Diet Health Books

If you have read Tibetan Ayurveda you will find a lot of similarities with this book. This book is Indian Ayurveda. The authors have made a small confusion between Neem leaves and curry leaves. This book will teach you about the ancient art of Ayurvedia and its benefits. You will have a nice understanding about various aspects of Indian Cooking, the ingredients and the way they make an extremely healthy food system, whether it is your breakfast, lunch or dinner. With all the additional information on Ayurveda, it will become extremely useful if you ever decide to do your own delicious cooking.

Since I have been on this diet, all the cravings for junk food have gone. I was someone who lived for sugar and now I do not want any of it. I use to crave coffee in the morning as well but realized I didn't want that wired up feeling & acid stomach. I switched over to a caffeine-free coffee substitute made from soyabeans I found on the net at www.S o y c o f f e e.c om. It so easy for someone to tell you to eat less, but if you are craving bad foods, eventually you will fail. In the first five days I was on this diet all the craving ceased and I was already 8 lbs down. If you were like me and cannot wait for your next slice of cake and at the same time really want to change your lifestyle, Try this.

This cookbook has been one of my favorites ever since it first came out in 1990. Now 15 years later, it is ripped, worn, bent, curry stained and I'm buying a new copy. The recipes taste great, have greatly enhanced my family's health and vitality and been enjoyed by many friends. But it's not just a cookbook. The authors bless us with an Ayurvedic perspective on diet, constitution, lifestyle and body/mind/spirit healing and also clarify contemporary health issues related to sugar, dairy products and soyfoods in the light of ancient wisdom. This book is beautifully written, intelligently conceived and vibrates with wisdom and love.

This cookbook really explains why foods affect people differently and shows how, with delicious recipes, to balance yourself with many healthy Indian style dishes. So far I have tried the 15 min veg curry, Plain indian rice, Veg Barley soup, sesame sweeties and curried parsnips and carrots. Every recipe has been delicious - my son 11 is a big curry fan now. Americans definitely don't know how to use spices!! This book will show you how. I highly recommend it.

This is a fantastic cookbook for experienced cooks wanting to explore both Indian cooking as well as Ayurvedic cooking. I've learned a lot about the appropriate use and balance of traditional Indian spices.

However, if you are relatively new to cooking, you may find the recipes to be a bit difficult. They are pared down for those who are more intuitive with cooking, but you will not have a step-by-step guide on how to do each task, like you might find in grocery store recipe magazines or Betty Crocker cookbooks. I have also run across occasional omissions of ingredients in the directions, and some of the grain recipes call for too much water (way too much).

On the whole, this book has a great net benefit. In fact, it's the only book I've been using for the last 3 weeks. Indian grocers sell incredibly affordable pantry items, and the food is simply wonderful. Please give this book a try!

This book is the very first which transformed me from one who dislikes cooking into one that is eager to cook and learn more and more!!! I just simply cannot believe this is happening to me. I have never liked cooking. And it makes for the most thrilling reading too!!

Because of various health problems I was always advised to try different diets but never liked what I cooked. It was always the most boring task. This book has changed my attitude in the most profound ways, where I begin to perceive food not only as a source of nourishment but also a way to understand my own body's energetical needs and how to heal it. It is the most interesting fact to learn the connection between the food and my emotions. Through these quick, simple and most delicious recipes I am learning how to create foods which calm me when I need calming, ground me when I need grounding and cool or warm me depending on the season and the balance in my energy pattern. But it's not only that, I can even effect a positive emotional and digestive change in my husband through dishes that are meant for his type!

This book is slowly turning me from "cook hater" into "cook lover" and I cannot wait to try all of those recipes. The pumpkin or sweet potato halva recipe had us on our knees. It is sublime. The Indian tastes are simply like swimming in a deep ocean while the American cooking is more like swimming in a small and shallow pond. Why not jump in on the deeper side of life?

