EXCLUSIVE: Tia Mowry Pens 'Food Is Powerful' in New Cookbook 'Whole New You'
You know her best as Tia Landry on the sitcom Sister, Sister, but she's held many titles throughout her career: actress, producer, entrepreneur, reality star -- and now, chef!
The 38-year-old author is releasing her first cookbook, Whole New You: How Real Food Transforms Your Life, for a Healthier, More Gorgeous You. And this won't be just any ol' celebrity cookbook; the Instant Mom star will chronicle the anti-inflammatory whole food diet that helped her recover from endometriosis and chronic migraines. The clean-eating book will uncover accessible recipes, easy pantry switches and mini cleanses to keep the body feeling healthy.
Mowry is also the host of the Cooking Channel's Tia Mowry at Home, where she takes fans inside her busy life and shares some of her tasty recipes!
"This book is so special to me as I personally went through my healing journey and saw how food can be medicine!" the Tia & Tamera star captioned her Instagram post. "I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did coming up with these amazing recipes to help nourish your mind, body and spirit!"
Whole New You will hit shelves Tuesday, March 14.
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Read Mowry's inspirational message in the excerpt below:
This book is an invitation -- directly from me to you -- to go on an adventure. It's not a Hollywood adventure; there won't be any pirates, or princesses, or bank heists. This adventure involves your body and your soul. It's a personal journey, and one that I've been on for a while now.
I want to help you see that food is powerful. And not only that: I want to help you see that you are powerful. By making some simple, easy choices, you can improve your life, and not just physically. By changing what you eat, you will experience emotional, mental, and even spiritual shifts.
I know because I've done it. I suffered from migraines my whole adult life. They're gone now. Eczema: Bye-bye! I even had endometriosis, a painful condition that makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to get pregnant. Now I look at my kid, who's going on five years old, and I marvel at him. I didn't overcome these challenges because I'm on TV, or because I live in Tinseltown, or because I'm somehow "special." I overcame them because I finally let go of denial and surrendered to the truth that what you eat matters. When I eat lousy food, I feel lousy. When I eat powerful food, I feel powerful. These are simple and humbling equations, for which I am extremely grateful.
We've all heard the saying "Food is medicine." But what does it really mean? I didn't understand it until, having exhausted all other paths to achieving good health, I had to begin thinking of food that way. It wasn't until I was doubled over in pain once again, until my doctor told me that I would find relief if I finally agreed to change my diet, that my mind opened to the concept.
You don't have to get to that place before seeking relief. I've written this book to help wake you up before a doctor has to shake you up. If you start experimenting now with the wonder of Nature's provisions, your path to healing can be an exciting and fun adventure, instead of a desperate measure propelled by a crisis.
You might already know all of this. Maybe you’ve been on your own journey for a while, and you're reading this over a green smoothie and a quinoa salad! If so, I hope that sharing my enthusiasm will bolster yours. Feel free to dive into the recipes for new ideas and tweaks on old classics -- I look forward to seeing the delicious things you make when you share them with me on social media.
And if you're new to all of this, relax. I don't believe in big, heroic leaps. I know that life is messy, and that real change happens in teeny increments, and never according to anyone's timetable. I’ve suggested some little experiments you can try that will show you what food -- and your body -- are capable of. I've tried to explain things in ways that are fun and digestible. I've gone into some depth on the science, too -- drawing many ideas from Donna Gates's Body Ecology diet, a cleansing, immune-boosting regimen that transformed my life -- although we shouldn't need a study to tell us that broccoli is good for us (and can be super tasty roasted in the oven with a bit of lemon and olive oil).
Look: You're gonna have fantastic, mind-blowing insights . . . and, perhaps, some epic failures in the kitchen. Don't worry: I've almost burned down my house three times! I encourage you to maintain a sense of humor. There is no judgment here. I'm a busy mom with a crazy schedule and I don't even aim at perfection.
But I do aimat power. The power of Nature. The power of the body to heal itself. The power inside both you and me to make exciting, fantastic, life-changing choices.
You're officially invited to join me on this great adventure.
Are you in?
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Excerpted from WHOLE NEW YOU by Tia Mowry Copyright © 2017 by Tia Mowry. Excerpted by permission of Ballantine, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.