Whole New You: How Real Food Transforms Your Life, for a Healthier, More Gorgeous You

by Tia Mowry, Jessica Porter

From the star of the Cooking Channel's Tia Mowry at Home comes a timely clean-eating cookbook that will change the way you think about what you eat and jump-start your journey to a healthier, more gorgeous you.

When actress Tia Mowry landed her breakthrough role on the sitcom Sister, Sister, she swapped home-cooked meals for catering spreads. But her teen-dream diet of candies and carbs turned into a nightmare when she developed endometriosis, a painful disease that affects one in ten women worldwide. Two years and two surgeries later, some surprising advice from her doctor inspired Tia to radically change one of the most basic elements of her life: her diet. After ditching the dairy and the refined sugars and processed foods, Tia's pain receded drastically. What's more, her migraines stopped, her skin cleared up, and she was finally able to get pregnant. Drawing on the latest research on whole plant foods, inflammation, and gut flora, Whole New You chronicles Tia's journey to wellness and provides all the resources you need to feel better, including

- a ten-day menu plan to begin your healthy life
- more than 100 delicious recipes
- lighter versions of your favorite comfort food recipes, including "Buttermilk" Fried Chicken and Crispy Collard Chips
- healthy recipes for your kids
- tips and tricks for eating on the go
- complementary approaches, such as acupuncture and yoga, for whole body healing

Like a trusted friend, Tia recounts both her setbacks and her triumphs--and shows you how to listen to what your body is telling you. With Whole New You, your healing begins now.

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2017

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, someone who shares my grief about endometriosis and will actually be honest about how much it sucks to completely change what you eat. Thank you, Tia!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was expecting a cookbook only, but found a book full of great information!

[❄️✨ Kat ✨❄️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I grew up adoring the Mowry twins, and it ended up being a pretty good read. I thought the information at the beginning of the book about health and eating right was very informative and helpful to those who don't know much about healthy eating habits and what you should be putting into your body to properly maintain it. The recipes were not really my style, however; I saved a few of them but not many.. there was quite a bit of seafood used (plants and creatures alike), which I don't generally eat.

[Muriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a look at eating to improve your health. There is extensive information on improving inflammation, proper formulas for eating (what and how often) and the what types of foods you should eat. The recipes include vegan, clean, and gluten free options. The lentil meatloaf, bean chili, and Grindr lime roasted carrots are intriguing.

[Jo-anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is lots of information about avoiding foods that have been associated with inflammation. I suspect this cookbook would offer hope to women dealing with endometriosis. I liked the recipes as they provided vegan options for me and non-vegan ones for my family. Success is measured by the fact that I am trying out a couple of recipes tonight.

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What you eat really has a direct impact on your health. Mowry suffered from bad food habits causing inflammation leading to migraines, eczema and endometriosis that required multiple surgeries. This book is part food-health informative, part cookbook. She appeals to those who might be new to the idea of eating more whole food without the new-agey, hippie aspects to it. This is for busy moms, young professionals, all people. She has a great "selfie" quiz for you to do regular check-ins on your health. The recipes have easily attainable ingredients for most. Plus there are recipes that the picky eaters in my house have said they'll eat. I have been exposed to this information most of my life, but I found a better understanding of things I already knew, like a new perspective on the importance of eating organic meat. I got out of library but plan on buying asap and tagging all the recipes to try.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the beginning of this book and it was fascinating to read about Tia's health journey and to know that a medical doctor told her to change her diet for her endometriosis. I wholeheartedly agree with the author's lifestyle philosophies and that food truly is the best medicine. Even though I was already aware of most of the information it is a great guide for someone who is just beginning to eat clean for their health. As far as the recipes they were okay, as someone who eats Paleo there were several that I couldn't eat as they used beans and whole grains.

[Ancillar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an interesting read and the recipes were easy to follow

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lately, I've gotten into "clean" eating (natural foods, minimally processed). I don't do it exclusively, but I really enjoy it. Preparing food takes longer, but tastes better - not manufactured. (Side note: I REALLY love squash, but my husband asked me to limit it on our dinner table. Apparently, he doesn't like it as much. ;-) Clean food is also usually low calorie (watch the oils - a Whole30 lesson), so they are helpful in weight loss.