This is a fantastic book. I just got it moments ago, but I'm so anxious to pour over its amazing recipes! The inspirational saying in the front has me hooked. This book is PERFECT for beginners, the raw-curious and those that need more raw recipes for their collection. Give it a read!! You will love it!

This book is very well organized. There is SO much information in this one book. I look forward to preparing some of these dishes. Generally, I find raw food recipes complicated, but worth it in the end. This author certainly knows her stuff and is not afraid to preach. That does not turn me off, however. I plan to read it from cover to cover!

My background is that I'm a great cook and I love creating and trying brilliant new recipes. I'm not a vegetarian or even a raw foodie just yet, but want to understand the full spectrum of delicious foods that life can offer. Living Cuisine is a must have book for any true food lover!

I have bought several other raw books (Raw Food/Real World, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, Carol Alt's The Raw 50, and more) and they were all good. I do recommend them as well.

BUT!

If you can buy ONE book, this is the one. Living Cuisine is absolutely amazing. The recipes are excellent. There is more information packed into this book than I've seen in ANY cookbook, and trust me, I have TONS of cookbooks of all kinds. She interestingly informs on types of food, ways of cooking, tools, techniques, and more ingredients than I've ever heard of.

I was very impressed by the ingredient list. So many kinds of foods, with info about their flavors, origins, methods of cooking them. This includes seasonings, sweeteners, and anything that creates flavor. In fact, she goes into detail about flavor groups and how to mix and use them.

I could go on. Just know that I can't say enough about how much I love this book. Please enjoy!

I was very impressed with the information in the first half of the book. I learned a lot of useful tips to help in the raw foods diet. I only gave it 4 stars because I was disappointed in the recipes, the majority of which use soy products. The fact that many of the recipes involve steaming makes it perfect for someone transitioning or dealing with a compromised digestive system, but it is not 100% raw.

Living Cuisine provides a great education on the raw food way of life. It is one cookbook that you will actually read. The recipes are definitely at the gourmet end of the raw food spectrum. I would highly recommend this book for individuals moving from a novice to advanced raw food diet. The book uses advanced preparation techniques and the recipes require extensive ingredients, many are hard to find.

While an intriguing read, this is not a good first book for those just starting a raw food way of life.

Practical advice, easy to follow thru strength training routine. I am a weight consultant & I recommend this book to all my client! I don't agree 100% with Jorge when it comes to nutrition advice, nevertheless this is a great book.

I do the at home exercises. Nice explanation. Very practical examples. Haven't done the diet part.

I'm not going to rave completely about this book, but it is simply the best and most complete method of how to loose weight and keep it off. It is aimed at women more than men, but the things in the book are effective for men as well. He explains how the body works, which gives you better insight on why we eat what we eat in order to loose weight. It explains that carbs are just as important as protein, and that (certain) fats are just as important as vegetables. I was surprised to learn how fruit is healthy but does not help weight loss at all. Many books cover just excercise and others just food. This book gives you a solid routine for both. The food plan & excercise plans are very realistic even for the worst coach potato. I was dieting/excercising on my own and plateaued after a month - no weight loss for two weeks. I forgot I had this book, opened it up again, followed the plan, and BAM after two days I started loosing weight again. It works.

This was a good book with exercises that you can do in the comfort of your own home, or on the road (traveling).

I purchased the book over 2 years ago and it collected dust on my bookshelf. Just a little over 3 weeks ago I decided to use the program. I have to say that IT WORKS! My clothes are much looser and I've lost 5lbs. give or take. The eating portion I'm tweaking but if I were to follow it precisely I'm sure I would've lost more. The book is worth the price and Jorge is very encouraging with the daily talks noted in the book. I highly recommend this book for anyone struggling with losing weight!

