Day in and day out we’re saturated with diet advice from so-called experts, much of it contradictory. All can agree, however, that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution; every body type and lifestyle is different. So who should we listen to?
My Nguyen has captured my attention, not with rules, but with recipes. Red Lentil Soup and Charred Broccoli with Lemony Tahini Sauce and Curried Cauliflower, the two I’ve made thus far from her new book, “Healthy, My Way: Real Food, Real Flavor, Real Good” (Rodale, $32.50), were so good I almost forgot they were good for me. I foresee Shrimp Sushi Bake, Vietnamese Pork Tenderloin and Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse (with silken tofu as its base) coming to my kitchen table soon.
The first-generation Vietnamese Californian proclaims no dietary expertise. And though her parents ran a restaurant and her brother became a chef, Nguyen confesses that when she left for college, “I could barely make a PB&J.”
Only after the birth of her twin daughters, while juggling a demanding job in the mortgage industry, did she begin to take her eating habits more seriously. Struggling to keep her weight down and energy level up, she experimented with no-carb and high-protein diets. But inevitably, she found them too time-consuming and unsatisfying to sustain.
She decided to craft an approach tailored to her own tastes and time constraints, drawing heavily from her Southeast Asian heritage and West Coast upbringing and picking up tips from the Food Network. She created @MyHealthyDish to document her successes on Instagram and YouTube and now has millions of followers.
Nguyen’s strategy is simple and unrestrictive: Minimize (but don’t eliminate) carbs, maximize produce, go easy on dairy and red meat, go hard on fresh herbs and other natural flavorings, and skip refined sugar whenever possible — “but don’t take all the sweetness out of life!”
Her recipes are imaginative yet relatable. And homemade “flavor bombs” such as Pho Spice Sachets and Thai Basil Pesto ensure that taste need never be sacrificed in pursuit of good health.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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