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Q: Cookbooks

I would really love some solid advice and some great cookbooks with delicious recipes on healthier eating for HIV-positive people, especially large cookbooks for someone like me who love to try all different types of food. (April, 2000)

A: Charlie Smigelski, RD responds:

There are are just a few HIV-specific nutriton books in existence. Eat Up! is one that I have written, recently updated, and gives you the general strategy for everyday eating, plus some sick-day strategies. (Table of Contents, some sample pages, and ordering information are available by clicking on Eat Up!.) Positive Cooking is another such book (Avery Publications), and features mostly problem-solving scenarios, like a week of menus for dealing with diarrhea.

But for delicious recipes, you are basically back to general healthy eating cook books. All of the healthy eating books are lower protein and lower fat, catering to the world of cardiac and cancer patients and the prevention of same. They are not focussed on people with malabsorption and muscle-wasting concerns like HIV+ folks. So go ahead and use these books but I suggest that those living with HIV double the protein portions in them.

A few good books:

Don’t Eat Your Heart Out Cookbook by Joe Piscatella,
Quick & Healthy: Recipes and Ideas by Brenda Ponichtera, RD,
Jane Brody’s Good Food Book by Jane Brody,
Low Fat Meals in Minutes by M.J.Smith, RD,
The Fast Food Diet by Mary Donkersloot, RD,
Mediterranean Light by Martha Rose Shulman,
Smart Eating by Covert Bailey and Rhonda Gates,
Low Fat and Luscious from Better Homes and Gardens,
Healthy Meals - Fast from Better Homes and Gardens,
The Eating Well Rush Hour Cookbook
Lean and Lovin’ It by Don Mauer,
Low-Fat Soul by Jonell Nash, Essence Magazine.

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