In a totally non-nutrition related confession, I love all things Gwyneth Paltrow. Not in the creepy I want to name my children after her, but more in the fascination of a life that is led with incredible privilege. However, when her latest cookbook came out I didn’t have much interest simple because I deemed it unrealistic, mostly based on the pre-release reviews. However, one day while walking through the bookstore I happened to come upon the book. Curious more about the pictures of the blonde haired beauty rather than the recipes, I began to comb through the book. To my surprise the first few pages presented recipes that were really intriguing. I made a spontaneous decision to purchase the book and since we were visiting family I had a few spare moments to actually read through the pages. Now I agree with many reviews that some of the ingredients may be hard to obtain and can be quite expensive. But once I was done reading this book I had a few takeaways

  1. Her health/elimination recommendations should not be taken literally, meaning this is just one persons personal experience of how to live healthier
  2. Many recipes call for sheep or goats milk yogurt which can be replaced with the easy to obtain Greek yogurt
  3. I have no issue with gluten/wheat so I have no problem using regular whole grain bread in place of her recommended “gluten free” bread
  4. This book is a guide, not gospel. Though I cook often, I have new ideas for easily incorporating quinoa into my everyday diet and some great dressing ideas (again they can be easily modified)

For a more animated review of GP’s latest venture into clean eating see the quite comical review from the Washington Post.