I also recently discovered cookbooks at the library. I use to laugh a bit at books reviews of cookbooks - there aren't exactly plots or literary skills to critique - but now I am so glad for our library's cookbook section. It is a great way to try new types of recipes without having to buy different cookbooks, especially when you don't know if you like the food yet. Yes, you can look up recipes on the internet, but I like paper. And published cookbooks seem better researched and edited than random internet recipes. Cookbooks are also better for inspiration and meal planning. The internet only works if you already have an idea of what you want to cook.

All that is a long way to explain that I recently reserved several "clean" food cookbooks from the library. This was the first one to become available...

I was surprised to see that the first 100 pages is a memoire by the author detailing her medical issues, eating history and food theories, followed by about 70-80 highly illustrated recipes. I personally hate books that try to mix literature with food recipes. It is a big turn off. :-/

The author seems really sweet and sincere in her intent to help others. However, I always think it is incredibly dangerous when one person with specific medical conditions (and no medical training) tries to spread revolutionary food ideas based solely on their personal experience and "extensive personal research". Cue quacks and misinformation.

I skimmed the recipes, copied a few that looked interesting and returned this book to the library. I noticed lots of seafood & soul-food recipes that wouldn't work in our house. The author calls these healthy recipes because they exclude dairy and other "bad" ingredients. But I noticed several of them were high in fat, so I wouldn't consider them particularly healthy. Thank goodness for the library cookbook collection. I would have been really annoyed if I paid for this book!

Update: Tried out these recipes for a week of dinners. I found the recipes to be overly complicated and loaded with salt & fat. Plus, nothing turned out great. It was high fat AND not super enjoyable. :-/ Tossed these recipes into the garbage!

[Marathon County Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for healthy recipes and information on why they’re healthy, this is a cookbook you have to check out! Tia Mowry (from “Sister, Sister” and “Tia Mowry at Home”) shares her health journey, and the foods that led her to recovery. Normally I stay away from celebrity-authored cookbooks, but I couldn’t help but be curious about this one. I’m so glad I checked out this cookbook, because it’s a wealth of knowledge! Along with the recipes, Tia shares easy-to-follow information on why some foods are detrimental to human health, like dairy (even if you aren’t allergic or intolerant). I could tell a lot of research went into this cookbook, but was surprised at how accessible and easy to understand the information was. While all of the recipes are dairy-free, there’s a good mix of vegan, gluten-free, and meat-filled recipes, so there is something for everyone in here, along with the research to back it up!

Sarah M. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book that is packed with valuable health information, hints, recommendations, and recipes. I have made necessary changes to my diet as a result.

[Lala · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book because I wanted to try going dairy-free and reducing sugar in my diet. My doctor had suggested trying a dairy-free diet for skin issues and since I am pre-hypertensive I am also trying to reduce salt and lose weight. I was not familiar with Tia beforehand and do not suffer from endometriosis so my health concerns are different from hers. The first half of the book is a good explanation of her background and how health issues motivated her to change her eating. She then provides a sample 10-day meal plan and the remainder of the book is recipes.

I mostly tried recipes on the meal plan and generally followed it for about a week. It's a lot of food on the plan (at least for a 40 year old woman with a desk job)! Calorie counts are not provided but the menu has to be quite high in calories. There's also way more salt and fat than is generally recommended for a healthy diet. I am unconvinced that substituting 'more natural' sugars like maple syrup and honey is ideal or even necessary when in many recipes the sweetener could just be eliminated or reduced for a more healthy impact (i.e. it is NOT necessary to drizzle maple syrup on a fruit salad).

Meals on the plan are also more complex than I normally cook for a regular day. For example, instead of just a main and single simple side or two there is often a main, two sides, a grain and a salad. Too much effort for a working person like me to do everyday! A few of the recipes were quite yummy though (the Kale and Almond Fried Rice and Ginger-Lime Roast Carrots were both delicious) and the discussion about fermented foods and Cultured Vegetables recipe was very interesting to me and a fun experiment. Unfortunately other recipes were simply not worth the effort involved and I would prefer to just make something simpler with the ingredients (i.e. Lentil Meatl0af & Shitake gravy).

