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Over the years Lynne Bowman has done it all. From raising a family to makeup artist for the stars to even being a TV weather person. But now in-between running the Pesadero Foundation, Bowman has dedicated her life to improving and enriching the lives of others through the power of healthy eating and the wonders of food. Today we talked to Ms. Bowman about her career and learned how eating healthier doesn’t mean losing out, we could even be Baking Brownies for Breakfast and still live a full life.
Your background is quite varied and includes work as a creative director, makeup artist, screenwriter, and even as a television weather person. How have these diverse experiences influenced your work as an author and cookbook writer?
The deal is I’m old. So I’ve done a lot of stuff. Back in the day, when we were starting our careers in the sixties, you just did stuff. You didn’t have a plan, especially if you’re a female. You didn’t have a resume, you didn’t have anything, you just said “yes”, whenever you had an opportunity.
Because I grew up in L A, a lot of my friends were in ShowBiz, in some way or another. So they’d say “do you know how to do make up?” I’d say “Yeah, I do that” and then I do it. I got in a lot of trouble that way but got a lot of experience, had a lot of adventures, and most importantly fun. After a few years I started focusing more on the creative part. Specifically the writing part, because I could always find somebody who was better than I was at the acting or the modeling or the makeup or the art direction, but I couldn’t find anyone to write what I thought should be written. So I ended up doing that and I am still at it after all this time.
I will say about the TV weather thing, that I think I hold some kind of international record for being the worst TV weather person in broadcasting in the world anywhere. I was bad. I got fired before too long and we won’t talk about why or where. I’m a big believer in failing up. When people fire you they’re doing you a favor and you’re moving on to something different and better. Today people seem so much more timid about that kind of thing. We just rolled with the punches back then.
I always advise parents that failure is the best thing that happens to your kids. Let them fail, watch them fail, encourage their failure and then watch them get up and brush themselves off and they’ll try again. It’s the same with adults and young adults and here I am at this age like starting new stuff and you know, who knows? I could totally fall on my bum but you have to keep punching.
In addition to being a cookbook author, you are also the president of The Pescadero Foundation. Can you tell us more about this organization and what it does?
The Pescadero foundation is just a small community foundation. I live way out in the sticks in a little country town in northern California. The Pescadero Community Foundation, is a 501c3 that is fiscal sponsor for all these little community groups, such as the arts group, the history group, and a bunch of smaller groups that don’t have the muscle or the money to get their own 501c3 and have their own accountant,insurance and all that. So we have this umbrella organization that takes care of those things for the smaller groups in town. It’s just a way of supporting small community activism. It has worked great for a long time and we hope it keeps working. I’m a great believer in starting local and starting small with whatever you do and that’s a good way to do it.
Your cookbook “Brownies for Breakfast: A Cookbook for Diabetics and the People Who Love Them” has been described as a diabetic cookbook that readers will actually enjoy using. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind the book and how it differs from other diabetic cookbooks on the market?
Well, number one, I think it’s a fun read. The first half of the book is stories and the whole thing is very heavily photographed and illustrated. So it’s fun to look at. I worked with a fabulous designer that I worked with in the past and she’s done a great job making it eye candy. I wanted people to have this book out on their counter and I want them to use it because anyone who is diabetic or has blood glucose issues, anyone who has a heart situation, fatty liver, literally any of these chronic conditions that are just absolutely epidemic these days, if you will eat the way granny here tells you to eat, you’ll be vastly improved. If not completely controlled and reversed just by eating sensibly. I wanted people to know that eating “sensibly,” actually means eating more flavor, more colors, more interest, more texture. You will eat better than you’ve ever eaten. If you include more plants, and more variety. I give you very simple recipes. I’m not a believer in measuring and weighing. I don’t want anyone dieting. I want you to just eat beautifully and not eat crap. And it’s as simple as that. That’s it. That’s the formula.
I also preach that you cannot be really healthy if you don’t prepare your own food. When I say “prepare,” a lot of the stuff in the book is like three ingredients. You don’t really have to cook it, you throw it together and it’s fabulous. It’s easy. It tastes great.
