The Clean Plate: Eat, Reset, Heal

Paltrow (It’s All Good) offers an underwhelming collection of recipes designed to combat various ailments and promote good health. Partnering with nutrition experts and doctors, Paltrow focuses on adrenal and heart health, as well as candida (fungi that live in the body), providing instruction for a heavy metal detox (to rid one’s body of lead and mercury) and fat flush to cleanse the liver. Along with vegetarian Ayurveda dishes, she suggests an unusual list of pantry items, which includes coconut aminos, buckwheat groats, liquid stevia, and Mexican oregano, and suggests recipes for aquafaba mayo, coconut aminos sauce, and nomato sauce (which uses carrots and squash in place of tomatoes, a nightshade plant she believes is unhealthy). Paltrow does shine with her smoothies of strawberry and cauliflower or blueberry and cauliflower. Her cilantro and parsley salsas verde are enticing, as are recipes for kale aglio e olio; breakfast dal; and brown rice, turmeric, and spinach porridge. Because the book is overloaded with full-color photos, mostly of the author and often unrelated to food, this collection seems more like a lifestyle guide or vanity project than a serious cookbook. Paltrow’s Goop fans will no doubt flock to this, but folks serious about health and wellness will find other sources to be more helpful. (Jan.)