This is an amazing book. It is an encyclopedic look at fats and it clearly shows the author's passion for and expertise in this subject area. He is clearly an independent thinker and often disagrees with prevailing views-both within the medical community and the industrial/advertising complex. When he disagrees, he makes his case well and, in my opinion, is usually correct. The author airs his opinions and philosophies regarding a variety of other subjects, many outside the arena of nutrition. Many would cite this as a flaw of the book-I enjoyed them however. Again, independent thinking and passion on display. There are issues that will concern some readers.
1)The author does sell his own line of fat related supplements-however, the book arms readers with the info they need to get along just fine without supplements by simply making better food choices.
2)The book is long and very deep and this may put off some readers. It is well explained though and should be accessible to motivated readers who want more than a superficial review. I have owned the book for over 5 years and still finding myself picking it up often to answer new questions I have.
3)The author's opinionated nature at times make portions of the book seem rather quirky.
Overall though it is fantastic. I am a physician with a strong interest and a lot of training in nutrition and I think this is one of the most thought provoking health related books I've ever seen. It is not orthodox and does not tow the party line of the medical community. At the same time, it is very insightful and leaves the reader with an 8 page bibliography which they can use to further their own research in this area.
Not for everyone but remarkable none the less.

After reading this book you won't give fat a bad rap ever again! It is critically important to understand why and which fats are essential for our health. Udo's warnings about why commercial cooking oils should not be a part of your diet (and which oils to use instead) have helped me to make much better choices. I am eating more fats (the good kind!), less carbs and feeling more satisfied with my meals. And, believe it or not, finally losing those few extra pounds!

As a holistic veterinarian, I have long advocated home cooked meals for dogs and cats. Processed pet foods, like the processed foods that people eat, are deficient in essential fatty acids--destroyed by heat and exposure to light and oxygen. These same essential fatty acids should also be added to the diets of our pets.

Get this book!

Dr Paula Terifaj,DVM
Author of 30MinVetConsult.com

I notice some folks tend to put this work on a pedestal and call it essentially a definitive work, and others want to totally discredit it. What is important here is this book is certainly nothing less than a portal into a body of information that is critical to human health. The mainstream population has been confused and duped by the food industry, among others. This information at the very least opens a path to understanding in a way that is not available from mainstream sources. Folks who study nutrition and take responsibility for their health (as opposed to relying on others) will immediately recognize the value in this work. There are others out there as well, such as Enig that are also most valuable. But this is as good a place to start as any. If everyone in this country understood this information, there would be a health revolution that is unprecedented.

CZ

Sorry, this is more of a review of the author, than the book itself.

Just came back from a 2+ hour seminar. It was supposed to be 90 min, but he spent the first hour on his life history, his flower photography hobby, and philosophy. And I could have sworn there was some metaphysical stuff thrown in there somewhere...all I wanted was to learn about EFAs...

He made a number of contradictory statements such as 'Fresh, Whole, Raw, Organic' as the ideal diet. Then he starts promoting his bottled oil line, which is only 1 of the 4 criteria he just spoke about (organic).
Then he said that the omega oils are 'essential' and that carbohydrates are 'non-essential.'

Hmm.
The brain runs only on glucose, so if carbs are 'non-essential,' we would all be brain dead...

Finally, he stopped talking when some audience members started clapping, as if to clue him in that he was running way over, and to end the lecture, were we finally able to ask questions.
The problem was, he would not answer the questions directly.

One lady asked the same question I wanted to ask:
"so isn't it better to get your omega EFAs from whole foods instead of oils?"
Udo: "Let me tell you a story. Can I tell you guys a story? blah, blah...."

So I rephrased it and asked the same question:
"Earlier you stated that we should seek 'fresh, whole, raw, organic.' So for those who cannot or choose not to eat raw, and have oils in their diet, cooked or otherwise, we should use your oils instead of the commercial oils that are out there, is that correct?'
Udo: "Let me tell you what you should do..."

Long story short, we spent the next 5 minutes about whether he was answering my question or not. So I walked out. And so did others. This guy is a snake oil salesman, I told myself. Defending the oil with his name on it, and his profit sharing. Its just not snake, its flax, sunflower and some other free radical causing dangerous products.

Take care.

