I recently spoke with Mariel Hemingway about her new cookbook Mariel’s Kitchen: Simple Ingredients for a Delicious and Satisfying Life. The conversation was as bright and honest as the food philosophy and recipes she shares.

Explaining her evolving relationship with food, Hemingway says, “I grew up in a family of food people. Food was comfort, but it didn’t come from love. It was a substitute for love. Then as a mom I saw that food could come from creativity and self-love.”

She admits that her current healthy and happy relationship to food and to loving herself didn’t come easily. There was lots of self-criticism. “I always loved food, but food was my nemesis, not my friend. I felt controlled by it.” Hemingway describes unhealthy or chemically derived food as “noisy food.” For her that was things like caffeine and sugar. They weren’t serving her or the person she wanted to be in the world.

“It was a journey of awareness and consciousness, a holistic journey,” says Hemingway. “I realized that everything you do can become a mediation on mindfulness and make you happy.”

In Mariel’s Kitchen she recommends eating food that is “fresh, clean, full of color, vitality and energy.” It speaks to her honesty that Hemingway’s recommendations, based on her life experience and current joyful connection to food, never come off as preachy.

As she puts it, “Energy is a vibration. Bad foods have a low vibration. That doesn’t make you bad for eating it. Moderation is the key. Your fuel is a reflection of how you want to show up in the world — it’s a choice. You have more clarity about who you are if your food is clear.”

Mouthwatering and straightforward recipes like Zucchini Walnut Dip, Goat Cheese Tarlets, Pesto Halibut with Braised Fennel, and Lemon Zest Cheesecake are simple and full of fresh ingredients brimming with color and flavor. I try a few of the recipes for a causal get-together with friends and the response is uniformly enthusiastic.

When asked about the creative process of writing the book, Hemingway says, “The first book I wrote was super hard, more gut-wrenching. I didn’t know my life was so complicated. In my marriage there was a level of me missing. It wasn’t his [husband] fault. I just couldn’t find how to be me in that space — who I am, what I am. I needed to grow.”

She happily continued, “My life is so much different from a year ago, it’s just easier now. There is so much joy and freedom in being myself and the book is an expression of that. Simple things give you the best ability to connect with the divine. I’m grateful for the new life I’m leading. The journey has been beautiful.”

In addition to her new life as a single woman after 24 years of marriage, Mariel has an abundance of exciting projects in the works including food products based on some of the recipes from Mariel’s Kitchen, a new Bravo series begins shooting in New York in the fall, and she has a TV talk show about health and well-being in development.

When I mention that the best things in my life have been things I couldn’t have planned for, Hemingway responds, “My spiritual teacher always told me that God has something in store for you that you can’t imagine. Let go and surrender to your life.”

To order Mariel Hemingway’s new cookbook Mariel’s Kitchen go to http://www.marielhemingway.com/promo