Unarguably an overachiever, Fenster has earned a medical degree, a culinary degree, and an MBA, and he is a martial-arts adept. He deplores the way too many Americans have fallen victim to fast food’s siren song, which offers mere satiety without sound nutritional values. The cardiologist in Fenster hates fast food’s bodily damage, the chef loathes the mediocre flavors and textures, the businessman frets over worker exploitation, and the martial artist laments the lack of exercise that often accompanies the fast-food approach to human sustenance. He presents a wide-ranging survey of contemporary nutritional and physiological research to support his program of Buddhist-inspired moderation, cautioning about dangerous excess in either extreme. Inventorying both ingredients and kitchen equipment, Fenster advises consuming freshly prepared foods and reasonable alcohol consumption, suggesting how to achieve balance without undue stress. Recipes, complete with nutrition analyses, cover a host of basic dishes and reflect sundry ethnic origins.

Booklist

Fenster, a cardiologist and trained chef, puts his profession and passion to work in this practical...eating guide. He can be cloying (e.g., “Dear reader” this, “Dear reader” that) and his reliance on medical studies and statistics might alienate a general audience, but Fenster pulls no punches and goes for the goal: a sustainable, healthy, and delicious “food program.” If his intentions were murky, his appellation for junk food (“weapons of mass consumption”) should make his stance clear—Fenster is a vocal proponent of fresh food, reasonable proportions, and sensible eating decisions. The author holds forth often and at great length about the attitudes, behaviors, and misconceptions that lead to bad eating habits, and he also provides plenty of cooking tips, like how to select the best proteins and seafood, as well as over 100 pages of recipes, each of which includes nutritional information. He relies on natural spices to wake up the palate, incorporating garlic, ginger, and thyme, for example, in a Caribbean-inspired broccoli and cauliflower dish simmered in coconut milk; cayenne and black pepper in pumpkin cornbread; and a lemon-curry hollandaise in a smoked salmon pizza. For those willing to look past Fenster’s verbosity and philosophizing, this volume is full of delicious dishes and tried and tested advice.

Publishers Weekly

Everyone needs more good information about how to perform in the kitchen. This book may be your answer to how to make things more interesting in yours.

Tosca Reno, author of the Eat-Clean Diet series

Dr. Fenster combines the marathon of achieving lifetime health and weight control with simple, experiential steps toward ultimately pleasurable well-being. This book preserves the social and emotional experience of good food and incorporates it into a nutritious yet tasty dietary lifestyle.

Barbara Olendzki, MPH, RD, LDN, University of Massachusetts Medical School

In this groundbreaking new book about special diets and foods that make sense, Fenster accentuates certain recipes needed to live a healthy life. He makes clear to the reader that not all 'healthy' foods are the best bet. From the role of traditional Chinese medicine to vegetable nage to blueberry chimichurri sauce, Fenster leaves no stone unturned.

Naheed Ali, MD, PhD, author of The Obesity Reality: A Comprehensive Approach to a Growing Problem

“In my 35 years exploring the world of healthy food, I’ve always dreamt of a day when our medical professionals would join forces with the healthy chefs of the world and create a medical system – much like we have in Asian countries that works on the whole person. To come across someone like Dr. Mike, who puts down his scalpel and picks up his chef's knife, is truly refreshing. His information is grounded in medical and scientific research, yet his creativity shines though in this wonderful collection of recipes. I always welcome the news that to be healthy, vital and balanced we don’t need to deprive ourselves of the deliciousness of life.”

Aine McAteer, celebrity personal chef, cookbook author and food educator, www.oprah.com/ainemcateer