Cookbook Diaries #1: Eat, Cook, & Learn: How This Week Changed My View on Food
I missed last week’s post, but not for lack of inspiration. I’ve been busy in the kitchen trying new recipes, and I’ve also been immersed in a book that’s reshaping how I think about food: Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy by Walter Willett.
Learning more about nutrition has been on my mind since the start of this year. After my dad’s quintuple bypass surgery in January 2025, I became deeply focused on making wholesome meals for my family. I wanted to support healing for all of us. The saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup” kept echoing in my mind, nudging me to look beyond fad diets and dig into the science of nutrition.
For years, I chased low-carb trends and meticulously tracked macros, all in pursuit of a lower number on the scale. But caring for my dad through his recovery, and the medical emergencies that followed, made one thing painfully clear: I have to take charge of my own health. That starts with learning the real facts about food and nutrition.
Wanting to make more informed choices, I turned to Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy for guidance. The book unpacked the flaws of outdated nutrition advice and pointed me toward something I had heard of but never truly embraced: the Mediterranean diet. Naturally, I started experimenting with Mediterranean-style recipes at home. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how satisfying and flavorful they are, even with simple, wholesome ingredients.
The Mediterranean diet stood out to me because of its emphasis on whole grains, vegetables, legumes, healthy fats, and herbs. These are foods I already enjoyed, but I had not consistently prioritized them. While exploring this way of eating, I stopped by Half Price Books and found a used copy of The Mediterranean Dish by Suzy Karadsheh. It felt like a lucky find, and it quickly became my go-to resource in the kitchen.
Last week, I tried several recipes from her book. These included pan-grilled zucchini with dukkah and fresh herbs, her signature dukkah blend, lime-tahini sauce, savory roasted chickpeas, extra nutty freekeh pilaf with dried fruit, and Raquel’s falafel-inspired veggie bowls. Each dish felt vibrant, filling, and energizing without being heavy. I loved how the components could be mixed and matched to create satisfying bowls or simple sides throughout the week. The dukkah in particular, which is a nut and spice blend, has become something I now want to keep on hand at all times. It adds a unique flavor and crunch to vegetables, grains, or even a fried egg.
Some of the ingredients were surprisingly hard to find—looking at you, freekeh! I first tried my local Mediterranean specialty store, only to discover it had recently closed permanently. I also checked Whole Foods and Kroger but came up short. After some searching, I found out that Suzy Karadsheh, the author of The Mediterranean Dish, has a shop on her website with many of the ingredients featured in her recipes. It felt like the perfect solution. You can check it out here: https://shop.themediterraneandish.com.
While reading Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, I found several ideas that challenged common nutrition myths. For example, the book makes it clear that many popular fad diets do not hold up under scientific scrutiny. Instead of focusing on cutting out entire food groups or obsessing over calories, it emphasizes the importance of the quality of what we eat. One of the biggest shifts for me was learning that fats, especially healthy ones found in nuts, olive oil, and fish, are not the enemy. For years, I avoided fats to lose weight, but this book helped me understand their vital role in a balanced diet and overall health. The book also stresses that nutrition is about more than individual foods or nutrients. It is about overall patterns and lifestyle. This perspective has encouraged me to focus less on restrictive dieting and more on nourishing my body in a way that I can maintain long term.
This journey has reminded me that real health and healing are not quick fixes. They are built from daily choices rooted in knowledge and kindness toward myself. I’m excited to keep exploring this Mediterranean approach in the kitchen, learning more from the book, and sharing what I discover along the way. If you’ve had similar experiences with shifting your nutrition or trying new recipes, I’d love to hear about it. Here’s to nourishing ourselves fully and sustainably, one meal at a time.
