Book excerpt: Choosing a healthy eating pattern is vitally important, as diet directly influences health. From The Culinary Institute of America, Techniques of Healthy Cooking is a comprehensive kitchen reference for understanding nutrition concepts, creating healthy eating patterns, developing healthy recipes and menus, and cooking healthy recipes. From soups, salads, and appetizers to main dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, there are nearly 500 recipes with more than 150 four-color photographs of ingredients, techniques, and finished dishes.