Janella's Wholefood Kitchen

Janella's Wholefood Kitchen

For me there is no doubt that the food we eat affects your health and state of mind. On top of that, even the most healthy, natural foods can make you sick simply because you are not eating them correctly. Many may disagree with me, but after a lifetime of study and practice there are few things I am more sure of.

Popular TV cook, Janella Purcell is passionate about healthy eating, about eating food that is as close to the way nature created it as possible, and - most importantly - about making wholefoods easy, enticing and lick-your-fingers delicious. 'My passion comes from knowing how much better you feel eating wholefoods, and subsequently how much easier life is when your body is working well. And it's simple to eat and cook in this way.'

In Janella's Wholefood Kitchen, Janella shares 130 tempting recipes that make healthy wholefoods the star of your table. With each recipe clearly marked as vegetarian, vegan, raw, dairy free or gluten free, from soups to main courses, party foods to salads and desserts, this is a cookbook that will start you on the path to a healthy lifestyle (or continue your journey!).

Janella's Healthy Eating Philosophy
"Good health requires a holistic and long-term approach. We need clean water, organic food, enough sleep, appropriate exercise, positive relationships and less stress. It might seem like an unachievable to-do list at this moment in your life, but guess what? It's not. The first step to becoming your future optimum self begins in the kitchen. Once you have your diet sorted then you can tackle the rest, one step at a time. You don't need a quick-fix diet or app to reduce your cholesterol, weight, blood pressure or blood sugar, or to make you happier or to enjoy a better sex life. All you need to do is to take responsibility for your health and realise that you are in charge of it. This begins with what you put in your mouth. I firmly believe in the medicinal power of food and how it heals not only physically, but mentally and spiritually. A healthy relationship with food and knowing what and how to eat properly is my goal for you. And it really isn't hard or expensive. I find I'm far less likely to let organic produce go bad sitting in the bottom of the fridge or at the back of the pantry. If you eat good-quality wholefood, you will eat much less, so that means you will buy less and ultimately waste less."

Janella Purcell is a qualified naturopath, nutritionist, herbalist and iridologist. She's also a vivacious and entertaining chef who has appeared regularly on Australian and overseas television for the past ten years, most recently co-hosting Good Chef, Bad Chef. Her first book was the award-winning Janella Purcell's Elixir (2004) and her best-selling recipe book, Eating for the Seasons, was published in 2011. Janella lives between Sydney and the Byron Bay hinterlands. She has a private practice in both places where she educates clients on living healthier, more sustainable and happier lives. Janella writes regularly for many magazines and newspapers.

Janella's Wholefood Kitchen
Allen and Unwin
Author: Janella Purcell
Price: $39.99

Interview with Janella Purcell

Question: What was the main motivation behind Janella's Wholefood Kitchen?

Janella Purcell: I have been writing about wholefoods for years and Janella's Wholefood Kitchen was an obvious next step. The last book, Eating For The Seasons contained recipes using wholefoods as well but the focus was to highlight seasonal foods and why we should eat them, in season and because it did so well, and wholefoods are my passion, I wanted to do another book, straight away! I hope to continue to write about wholefoods.


Question: Why are wholefoods so important for our bodies?

Janella Purcell: Refined and processed foods are really bad for our body whereas wholefoods are important because they have everything in them that nature has provided that we need. We don't want to take out the bran, fat or natural sugars in the wholefoods as we want to keep the food as natural and as whole as possible because that is what our body needs.

When you are eating changed food (as opposed to wholefoods) you are eating foods such as low-fat yoghurt, skim milk or soy milk with add calcium or B12. When you eat food that is changed your body is left lacking nutrients and it is depleted because it is craving different foods; for example because there is no fat in skim milk when you've have it your body says "what I just drank is meant to have fat in it" and then your body craves fat and often if you have skim milk in the morning you'll have Tim Tams (or another fat source) in the afternoon because your body doesn't feel balanced.

Salt and sweet balance each other and if you have foods that are very high in salt such as packaged foods, canned goods or meat then you will crave lollies or other sugary foods.

People start hating themselves because they begin the day making the right choice having a skim latte and a few hours later can't control their cravings and make a bad food choice to satisfy the craving.
Any food craving isn't healthy and wholefoods prevent the vicious nasty cycle.


Question: What types of recipes feature in Janella's Wholefood Kitchen?

Janella Purcell: The sections include breakfast, party foods, salad, vegetarian, seafood, and desserts. What I like to do is provide a recipe and then suggest variations; the last book had a lot more variations whereas in Janella's Wholefood Kitchen I talk in detail about the recipe. Once you've made the Quinoa, Cannelini and Pomegranate Salad you will understand how to create a balanced meal because you have complex carbohydrates in the Quinoa, vegetables, nuts and seeds and the protein from the Cannelini.

I wasn't trained traditionally as a Chef, I am a self-taught cook and this book is wholefood recipes, for people at home, every day.

The desserts are made from beautiful coconut oil, cacao, goji berries and chia seeds. I am not using meat and dairy to get calcium, iron and protein so you need to balance it with wholefood sources.

Janella's Wholefood Kitchen contains recipes that are recognisable as there are recipes for muesli, pancakes, pasta and lasagne because I am about swapping things not giving it up. I use different oils; I don't use refined genetically modified canola oil, I use coconut oil or olive oil or rice bran oil and in the recipes I explain why. Instead of white refined pasta I use spelt pasta or Quinoa noodles; in a typically Chowder recipe there would be cream, milk and bread but I have swapped these ingredients and I think it is yummier!


Question: Which recipe holds the most memories, for you?

Janella Purcell: Many of the recipes in Janella's Wholefood Kitchen are new. The Miso Soup recipe is probably my favourite food and I have a different variation in each of my books, it's a winner!


Question: Do you have a website?

Janella Purcell: Yes! I write weekly blogs at www.janellapurcell.com/blog. I have recently written about Milk because a lot of people were writing in and saying "I should stop drinking Skim Milk and switch to Rice, Coconut or Almond Milk". Have Almond Milk in your coffee!