Ayurvedic Cooking for Self-Healing[Hardcover]

This book lives up to its words, "for self healing." It has helped me deal with an "irritable bowel" in style - par excellence! Their recipes are easy to follow and I am a total beginner. The ingredients can be found on Amazon. The food - I could hardly believe I had cooked it! The recipes are not time-consuming or difficult. And they even have teas for breakfast, lunch and dinner made from spices, like fennel, cardamom and cinnamon - teas I'd never had, that tasted great! I feel nourished and not ever bored and my whole attitude towards cooking and caring for myself has changed! Very grateful. It also has beautiful photos of the food, prayers for cooking and for eating, and drawings of elephants walking through its pages!

As expected. What wasn't expected and was really nice to find was a great tofu recipe, Not so plain tofu. Thank you!

Gorgeous book with very good recipes. The author cautions the reader that he wrote the recipes using a light hand with the spices and that you may want to increase the spicing. The first recipe I tried I followed the recipe. It wasn't spicy enough for me so I increased the spices after that til I found the right amount for me. The author includes charts that show you what foods are best for your dominant body type ( vata, pitta or kapha ). The author created the Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico and teaches both there and in India.

I bought this book because I found several references to it in the "The complete book of Ayurvedic Home remedies" written by the same Author. The book itself looks vey beautiful with hard cover and good quality pages filled with vibrant colorful pictures. So far I have tried most of the recipes in this book. They are pretty easy to follow and the food turns out to be flavorful. Best part is that most of the recipes are Tridoshic (suitable for all individuals). Some of the recipes have tips at the end, if a certain ingredient should be used less/ more or skipped by individuals with certain constitution.Some of the recipes are similar to what I grew up eating (I am from India) but after reading this book I got insight into the selection of ingredients in various recipes. In some recipes I prefer to use less amount of Ghee (Clarified butter) than what is stated (which i found to be a bit excessive). The book also has a chart that helps you to determine the constitution of your body and several other charts that list the kind of food suitable/ not suitable for various constitutions. In general I liked the book.Why only 4 stars?So there are two formats of this book - one is paperback without colorful pictures and this one (hardback with colorful pictures).I found that most of the recipes would not result into the food shown in the picture alongside the recipe. I mean the upma recipe has the picture of upma. But the recipe/ ingredient used for the food in the picture is different than the recipe listed in this book. So for a novice in Ayurvedic or Indian cooking this might be confusing. Like, one might wonder - Even though I followed the recipe to the Tee, why my food looks different from what is shown in the picture? Also some of the recipes do not have a picture at all. I can understand certain teas and Ayurvedic milk not being pictured since they all would look more or less same, but certain vegetable and rice preparations also have no pictures. I know this is a very minor point but for a book that is advertised as "hardcover edition! Illustrated with delectable photographs of the recipes throughout the book", I believe it would be better to have real pictures instead of some look alike.Should you buy this book?Yes sure! Other than some of the missing or misleading pictures the book is really good and looks beautiful. If you are Ok with that please go for it.. On the other hand, if you only care for the recipes then there is a cheaper version (Paperback) of this book available on Amazon.Please hit the like button if you found this review useful. Thank you.

A lot of photos. Easy to read.

Dr. Vasant Lad is one of the truly great Indian-American Ayurvedic doctors alive today. He and his wife, Usha Lad, also trained in Ayurveda have created a much-needed practical guide. Not only with dozens of tasty and easy recipes for every day, but also with handy charts of foods to avoid and favor for each Dosha. Moreover, the appendices also contain very helpful discussions of every day vegetables, fruits and spices and their medicinal properties and uses. I have found that to be extremely helpful. For example, in the pages of this book I discovered simple cure for chronic skin inflammation which included coconut water and watermelon water.I wish all those who have an interest in becoming truly healthy in body and mind to take this ancient science as far as it goes; not only by healthy eating at the appropriate times of day and for their unique physical and emotional constitution, but to the very core of each cell. Ayurveda’s true purpose is to enliven the body's inner intelligence for self-healing, bring us closer to the cosmic consciousness which pervades all life, and achieve the true happiness and health that is our divine right.

Ack! I love this book! Beautiful photos, wonderful recipes, and really covers the Ayurvedic lifestyle. This Dr. is truly the guru of Ayurveda, so I love following his advice. Whether you are recent to Ayurveda, or a pro, you will love this book just the same.

This thoughtful easy to follow resource for Ayurvedic Cooking is now in color! As an owner of the original black and white, I highly recommend this edition! Inside you'll find beautifully photographed meals, along with charts, graphs, and easy to follow guidelines that are far more inviting in this new, color edition.