I found this book to be an excellent source of knowledge. The author does something that other 'experts' in the field have a harder time doing ... he actually brings information that everyone can use. I'm a vegan, but I see no point in demonizing animal fats just because I reject them for myself. Erasmus seems to understand this subtle difference. He gives an honest evaluation of butter and margarine and animal fats, and even if they are not completely healthy, he presents useful information for people who do chose to consume these foods.

I've listened to 'authoritative' sources on the value of freshly pressed young coconut oil, freshly pressed hemp oil, freshly pressed flax oil, etc.. And in each case the author inevitably ended up trying to sell his or her product to me. How can I trust that?

Erasmus even mentions some of this, which is perhaps why he doesn't push his own brand of oils. He says that advertising tends to cloud the understanding of consumers.

In fact, in his book he even mentions that the ideal way of getting LNA and LA essential oils is by simply eating the seeds of select foods, because he points out that Nature's method of containing the oil in the seed is the only way to be sure that the oil is not modified by light or oxygen.

So when I hear a nutritional expert's sales pitch of his own brand of young coconut oil, I wonder why that expert doesn't tell us how to get these nutritional benefits in foods that are more accessible than coconuts, or at least tell us how we can press our our coconut oil fresh. Why? Erasmus explains why ...

"In this frenzy for sales, consumers are 'educated', choices are affected, habits are changed ..."

And while Erasmus wrote these words before 1986 about the big-business of oil production, it also increasingly holds true about alternative, 'health-concious' oil marketers. They simply want us to buy their products.

In this age of fairly inexpensive seed grinders and oil presses, it's nice to read the work of someone who encourages the reader to bypass the industry and simply d.i.y. it.

In the end though, I would like for him to include more information about oils from a wider variety of sources, like canteloupe seeds, pine seeds, watermelon seeds, etc., but armed with the basic chemical knowledge from Erasmus, this knowledge can be found from other sources, and understood more completely after reading this book.

This book was more informative than I could of ever imagined. I changed the way I ate before ever finishing the second chapter.
Great book with very important facts especially if you are diabetic or could be.

I first heard an interview with the author of this book on the radio. I was very interested in the subject, as I have been trying to lose weight for some time with limited success. When I read the book, it really made me think twice about everything I was eating. I took the plunge and eliminated 90% of all sugar and refined foods. In 3 months, I have dropped 20 lbs and feel great. In addition, our grocery bills have actually gone down! I have since bought three more copies for family members.

I read this book 5 months ago in the hopes of learning more about refined sugar and it's adverse affects on the body. I ended up not only learning that, but losing 22 pounds.
Sugar Shock is well-written, fast-paced and full of useful information about uncovering why we feel like crap when we eat overly-processed, starchy and/or sugary crap. What I thought was a healthy diet (juice, bagels with fat-free butter, frozen yogurt, bread, etc) was really just making me cranky and overweight.
I owe Connie everything for writing this book. Once you understand the how sugar affects you, it is much easier to make positive changes that will stick for life.

Even though I gave "Sugar Shock" three stars, I want to say up front that I DO like it; it has made clear to me how sugar has messed my life up and I have been in so much denial about my reliance on it. I really am like an alcoholic or crack addict! I have not yet stopped eating sugar - it's scary to think about trying to do it again and failing again, but I am feeling more concern for my health and damn it, I want to live a real life that's not clouded by the stuff.

The reason I gave this book three stars is because of the author's presentation; she frequently reads like an ad, not a book. She'll say things like, "...John showed classic signs of sugar addiction, which I outline on my website and blog site www...." It's so infomercial-y. I tried to overlook this but it kept coming up through the book. Although this doesn't dilute her message, the constant referral to her web site and commercial references like that make her sound like she's more interested in marketing her company and herself than she is in her message. In other words, she can be annoying.

Also, I felt she spent too much time on how sugar is ruining our lives - but little space on how to practically eliminate it. She offers a list of seven tips on getting sugar out of your life but if I am a sugar addict, I need more than that.

