IF YOU have over-indulged this festive season then the latest book of recipes produced by Brookdale Health Hydro may be exactly what you need to get back on the straight and narrow.

Brookdale’s Heavenly and Healthy Flavours is the follow-up to the Nottingham Road-based health hydro’s extremely successful Heavenly & Healthy Foods, which was published in 2012 and has since been reprinted four times.

The book has been put together by chef Juliet Stephenson, dietitian Caryn Davies and photographer Vanessa Lewis, and is crammed full of recipes and healthy living tips.

“When it comes to food, change is inevitable,” says Stephenson. “Seasons change, new food trends come into focus and fresh recipe ideas are discovered and shared.

“This book is a celebration of new flavours, offering renewed inspiration, yet confidently embracing the deep-rooted principles which Brookdale has always stood for — whole, unprocessed, home-made foods that are nutritious and delicious.”

The book offers readers a short history of the health spa and its aims and objectives, and underlines the importance of doing regular exercise — but the main principle is the hydro’s belief in the importance of eating real food.

That means Stephenson likes to know where the food she offers her guests comes from and how it has been reared, that it contains as few artificial ingredients as possible and is packed full of the nutrients our bodies need to function.

The book contains more than 100 recipes, including plenty which are sugar free, grain free, dairy free and meat free, low fat, healthy fat and vegan.

Heavenly & Healthy Flavours is beautifully designed and every recipe makes your mouth water and your mind wonder just how such tasty-looking treats can actually be good for you.

A whole section is devoted to the importance of drinking water and there are a selection of recipes to make that a pleasure rather than a chore. Among the infused water options are blueberry and mint, strawberry and basil, a citrus blend and cucumber, mint and lemon.

There are also recipes for tasty breakfast options, ranging from baby marrow fritters to fluffy omelettes, brunch burgers and breakfast smoothies.

If you are a mom and want to tempt the little ones with a tasty snack that is not based around sweets or packets of crisps, then you could try a fruit lolly made with berries or perhaps pineapple and granadilla or mango and orange. Healthy and deliciously cool — perfect for the hot weather we have been having.

Heavenly and Healthy Flavours also has party food ideas from red bean humus to a roast carrot and cumin dip, seed crackers and rye crisp bread.

Lunch and dinner options range from salads in a jar to roast butternut and barley salad and Vietnamese papaya salad, hearty and healthy soups, kingclip pie, aromatic fish curry, and lemon, herb and garlic chicken.

As author, actress and travel writer, Kate Turkington, says in her foreword that the food offered at Brookdale is “full of nutritious and delicious flavours — hence the title Heavenly and Healthy Flavours — and is packed with new, exciting recipes as well as being full of all the good things we should do for ourselves and our families”.

• Heavenly and Healthy Flavours is self-published and is available at the Brookdale Health Hydro or via http://www.brook dale.co.za/shop/heavenly-healthy-fla vours For more information, e-mail info @brookdale.co.za or phone 033 266 6208/507.