Freeing herself from the guilt associated with enjoying certain foods was the most vulnerable part of the cookbook writing process for Julia Turshen. On "Salon Talks," she opened up about how writing "Simply Julia" helped her stop dieting for good.

"I confused the words healthy and skinny. I thought they meant the same thing," Turshen said. "I wrote a healthy cookbook that has nothing to do with weight loss. It has nothing to do with restriction. It has nothing to do with deprivation."

Watch the full episode to hear more about Turshen's healthy comfort recipes: https://www.salon.com/tv/video/a74t3g