I would have liked to have learned more about her own experience than just about when her dr told her to drop sugar and she did and it changed her life. I would like to have heard about if she had sugar withdrawals so strong she thought she would scream or if she ever experiences cravings now. She doesn't really talk about herself much apart from that initial "burning bush"-like moment at her dr's office -- which doesn't inspire me much. I've had those moments, too, and make a great start but then fail.

I do believe her when she says it changed her life but for most addicts of any kind (note I said, "most") it's not just "I decided to stop and I did and my life is SO much better!" That's the issue with addicts: we all WANT to stop but it's hard to do it, so we feel trapped. HOW do we get out?

On another note, I was surprised to see an endorsement on the book and a review here from Jimmy "Livin' La Vida Low Carb" only because on his web site he seems really into artificial sweeteners (which I am, too) but the author of this book does not recommend them at all. Whatever!

The authors of "Sugar Shock" make a convincing case to significantly cut down, if not completely eliminate, sugar from our diets. I'm going to try it for sure.

I stumbled upon this book a few months ago when I was doing research on no sugar diets. It documents the story of Connie Bennett, a certified holistic health counselor and the author, who is hypoglycemic. Bennett explores the addictive nature of sugar and the effects it can have on your health. The book is co-authored with Dr. Stephen Sinatra, M.D.

Before Bennett was diagnosed with "reactive hypoglycemia," or low blood sugar, she suffered from seemingly unrelated symptoms outlined in the first chapter of Sugar Shock! The symptoms ranged from mood swings and drowsiness to fainting and nightmares. Her hypoglycemia was finally remedied by simply by eliminating sugars and refined carbohydrates from her diet.

She provides the readers with a "sugar free" shopping list. Products available in just about any grocery store that are absolutely sugar free. She defines the confusing terms used in product labeling such as: reduced sugar, no sugar added, sugar free and clarifies the difference in their meanings.

She also lists sugars and sweeteners to watch for that are "hidden" on food labels and the other names for them such as high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, and concentrated fruit juice, and concludes that they should be strictly limited or for some people (those who think they might be suffering from Sugar Shock!, eliminated altogether.)

I found this book to be highly informative (especially the sugar free shopping list). Though I enjoy wine occasionally, I have cut virtually all sugar from my diet and have seen major changes for the better.

I am a retired person who reads many "health" books each month. This is one of the three best health books I have read in the past six months, and that is saying a lot! I was diagnosed by my doctor as being low in Vitamin D (a 22, when we should be much higher). Aside from the stunning fact that a conventional doctor " actually caught a vitamin deficiency, I was shocked that I, a vitamin chomper of the first order, could be deficient in any nutrient. I got Dr. Dowd's book to check up on my own doctor's recommendation and realized she was more than right. In the bargain, I learned about this incredible steroid and its importance to our entire body. This information is crucial because most of us are very careful to "protect" ourselves from the sun. I did,--very successfully apparently. I am recommending this book to many friends and relatives for its relevance to cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and a host of medical conditions.

I ordered this book with high hopes. I opened it this morning anxious to see what all the buzz is about vitamin D. On page 13, I find a subtitle "Vitamin D helps Alot." How can you possibly believe any writer or editor who thinks 'alot' is a word? All credibility is now destroyed. No matter what these two say, I will look upon it with suspicion. Please people, either learn to spell, learn what words are or get spell check. Or maybe get a decent copy editor? This is third grade stuff. I closed the book and am sorry I spent money on it.

I was just diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency and my doctor prescribed 50000IU per week for six months. I was eager to learn more (and try almost anything) but the recommendations weigh so heavily on a carnivorous diet that they are of little use to me. Departing from a vegetarian lifestyle conflicts with my own personal values and ethics. Dr. Dowd offers no dietary alternatives or substitutions for those of us who choose this path.

If you are a vegetarian, you may want to keep looking. I will.

My doctor told me that I had slight Vitamin D deficiency so I purchased this book to find out more about it. To my surprise it said that most Americans have a deficiency of this Vitamin. This was an interesting read.

