 days and I am finally going to the loo daily. I am aiming for 3 times a day. I am not there yet but for someone who would be relieved to go once a week it’s a miracle! One important thing about this book is that you know how many plants are included In each recipe so if for example you combine a slice of the seed bread with the aubergine parmigiana it all adds up ( you need to aim for 30 ‘plants’ a day for good health). You add fresh herbs on top, that extra plant points. At the moment I’m easing myself into this new way of eating/ looking at what I need so I’m not sure I’ve reached the 30 plants a day but it’s already working. Majority of recipes offer some alternative ingredients wether you are vegan, vegetarian or suffer from food allergies. This book promotes the increase of plants in your diet but also offers recipes that fulfill your taste buds and you most likely won’t miss meat or fish but they could be added if you really wanted to. At least it offers recipes that can significantly reduce your meat intake which is a brilliant thing ( environmentally and health wise). There is so much more I could write about the ideas in this book and why I like it so much I could write my own book! In short if you enjoy good food and want to take care of your general health buy this book.

I am sat here in heaven atm having just made & eaten a slice of the Beetroot chocolate brownies - gorgeous, rich without being too rich, a real taste sensation.I bought this book to kick start healthier eating, especially with the focus on gut health. I liked that it included snacks and sweet treats as someone whose downfall are cakes and biscuits. The recipes in the book are clearly written and easy to follow. I like that a lot include alternative ingredients. As a vegetarian I have tended to include a lot of vegetables in my diet anyway but this book got me to refocus and understand the importance of including a variety of foods for your gut health and which foods to include. All the recipes I’ve tried so far have been really tasty. The tahini and yoghurt dressing on the roasted broccoli salad is so simple but absolutely delicious. There’s a great tip for producing your own kefir at home too. I really like this book - it was what I was looking for and hasn’t disappointed.

Overall I can recommend this book to all those wishing for good health. i have been a Zoe member and it has totally changed the way I eat so I was keen to buy the book. The Zoe team are a group of scientists and nutritionists so their advice is evidence based together with common sense. The recipes are quite flexible, as one can easily substitute various fruits and vegetables, and the delicious looking photos inspire me to try the dishes. However, the reason I don't give it 5 stars is that I am wheat intolerant and dairy intolerant and lots of the recipes are wheat and dairy based. They ought to include alternative ingredients since many people are intolerant to these ingredients. I don't have kefir as it is made of milk and some of the recipes include kefir. I have had to be creative and scribble my notes in the book, but apart from that I will say that I've been eating lots of the recipes every day, they are all delicious!

This cookbook is a total game-changer! Packed with vibrant recipes that actually nourish your body, plus loads of gut health tips from Tim Spector. It’s not just tasty - it’s science-backed and easy to follow.I feel better, eat better, and genuinely enjoy cooking with this book.A must-have for anyone who wants to eat with purpose!!!