I will continue to try other recipes from this book but I am going to pick carefully and modify recipes to reduce salt, fat and sweeteners.

[Nina Mansir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice lightweight intro into the world of healthy eating. I loved how genuine it felt. You could tell Tia is very passionate about inspiring and helping others through sharing how she helped herself. She’s not trying to push you to do anything you don’t want to, and she’s also not saying “change your diet right now or you’ll die”.

The main reason why I’m only giving it 3 stars though is because it is so light. It was like the first bite of a meal, and I want to whole thing. I would have loved to read more about our microbiome and details into how it affects our bodies. Dealing with endometriosis myself, I also would have loved more information about her personal health journey.

I also didn’t really like the structure of the book. Part of this could be because I read it as an ebook, but the sections didn’t seem to have much flow to me. I also felt like there were quite a few tangents and digressions within the sections.

One final point is that I could tell she has a passion for cooking. Personally, that’s not something I share, plus since I don’t live in the US or Europe, I don’t have the same easy access to a lot of the specialty ingredients in her recipes. Still, though, she laid a good base for building your own diet, which I enjoyed. The book renewed my interest in healthy eating, which was the point at its core, so I liked it.

[yiming · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love & adore Tia Mowry. She has such lovely, fun & bubbly energy and is a delightful soul. As a chronically ill, disabled person who has been learning about food & health for a long time, I don’t think I’m really the target audience for the book. Information about the ills of the Standard American Diet (SAD) which can lead to chronic, out of control inflammation and the importance of healthy gut flora might be new to some, but it felt painfully basic to me. I felt really turned off by the reference in the beginning of the book to “differently able bodies”. Literally everyone has different abilities. Disabled isn’t a bad word, but talking around it and using outdated terminology feels alienating.

I get that she’s trying to write about serious topics in an approachable & light-hearted way, but sentences like these really miss the mark for me: “If you’re currently in good health, it’s probably okay to ingest some weird stuff every once in a while, eating foods that cause inflammation all the time is dumb, and will eventually become dangerous.” It seems she means this as a synonym for processed, but “weird” is a fraught concept in the context of food. Using “dumb” in this way is just bad writing & alienating to disabled people.

There might be good stuff here, but I’ll stick to following Tia on Instagram and keep searching for accessible, healthy cookbooks.

[L.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m so glad I snagged this while taking my toddler to the library. I enjoyed the tone of this book, as well as the fact that I knew and practice 90% of what she talks about. Actually being able to use recipes because I’m familiar with all the products and brands made me feel like I’d come home!

Tia bases how she eats off “The Body Ecology Diet,” a book I read 10+ years ago while in high school—the beginning of my battle with migraines, etc. Reading this made me want to read TBED again soon. Tia doesn’t present BED as a precise formula, but rather outlines her own personal approach to healthy living. There’s a lot of food info before you get to the recipes.

I didn’t save a ton of the recipes, because I have my own version of many of them (so cool to see something so similar to my own hand-crafted Caesar Salad!), but tofu Ranch, tofu sour cream, and a couple others are on my list to try. I’d also like to start using sea vegetables more, particularly since my increased use of sea salt made me realize I’d need to find more sources of iodine.

I even put this book on my “to purchase” shelf because it might be nice to have such a close friend nearby 😂 Seriously though, if I had to loan someone a book to explain how I eat, I’d probably choose this one.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any 90's kids will probably recognize actress Tia from teen sitcom Sister, Sister. Here she talks about her teen health struggles with poor diet eczema, and migraines, and her later challenges with endometriosis and conceiving. Not only that, but she shares how to overcome these major health struggles through a healthy anti-inflammatory diet! "...food is powerful. And not only that...YOU are powerful."

This is an in-depth, informative look into how our guts can either harm or heal us. She takes you through all the steps of regaining a healthy, pain-free lifestyle thanks to good foods. Yes they really work! I really loved her comforting writing style, helpful tips and information about what your body needs, and delicious recipes! I'd recommend this to anyone with any kind of health problems.

