by josie
Gwyneth Paltrow’s new cookbook is based on an elimination diet that she says improved her health.
Gwyneth Paltrow came up with the idea for her new cookbook It’s All Good (Grand Central Publishing, 2013) after her doctor prescribed a diet of no coffee, alcohol, dairy, sugar, shellfish, deep-water fish, wheat, soy or processed foods. That sounds like even less fun than watching Iron Man 2, but admit it — you’re curious about the new book.
A lot of people love to hate Paltrow. Some feel ire when she offers tips about how to do your own hair (if you can’t make it to her new blow-dry salons) on her GOOP blog or suggests we buy $150 sweatpants.
But I’m no Gwyneth-hater. I personally love that when she tries to be relatable, she often fails — and yet seems so blissfully unaware. She’s like a queen giving advice to serfs about how to make their palaces less drafty or how to make the servants’ quarters more charming. Or a modern-day Marie Antoinette who blogs about the best place to find gluten-free cake. I find her genuine enthusiasm perversely endearing, even though I’ll probably never take any of her advice, least of all her diet advice.
After looking through the book, I think her “elimination diet” is completely crazy…but the recipes, created with chef Julia Turschen, actually are pretty healthful and even delicious, if often pricey to recreate.
It’s All Good has already sparked controversy about limiting kids’ carb intake. Eater did a roundup of the best lines (read: unintentionally comedic phrases) from the book, while the New York Post points out that she’s backtracked on diet advice before, advocating juice-only cleanses, then eschewing fasting. (At least she’s recommending food now.) And the title really should have a question mark at the end, considering so many things are not good, according to the diet.
In the intro, Paltrow talks about how a panic attack/migraine combo led her to discover she was deficient in vitamin D and severely anemic. I asked Karen Ansel, R.D., VIVmag contributor and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokeswoman, about the best foods for vitamin D and iron. “Even though we’re learning we need more vitamin D than previously believed, very few foods actually contain it,” Ansel notes.
Ansel says rich sources for natural vitamin D include fatty fish like salmon (in the book, see recipe below), fortified milk (the book suggests very limited dairy consumption), orange juice (permitted) and soy milk (OK in moderation). As for iron, there’s oysters (shellfish, a no-no in the diet), iron-fortified cereal (maybe, if it’s gluten-free), beef (no) and dark-meat chicken (OK if organic). “If you’re outright anemic, food may not be enough to bring your iron levels into the normal range so your healthcare provider will probably recommend a supplement,” Ansel says, adding that a doctor might recommend vitamin D supplements as well. So foods from Paltrow’s recommended diet alone might not be enough for those who are anemic or low in vitamin D.
The book itself doesn’t eliminate all the foods on the elimination diet (presumably because the pages would be empty), though an icon designates elimination diet recipes, as well as vegan and protein-packed items. “Any diet that tells you to eliminate entire food groups should set off alarm bells,” Ansel notes. The cookbook details Paltrow and Turshen’s kitchen must-haves (Vegenaise, raw coconut milk, etc.) and their thoughts on certain ingredients — red meat, poultry and soy, with occasional notes from Alejandro Junger, M.D., one of Paltrow’s doctors. There’s also an intro from Turshen and her own story of losing more than 60 pounds and learning to eat better food.
Despite my cynicism, I thought some of the recipes looked pretty tasty. Among the more interesting recipes: quinoa granola with olive oil and maple syrup, Spanish chopped salad with tuna and piquillos, spicy sweet potato soup with chipotle and coriander, Korean chicken tacos, salmon burgers with ginger and coriander, stir-fried brown rice with nori and black sesame, and roasted cauliflower and chickpeas with mustard and parsley. There are recipes for breakfast, salads and dressings, soups, “birds and some meat,” fish, vegetables, grains, drinks (smoothies and juices), desserts and recipes for kids’ meals.
While dessert recipes calling for things like spelt flour and with quotes around descriptions like “ice cream” seem less than appealing, there are some interesting ones — vegan dark chocolate bark with coconut almonds and sea salt and instant berry and coconut sherbet.
It’s All Good does make fulfill its promise for delicious and easy recipes. But it also promises the food will “make you look good and feel great.” While Paltrow does indeed look great, even in the numerous pictures of her sans makeup, it pays to be wary of celebrity diets. “It’s easy to equate a celebrity’s good looks with good health,” Ansel says. “Because celebrities look so glamorous and healthy, we can’t help but assume they have some secret that the rest of us don’t. But looking good on the outside isn’t necessarily the same thing as being healthy on the inside.”
And don’t look to one diet to work for everyone. If you’re concerned about your diet’s impact on your health, consult an allergist and registered dietitian. “Many of these restrictive plans have a placebo effect,” Ansel says. “People following them may assume that what they are eating will make them feel better so they actually start to believe it. I find it hard to imagine that anyone would end up feeling better on a diet that cuts out more than half of the food groups unless they had extensive, serious food allergies.”
I wouldn’t follow this elimination diet — after all, I dropped breadcrumbs (gluten breadcrumbs!) into the pages of the book while reading it during lunch — but I would make some of these recipes. And if you’d like to get a glimpse into Paltrow’s life or to learn which of her celeb pals is a “master popcorn maker” and what rocker is a great cook, then feel free to peruse the pages. Following is her recipe for salmon with lime and her chef friend Lee Goss’ homemade Sriracha.
Salmon with Lee’s Sriracha and Lime
Serves 4
Zest of ½ lime
1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1½ teaspoons Lee’s Sriracha (recipe below)
1 tablespoon good quality maple syrup
Coarse sea salt
1¼ pounds salmon fillet, skin discarded
2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
1. Preheat the oven to 475° F.
2. Whisk together the lime zest and juice, Lee’s Sriracha, and maple syrup along with a pinch of salt. Line a baking dish with parchment paper, place the salmon on top, and pour the mixture over it. Roast until the salmon is done to your liking — I like it when it’s just cooked through and begins to flake, about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness. Serve sprinkled with cilantro.
Lee’s Sriracha
Makes 5 cups
1¼ cups peeled garlic cloves
1 pound red jalapeños, stemmed and sliced into thin rings (for a milder sauce, remove some seeds)
2¼ cups rice-wine vinegar
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon brown rice syrup
2 tablespoons coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon arrowroot
2 tablespoons fish sauce
Put the garlic cloves in a small saucepan and add cold water just to cover. Bring to boil, immediately drain, cool the garlic under running water, and return it to the saucepan. Cover with cold water and repeat the blanching process. Thinly slice the blanched garlic and combine with the jalapeños and vinegar in a larger pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, and remove from the heat. Add the brown rice syrup and salt and stir to combine. Let the mixture sit undisturbed for 1 hour to steep and cool.
Whiz the mixture in a powerful blender until smooth (it’s OK if all the seeds don’t blend in). Return the pureed sauce to the pot, bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, skimming off any foam, until the sauce is reduced and has some body.
In a small bowl, dissolve the arrowroot with 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water. Whisk into the simmering sauce and cook for 2 minutes more, or until the sauce is nicely thickened (it should be slightly thinner than ketchup). Remove the sauce from the heat, let it cool slightly, and stir in the fish sauce. Store in a screw-top jar or bottle in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.
NUTRITION SCORE (per serving)
310 calories
Fat 19 g (4.3 g saturated)
Carbs 4 g
Protein 29 g
Fiber 0.2 g
Calcium 21 mg
Iron 0.5 mg
Sodium 85 mg
