In Good Health: Uncomplicated, Allergen-aware Recipes for a Nourished Life by Rachel Riggs
If you’ve been piling on the glazed ham and mashed potatoes this holiday season, or leaning into latkes, or washing everything down with egg nog and a side of gingerbread, you may be craving something a little healthier. Rachel Riggs’ cookbook, “In Good Health,” promises “uncomplicated, allergen-aware recipes for a nourished life.”
Searching for tasty-looking dairy-free recipes to serve family members with lactose intolerance? Need a gluten-free dessert to bring to a potluck? Want some inspiration to get out of your regular meal plan rut? Riggs delivers 77 straightforward, simple recipes with drool-inducing color photos for soups, salads, vegetables, main dishes and sweets.
Riggs lives in San Diego, and the California vibe is evident — ingredients sourced from Trader Joe’s, and shoutouts from musician (and dedicated vegan) Jason Mraz. Her take on “pantry essentials” includes everything from almond flour to Valrhona cocoa powder, anchovies, maple syrup, Red Boat Fish Sauce and tahini. If these ingredients are not already part of your repertoire, your shopping list may be a little spendy.
The recipes themselves are not difficult, but some require advance planning. Riggs recommends washing greens in advance to ensure they remain crisp and don’t dilute your salad dressing. She also suggests pre-cooking proteins to have on hand as needed. Surprisingly, given the healthy focus of the book, she suggests store-bought rotisserie chicken for this purpose. (Readers may opt to follow her instructions for roasting whole chickens at home instead.)
Many of Riggs’ recipes follow the “Wahls Protocol,” a spinoff of the Paleolithic diet developed by Dr. Terry Wahls. Wahls is well-known for her TED Talks and claims that her version of paleo optimizes mitochondrial function and brain health. While scientific evidence of the efficacy of the protocol is scant, if general health or allergen-avoidance is your focus, this may not be an issue.
There are tantalizing dishes on every page, from Charred Broccoli and Lemon Tahini Sauce to Savory French Onion Beef, Thai-Style Herb Salad with Chicken, Strawberries and Lime Dressing, to Dark Chocolate Pots de Creme. None of the recipes include calorie information, as the emphasis is on “clean” ingredients, not low-calorie ones.
Riggs’s transition from specialty food shop owner to cookbook writer and blogger happened abruptly when she became ill with a virus. Eventually diagnosed with several autoimmune diseases, she underwent an elimination diet to get a handle on her chronic conditions. This led her to change how she thinks about food, seeking nutrition and clean food as her way of addressing symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, sleep issues and weight gain. Your mileage eating her recipes may vary — but you will have some tasty meals in the process.
Find a whole mouth-watering selection of cookbooks at any of your local libraries (call number 641.5 if you head directly to the stacks to browse). WCLS offers a variety of cookbooks that address food allergies or other restrictive diets. Visit wcls.org to place holds on specific titles and have them delivered to the library of your choice.
Christine Perkins is executive director of the Whatcom County Library System, wcls.org.
(Originally published in Cascadia Daily News, Friday, January 9, 2026.)