After reading this book, 3 months ago, I started Vitamin D supplementation at 4000 IU's per day. The information in the first-few chapters, alone, was compelling enough to persuade me to supplement with Vitamin D. In fact, I bought Vitamin D supplements before I even finished the 4th chapter. Normally, I am very skeptical of information pertaining to health and wellness; that is, I force myself to find several other sources and corroborate the facts before I finally commit to make suggested dietary changes. However, after reading only a few chapters detailing Dr. Dowd's personal story and the chronicles of his patients and their case histories - I realized I was Vitamin D deficient. I saw such a eerily similar comparison between the case histories in this book and what I was currently suffering from. I knew I was missing Vitamin D. I was completely convinced that I should start Vitamin D supplementation. I realize this review is not a review on Vitamin D supplementation, nor is it a chance for me to ramble on about me. I'm supposed to review this book and tell you whether or not I think it's a good read. And just so we're clear, the book is not only a good read, but a must read. Oh and I'm getting to the review part.


I have never written a book review before (or at least to the best of my knowledge). I took the time to review this book because it changed my life in a very positive way. I believe that if you follow the advice written in this book, it will change your life as well. Sounds like a big statement, but it's very true. Before reading the book I was suffering from all sorts of ailments. I was in a mt. bike accident in 1997, where I suffered 13 fractures and started my lifelong journey of tolerating pain in nearly every bone and joint I had. Here's where it gets interesting.

I used to own a landscaping business that I had started in college, so I was constantly out in the sun. When my "real" job was enough to pay the bills, I sold my landscaping business. About 8 months after selling my business, what used to be "tolerable" pain, soon became pain I could barely deal with. , I had pain ranging from fatigue to arthritis, tendonitis to muscular atrophy; I even started getting acne (I'm 31 years old and never had it before). I went to a plethora of doctors to see why I was falling apart: Internists/Generalists, Endocrinologists, ENT's, Orthopedic Surgeons and Dermatologists. Unfortunately, they didn't help much. They tried to help by prescribing anti-inflammatories, antibiotics for the acne (which came back every time I stopped the antibiotic), physical therapy, and pills that I never took, but nothing worked. Even more unfortunate was the fact that not one doctor tested me for Vitamin D deficiency. I find that very odd since I visited nearly every specialty doctor I could find and not one of them mentioned Vitamin D deficiency. This goes to show just how groundbreaking and revolutionary the information presented in this book is.

The Vitamin D supplementation was so effective, I decided to take it a step further and follow a few of Dr. Dowd's dietary suggestions. More recently, I've decided to cut out cheese and whole grains as I really thought moderation was OK. Then I noticed, every time I ate cheese or whole grains, I felt kind of crummy. Now, I am 100% committed to Dr. Dowd's diet and D supplementation. I noticed the more suggestions I followed from this book, the better I felt. The end-result is, I now feel great - and I will be purchasing more copies of this book, as every family member and friend that I have, will be receiving the Vitamin D cure for Christmas.

Great book for lifestyle dieting. I can live comfortably with Suzane's approach to eating.

Follow Susan's plan and you are guaranteed to loose, or should I say win the battle against fat.

I was very disappointed in this book even though it was a miniature. Some of the pages were blank, having not even been printed. I figure the book was a total loss of money spent.

Enjoyed the writings, found the advice useful and the recipes were good. I believe you need to find what works for you-maybe combining the right foods as suggested here will work. I have a family so found this difficult. If it was just me, I would be more succesful.

This is basically the "Fit for Life Diet" which is based on the idea that you shouldn't mix some foods at a meal. It works for some people. I've lost weight on this program but really, you are just cutting WAY WAY back on calories, so, that's the bottom line. If we all stopped snacking on GARBAGE and excerised, we'd lose weight! Why I really hated this book is because it is ALL ABOUT SUZANNE! There are pictures of her in her gorgeous home with her gorgeous friends and her gorgeous skinniness...gag me. If you want a Suzanne Sommers "Why I'm wonderful and how I keep my Figure" book, go for this one. But don't pay full price. Buy it for one cent.