[Natalie Dunn-Billings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book to gain some insight into how to alter my diet to accommodate years-long stomach problems that have recently been possibly diagnosed as attributing to endometriosis. I was interested in Tia Mowry's endo-specific diet recommendations, and found a lot of good information.

My biggest dislike was the generally "all or nothing" attitude of her suggestions. Changing your entire diet on a dime is really hard, and not really feasible for the average person to do. I took away good information and good recipes from this book, but I also felt myself getting defensive every few pages because I had this icky "I'm not trying hard enough" feeling, despite my best efforts to make positive changes while also meeting my budget, time, and skill level.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was around 3.5 stars for me.

This isn't just a cook book like I thought it was. Instead Mowry opens up about her health issues including endometriosis and her challenge to change how she eats to recover. There is a lot of information on what foods cause inflammation and what other foods impact the way your body may feel. She also talks about meal planning, elimination dieting to be healthier, and other habit changing aspects before getting into recipes.

This is a much more thorough book than I expected, but I would have found a few more recipes helpful.

[Kat Ice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this. I have always loved Tia Mowry since Sister, Sister so when I saw she was coming out with a cook book I needed to see it. I liked how she talked about her life and struggles and how to change your life for the better instead of just recipes. the recipes were not some of the best just because I do not like tofu and I have not tried anything like it before but it was still written and put together very well!!

[Jessica Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this cookbook at the library since it was nominated for the 2017 Goodreads Choice awards.

This cookbook by actress Tia Mowry is focused on the healthy eating diet she followed to make herself healthier after being diagnosed with endometriosis. The recipes feature whole/natural ingredients and are dairy free. The recipes are all straightforward and easy to follow. I’ve bookmarked a few to try.

[Leila · Rating 3 out of 5]

One third of this book is about Tia's history with food (both struggles and love for food)
One third is about nutrition and info about certain foods to include a healthy option meal plan
One third has recipes and meals ranging from salads, soups, desserts and drinks (some have images and some don't).

Overall, it's a good book especially to use for nutritional reference, but not sure it is a true cookbook that should be kept in your kitchen or on your kitchen counter.

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more than a cookbook it’s a guide to healthy living. The plain language and real life examples will assist you in understanding how you can heal yourself with food. An added benefit for every reader is the wellness quiz.

A must read for anyone wanting to change their diet and live a better life.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought that this was going to be just another healthy eating, diet pushing, celebrity book. I have read a few of those and had grown tired of the repetition. The author, however, manages to make it very personal by detailing her healing from endometriosis. Mowry has filled this book with personal insights, healthy facts and recipes I'd actually want to cook and eat.

[Heather G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first cook book I've ever actually read from cover to cover. I've always just cared about the recipes, but Tia brings you into her life and experiences and helps you understand what a difference nutrition can make. I felt like I was sitting in the kitchen talking to a friend as we cooked up some fun!

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book about choosing to eat whole foods and nourishing your body. It made the decision to eat well seem attainable, fun even. I found myself motivated to eat better (even just a little bit). However, I am writing this review while eating a bowl of ice cream, so I guess I'm not quite there yet....

[Dr. CEB · Rating 3 out of 5]

•Good introductory overview of healthy (anti-inflammatory) eating. It’s a good starting point.
•Wish recipes had less prep time and used more everyday ingredients.
•FYI: Limited recipes for folx who do not eat soy/gluten/dairy and tomatoes.
•Read the e-book. Not enough recipes for my spouse’s dietary limitations; hence, I will not purchase printed book.

[Kate M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book not just for the recipes but because she provided simple, easily understood reasons and explanations for why eating clean and eating certain foods is so beneficial. It might just get me back on track with my own whole eating plan again.

[Ms.Blooms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Just what i needed. Informative, realistic, interesting, straight forward and encouraging. Easy recipes, healthy and uncomplicated ingredients. Something great to have at hand or in the book shelves. A great nudge to make healthier whole food choices.

[Julie-Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love cookbooks. I love fun, good, healthy recipes. This? Well, I wouldn’t categorize this as a book with fun, good, or healthy recipes in it. Totally not what this title leads you to believe it is.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a whole food diet cookbook, with some dubious "science" at the beginning (like suggesting the author's endometriosis was caused by her diet), though some of the recipes look decent.