Healthy Cookbook Round-Up

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Everyone jumps on the "healthy" bandwagon in January, which means exercise, but don't forget the other half of the equation: eating right. Today's healthy-eating cookbooks stress eating better food, not eating less or depriving yourself. Don't be fooled by "diet" books that substitute packaged and processed, reduced-calorie products for real food. There are lots of better alternatives.

Eating "Light" Books

Fast & Fit: 150 Quick & Healthy Everyday Recipes Ready in Just 30 Minutes or Less, by Ellen Haas (Hatherleigh Press, $16.95). One of the few weight-conscious cookbooks that emphasizes high flavor from robust seasoning, with appropriately portioned servings of real food.

Vegan, Vegetarian, and Vegetable Books

Clean Food, and Clean Start (Sterling Epicure, $30 and $25 respectively). Terry Walters' brace of beautifully packaged and designed cookbooks, featuring innovative and elegant recipes that just happen to be vegan.

Raising the Salad Bar, by Catherine Walthers (Lake Isle Press, $19.95). Salad is more than just leaves! Everybody's salad repertoire needs a kickstart sometimes; this one has lots of great dressings too.

A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen, by Jack Bishop (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $35). Cook's Illustrated editor Bishop offers multicultural, dressed-up, seasonal recipes that work.

Fast, Fresh & Green, by Susie Middleton (Chronicle Books, $24.95). An inspired ode to vegetables--not strictly vegetarian, but full of produce-centric masterpieces.

Back to the Land & Organic Books

Local Flavors (Clarkson Potter, $26). Deborah Madison's tribute to American farmers' markets. Rustic, hearty recipes for obscure treasures like pluots, Cinderella pumpkins, golden fennel.

Simply Organic: A Cookbook For Sustainable, Seasonal and Local Ingredients , by Jesse Ziff Cool (Chronicle, $24.95). One of the prettiest organic cookbooks ever, with bright fresh flavors and menus arranged by season.

Healthy Eating for Kids Books

The Cleaner Plate Club, by Beth Bader and Ali Benjamin (Storey Publishing, $16.95). A friendly, balanced mix of real food manifesto, vegetable encyclopedia, and regular weeknight cookbook.

Time For Dinner, by Pilar Guzmán, Jenny Rosenstrach, and Alanna Stang (Chronicle, $24.95). Punchy graphics and smart tips to help you hack the healthy weeknight meal--it's like an iPhone app, but in book form.

Weight Watchers Eat! Move! Play! A Parent's Guide for Raising Healthy, Happy Kids by Robyn Webb and Weight Watchers (Wiley, $19.95). Recipes for healthy parenting as well as healthy eating, including everything you ever wanted to know about fostering good attitudes toward food.

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