THE BOOK SOUNDED LIKE IT MIGHT BE A HEALTHY WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT BUT IT BECAME VERY UNREALISTIC IN DOING.YOU CAN'T LOSE BY ELIMINATING EVERYTHING HEALTHY.NOW I WISH I HADN'T BOUGHT THE BOOK NOT BEING ABLE TO CHECK IT OUT FIRST.THE SELLER WAS FAST IN SHIPPING.

Clearly written, non-judgemental and easy to follow, my entire family has been preparing for and following this program for 3 weeks (5 weeks to go for the full effect). We all feel better, have fewer symptoms (sinus/headaches/lethargy/etc) and except for my 14 year old daughter, feel satisfied with the amounts and types of food we eat. She eats more and is becoming much more discerning about what she really wants to eat and when she's had enough, as are we all. The focus is all on re-training yourself to pay attention to your body's signals and of course to reset the body's systems so that you can trust your "desires" will be exactly what is healthful for you.
The caveat is that without the DVD of the Qi Gong exercises, you will *never* figure out how to do them correctly. The stills and descriptions in the book are woefully incomplete.

This book changed my life and my eating habits. I have never found much help with the "diet" books out there but I had tried so many diets that I was starting to lose hope of ever getting myself healthy. I would try a diet and not really understand why I was doing what I was doing and would feel overwhelmed, and eventually just fall off the wagon. I would not be motivated into getting back on. I hated how I looked and didn't do anything to change it. I was not just looking to lose weight, I was looking to get healthy and change the way I looked at food. Food was just too important and my day revolved around what I was going to eat. It was too hard thinking about what to take and how much. I ate the wrong things and ate too much. I was stressed out and getting bad headaches and just not sleeping well. A friend told me about this book and how it helped her. I am so happy I have a friend like her. Reading this book along with the "diet" was so helpful and The excersise was so simple but so energizing. It has become a nightly ritual that helps me relax and recharge. Dr. Lu really helps you to understand that fixing your body from the inside will change your body on the outside. I started reading the book and was thinking how can what he tells me to eat be helpful when the portion is so small?....it really is amazing that I used to consume the amount of food I used to when now, I eat a smaller amount and have never felt better. I am not being weighed down by all that food and I feel lighter. Dr. Lu takes the guess work out of it and so I don't have to feel stressed about what to eat. I "gave back" 4 pounds in my first two weeks and I am now in week four and am so excited to see where I go from here. I have never hung in there this long before and I can't wait to finish. I have already seen a difference in the food choices that I am making and I am doing it because of how good the food is and how good it makes me feel. Dr. Lu doesn't make you feel bad about yourself, or put harsh demands on you. You really do feel better that first week. If you feel hopeless and feel stressed out or get bad headaches (like I USED to)read this book and change your life, and your future.

Good, because this is the only book I have met in my life that actually have told me the reason I gain weight and the reason I can never lose weight no matter that I think I do eat healthy food or I exsersise or I walk, or I add a lot of herbs into my diets.
Bad because this books says that it is the Qi gong that will make you lose weight not the food. OK, but then why the author puts only 8 pages of exercise? The rest of the 328 pages is all about food and a lot of bla- bla - bla. You can't understand this 10 exercises - which 1 works for what?
Also there is too many passages of the book that repeat to make the book bigger probably.I have some serious doubts that the author of the book knows in debth or understands in debth the TCM.

I have enjoyed the book and am using the QiGong exercises and have only followed the eating suggestions for one week. So far, I am surprised that I have energy for the day, am feeling good and starting to lose weight.

This book has helped answer a lot of questions about yeast allergy. And is helpful in knowing what to eat when it hits. I have had this yeast allergy for 30 yrs. and it comes and goes. This time was by far the worst that it has ever been.

