I think we all know that we feel better when we eat better. When we’re eating healthy, nutritious foods, our bodies function more smoothly, our brains process information more efficiently, we sleep better, and our moods are improved. But there’s more to it than that. There are specific plants that can help us heal from certain conditions.

Author Eliza Savage has a lot of letters after her name to show that she knows her stuff. She’s a registered dietitian and nutrition expert, so you know that when she tells you what plants help you feel better, her knowledge is based on research as well as real-life experience. And she includes recipes for all 50 plant-based nutritional suppliers that she includes in Healing Through Nutrition.

If you're looking to lower your blood pressure, you can use lemon is a Lemon Ginger Cold Tonic or the Classic Lemon Apple Cider Vinaigrette. Or you can reach for tomatoes and try the Quick Ratatouille or the Marinated Tomato Onion Salad. For anxiety, try bananas. There are recipes for Banana Oat Pancakes and Banana Chia Pudding. You can increase your stamina with beets (Roasted Beet Hummus or a Cacao Beet Smoothie). Or you can try to soothe your headaches with ginger in a Kale Ginger Smoothie or with Apple Cinnamon Ginger Oats.

Each plant listed has an informational page that includes its healing power and the medical conditions it can help with. The plants are divided into types: vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices, coffee and tea, and whole grains, legumes, and nuts. Then each plant has two recipes that can be used to highlight its healing properties. But as you can see from the handful of recipes I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of overlap. If one of the recipes for a specific plant doesn’t sound that interesting to you, you can flip through the other chapters to find it used in other ways. Or you can always consult one of the indexes, one specific to the plants and recipes and the other listing the plants by medical condition they can help. Need help with your digestive issues? Wanting to know how to enhance your athletic performance? Looking to improve your blood sugar? That super-handy second indeed can help you find fixes in seconds.

Also included is a short history of how plants have been used as medicine in the past and where in the world the various remedies come from. And if that’s not enough for you, the back matter is filled with references and resources you can use to continue your journey to find healing through plant-based nutrition.

I know I try not to go to the doctor any more than I have to, but the old wisdom of an apple a day probably won’t cut it all by itself. Healing Through Nutrition is a research-based roadmap to help you optimize your health by eating the right foods for whatever ails you.

A copy of Healing Through Nutrition was provided by Rockridge Press through the Callisto Media Publisher’s Club, with many thanks.