Grandmas are a little bit out of style, right? Unfortunately there are so many people living alone and they’re eating alone and out of a bag that they’re getting from drive-thru. Well, I’m sort of a one woman campaign to get you to eat joyfully.
Your cookbook includes beautiful graphics and photographs, as well as nutrition facts for every recipe. Can you tell us more about the visual and nutritional components of your book and why you felt it was important to include them?
It took me three years to do the book and I sort of changed a little bit halfway along because I decided to experiment with veganism. So for a year I didn’t eat a bite of meat just to see how that was in my body before I talked about it, I wanted to do it. The book is not vegan,it is friendly to vegans. You can eat vegan out of it. You can eat vegetarian, you can eat paleo, you can eat keto. It’s all in the book. It’s all the same stuff.
The photography just ended up being something that I did. I just photographed what I was actually cooking, preparing in my own house for me, for my friends, for my husband, which was important to me because I wanted people to know they could make food that looked just like the picture. There were no stylists injured in the preparation of this book whatsoever. I did it and you can do it too. That’s the whole point. It didn’t take a team to do it, just one grandma in her kitchen doing this thing.
Your cookbook also includes information on sugar substitutes, dairy-free baking, no-carb thickeners, gluten-free options, and plant-based protein. Can you tell us more about these topics and why they are important for people with diabetes to know about?
Because you wanna live? Diabetes is a silent killer. You don’t know you have it. You won’t have any symptoms. As is true with a lot of heart disease and fatty liver. What’s happening is diabetes actually destroys your organs from the inside out. You can choose to manage it, prevent it and like I did reverse it. I’m healthy and I want that for everybody, and you can do it. It’s a decision that each of us makes.
Can you share some of the feedback you’ve received from readers of your cookbook, particularly those who have diabetes or are pre-diabetic?
Oh, absolutely. It thrills me to read that someone has reversed their numbers and they have actually learned how to cook. I don’t want people to wait until they’ve had a bad health scare as some of the people who write me have had. I want everyone to get in front of that. Do it now, take care of it and bring your kids up eating well.
What are some common misconceptions about cooking for people with diabetes, and how does your cookbook help dispel these misconceptions?
I think the common misconception is that you are gonna be deprived of a lot of stuff, and in fact, what people discover is a whole new world of eating stuff that they didn’t realize was so yummy.
You’ve been friends with actress Deidre Hall for over 40 years and have co-authored two books with her. Can you tell us more about your friendship and how it has influenced your work as a cookbook author?
That’s easy. I’m sitting in her kitchen right now. I’ve been spending a fair amount of time in her kitchen for all these years. Different kitchens at times. But that’s where we sort of function. I can remember at this exact table where I’m sitting right now, she said to me, “I’ve been invited to go to Australia.” I said “you know, you need a book to take with you.” She said “that’s a great idea.” So we put our heads together and she sent me some stuff. I went home and six weeks later we had a printed book in our hands and took off for Australia and had a lot of fun with the Australian ladies and the books.
We decided to do another book which I think came out in 2013, which was more of a beauty based. We love talking about what beauty really is, which should be no surprise to you. It’s good health and good attitude, It was kind of the beginning of self publishing. We were playing with these new toys that were now available to us and we were having a great time doing it.
Finally, can you share any future projects or collaborations that you’re currently working on and how they relate to your work in the world of food and health?
I am off to a podcast conference in a little bit and I’m podcasting all the time. That seems to be the way that we’re reaching people nowadays. So I’ll be doing more of that. I’ll be doing some Audible books. My website – lynnebowman.com I try to post everything that’s going on there. I mail recipes to people who will sign up on my website. I share my latest and greatest and I don’t have a big long list, but I would love to have you if you’re interested on my list so I can send you uh in your very own inbox the latest greatest healthy tips and tricks and recipes from me.
Brownies for Breakfast: A Cookbook for Diabetics and the People Who Love Them is available now on Amazon, and you can find out more tips, tricks and secrets by heading over to Lynnebowman.com
