Eat Well, Live Well – Delicious and Healthy Recipes!

Vive Integrative Health Group Cookbook

Gateway recently published an intriguing new cookbook, chock full of delicious recipes that are gluten-free and/or detox-friendly. The cookbook was so attractive and so appealing, we decided to interview one of the authors, Dr. Colin Race, of Vive Integrative Health Group, for our blog:

Gateway:  Why did you write the cookbook?

Dr. Race: We wrote the cookbook out of a strong need from our patients.  We routinely ask our patients to avoid certain types of foods either because of food sensitivities or for their detoxification program.  This book gives these patients a resource to help make their transition to hypoallergenic or gluten-free eating easy!

Most patients are surprised by the ease at which they are able to change their eating patterns.  The recipes in the book not only healthy and avoid certain types of foods (the more typically problematic foods in terms of food sensitivities), but are also delicious, which makes everybody happy.

Gateway:  What made you think of the idea to list the Detox or Gluten details at the top of the page?

Dr. Race: We included these just for easy reference.  The detox-friendly recipes are “hypoallergenic” meaning they do not include foods that most commonly aggravate those with food sensitivities, including wheat, dairy, eggs, red meat, soy, certain fruits and vegetables (bananas, citrus, melons, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes), added sugars/flavours/colours, unhealthy oils, coffee and alcohol.

The gluten-free recipes of course avoid the gluten containing grains: wheat, rye, barley and spelt.  Oats are sometimes said to contain gluten, but they don’t naturally.  Gluten-free people will often avoid oats anyways because they can be cross contaminated with wheat during processing and packaging.

Gateway:  Was this a long time in the works?  Did you test some of the recipes?

Dr. Race: Yes, the book was a long time in the works.  We have been collecting recipes for years, and have intended to format the collection into a print form for a long time, but other projects had taken priority.  Finally, with the support of our staff, we were able to complete the project.

Also yes, we have tested many of these recipes.  We ourselves do a three week detoxification twice per year, and will sometimes do shorter seven or ten day detoxes in between if we feel we need the energy boost!  But even in regular day-to-day life, these are recipes we make very often because they are healthy and delicious.

Gateway:  Are you happy with the cookbook?

Dr. Race: The cookbook looks great, couldn’t be happier!
Gateway:  How did you hear about us?

Dr. Race: A colleague of ours in Winnipeg had used Gateway books some time ago to print a cookbook for the Provincial Naturopathic Association. We are very pleased with the results…and by the way, thanks for including us in your blog!