For many years, I've not been in great shape. I exercise a little (not enough) and I've tried diets from time to time but I've never been able to stick to one. The problem is that I don't have time for an extensive exercise program and I like food far too much to ever stick to a restrictive diet. In his introduction, Wolfgang Puck alludes to his background being similar. Though as a chef, he not only likes to eat good food but is professionally obligated to do so. That's what makes this the perfect book for someone like me. Wolfgang Puck understands me. If a recipe doesn't taste good, I'm not going to eat it no matter how healthy it is. And I'm never going to engage in a restrictive diet that will keep me from my favorite foods. What I am willing--and after reading this book, quite excited--to do is to incorporate more meals that feature smaller portions, low caloric content, and relatively little fat, provided only that those meals are just as tasty and satisfying as the "unhealthy" meals I've liked all these years. As the author points out, "food should nourish the body, mind, and soul alike," and there's just no point in eating bad food.
So what do you get in Wolfgang Puck Makes It Healthy? You get a wide variety of lighter and healthier recipes that Chef Puck has selected for their relatively healthy nature as well as their taste. These are recipes you'd be happy to order at a restaurant even if you weren't worried about diet or health, yet they're nutritionally rich without being excessively fattening or unhealthy. These are low-calorie recipes (the vast majority are under 500 Calories per serving with none over 1000 Calories and some even under 50 Calories) and most get relatively little of their caloric content from fat. Each recipe is helpfully accompanied by a chart of nutritional information particularly useful for those who are on more restrictive diets, though I find that in my case, even picking recipes based purely on taste without regard to their nutritional content leaves me choosing recipes significantly lighter and healthier than what I usually eat.
Be aware that this is emphatically not a book of vegetarian or vegan dishes, though plenty of recipes meet those criteria and the notes accompanying each recipe often include ingredient substitutions to guide people into converting a dish into a vegan or vegetarian option.
Overall, I think Chef Puck has done what I previously thought impossible: he's created a collection of recipes that are good enough to get me excited about more healthful cooking. For that reason alone, this book deserves a five-star rating. To make matters even better, most of the recipes are relatively simple to make (a few of them are incredibly simple and a few are more complicated) and in general, you won't have too much trouble sourcing ingredients, as long as you don't mind making one or two creative substitutions depending on the season and your region. Nor will these recipes break the bank. Some of them would even fit equally well in a book of recipes for budget-conscious home cooks.
The last several pages of the book are dedicated to the workout routine personal trainer Chad Waterbury developed to help Puck get into better shape. That's not the main focus of the book, but it is a nice touch that it's included. Anyone who already has their own workout routine will likely benefit little from this section, but the most sedentary of readers might find themselves inspired by the routine's relative simplicity and low barrier of entry. If you're interested in an exercise book, you'll do better elsewhere, but if you're on the extreme un-athletic side and prepared to treat this section as merely an introduction to the topic, it might be worthwhile for you.
Despite my five-star rating, I have a few minor complaints about the book. These were all relatively insignificant and did not affect my enjoyment of the book, but in the interest of giving a completely balanced review rather than unmitigated praise, I'd like to point out the few things I found troublesome.
*The introductory note on nutritional analysis correctly describes the calorie as "how much energy it takes to raise 1 gram of water by 1 [degree Celsius]," but then confuses this measurement with the kilocalorie or food Calorie (generally denoted with a capital C at the beginning of the word) which is the actual unit of measurement used throughout the book. This does not affect the book in any meaningful way, but the scientifically-minded reader should be aware of the slight error of fact.
*While almost all of the recipes are accompanied by mouthwatering photographs of the dish under discussion, several recipes throughout are not. This is not an uncommon practice, but given the range of photographs the book DOES provide, I found myself wishing it included the few extra pages that would be necessary to provide a visual representation of ALL of the dishes.
*The table of contents at the beginning of the book lists only the major subject headings (Appetizers, Pasta and Pizza, Poultry and Meat Main Dishes, Desserts, etc.) but not all of the recipes in each category. The first page of each section does list the dishes individually, but it would have been just that extra little bit easier to navigate the book had the table of contents been provided in the long form.
However, the book manages to overcome these minor quibbles by managing to include a section of desserts that are miraculously both decadent and relatively light as well as a section of basic recipes and cooking techniques particularly useful for the beginning home chef who might otherwise have felt a little lost trying to replicate some of the more complicated dishes.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Get a copy. Both your taste buds and your waist line will thank you for it.
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