Product Review

Get healthy, feel better, and live longer with recipes everyone in your family can enjoy. This lower cholesterol diet cookbook starts off with your daily fat and cholesterol allowances then discusses which foods you need to avoid. You'll also get some guidance on fast food choices and home-made lunches to take to work.

The recipes help make starting your heart diet easier in two ways. First, when you have delicious new foods to try and enjoy, you're a bit more likely to leave some old habits behind. Second, if you randomly choose two recipes the odds are you'll end up with as much as ½ your daily protein needs together with about ¼ of your recommended carbohydrates and fiber, but with only some 1/6 of your saturated fat and cholesterol allowance.

Now, about those recipes. OK, this is basically a soup, salad, and sandwich cookbook. But we've gone beyond just healthy eating versions of old stand-bys into some creative and delicious recipes. First, since better breads make better sandwiches, we've included some loaf breads (standards and surprises) for those who have a little time on the weekend.

Then, into the sandwiches. You'll find some old favorites like a BLT “reconstructed” to be healthy and perhaps even more delicious. Plus some new favorites like a Lime-Chicken sandwich. We've also include some favorite pita, wrap, and falafel recipes.

There's a few adaptations of some common soups (including gazpacho), but we've made it a point to include hearty bean soups along with taste sensations like Roasted Peppers and Squash-Shallot soups. Likewise the salads aren't just leafy greens, but also lentil, bean, and other hearty salads that could be a tasty lunch all by themselves. Most include recipes for their own dressings, so you won't be stuck with a limited selection of low-fat dressings at the grocery store.

Finally, this book throws in a few “specialty” recipes such as pizzas and spicy curries. It ends by summarizing the key points and lunchtime tips, reminding the reader that a low cholesterol diet is not about eating less or going without your favorites. It's about gradually eating better and discovering new favorites.