If you want to get a quick course in general information about food, this is a very good reference. It gives a good layman's introduction to yeast related health problems and how to avoid them.

It teaches you how to rotate your diet to find out what foods you are potentially sensitive/allergic to. Basic allergy testing doesn't uncover problems for everyone, so this information can be pretty helpful--and it's a lot less expensive than extensive testing that some health practicioners provide.

I've lost 40 lbs on the Caveman diet shown in the book and feel better and have more energy than I have in a while. My dermotologist actually prescribed it for 6 months: the diet is legit. It's not easy nor is it delicious, and it takes discipline and a completely different way of looking at food: as fuel rather than comfort/security, entertainment, pleasure, social bonding, etc.

Like other reviewers, I can't eat a lot of the recipes in the book. I agree that the recipes are the least helpful part of this manual. The part of the book I really like is the reference section on vegetables. There is a quick paragraph about each veggie along with the family it comes from (did you know that white potatoes are in the nightshade family?) There are great tips for buying and preparing veggies, including some veggies I've never heard of before. That section is a must-read for people who don't know a lot about vegetables and want to start eating more of them.

The other part of the book I liked was the part about poisons and chemicals in the food supply. It's a pretty realistic look at what's happening to fish, meat, and poultry without being so scary that you choose to avoid these foods altogether.

If you are looking for a cookbook, you might want to look around. If you are trying to learn about yeast related illness and the cure, this one is worth a look.

I have really enjoyed this book. I understand why the other reviewers rated it as they did though. I also have to stick to a much more restricted diet than the average person on a yeast-free & food allergy plan, however I found it easy to substitute items I could not have with those that I could. My favorite parts of this book are the section on selecting and preparing vegetables and the baked recipes (for which I do a great deal of substitutions). It may be a book for more advanced cooks and bakers, which I am, but it's been a great asset to me and I appreciate having it as a resource.

interesting material presented in understandable way. helpful info to let one decide if the banning yeast in their diet would be beneficial.

I have begun my journey with Candida Related Complex. This was the first book I purchased and I found that the inforamtion gets "jumbled up" from time to time. One section may say it's OK to eat a certain food,another sais it's not, and often it neglets to mention which foods are not to be eaten in the "elimination phase"... Recepies are alright, but many are not for the the elimination phase... Much of the ingredients are rather expensive and not always easily found locally (or only in healthfood stores). Overall,I found it to be a decent guide, but much more acurate information is needed on this condition.

I have this book, and this is the best book that I have. The recipies are easy to follow, and adapt if you have other allgeries (like dairy). With in the first three days of recieving this book I made seven things from it. My favorite was the crackers...I could have crackers that have salt on them. YEA!!!! Get this book you will love it

My copy of Roben Ryberg's first book is well worn and quite messy. When the new book arrived in the mail I tap-danced all the way back from the mailbox. I immediately devoured the book reading all the recipes cover to cover. It only took a few hours and I marked each recipe I wanted to try. By the time I was done the book was full of little post it note markers! I have now made over 50 of the recipes corndogs, cheese crackers, and my favorite, cheese sticks! What I like best is the fact that most of the recipes use one or 2 flours and multiple recipes are offered for each item. This is very important to those of us that have more than one intolerance. I highly recommend this book.

Before Celiac, I was an avid baker. I baked all of our breads (my children never knew what store brought bread was), and that is one of the hardest things that I've had to deal with. The smell of fresh baked bread, the way it feels when you're making it, etc. With this book I have been able to get back some of that nostalgic feeling of being in the kitchen and creating something truly wonderful. I use this cookbook almost daily and share it with anyone I can. I have tried many many other cookbooks and got so discouraged that I didn't want to try anything new. The smell of garbanzo bean flour was enough to make me stop using it. Not to mention the lead weight that came out of the oven every time I tried to bake with 4 or even 5 different flours. Thank you Roben for simplifying baking but while still providing my family with delicious treats from our kitchen. This book is truly a treat for anyone with gluten intolerance, celiac, or various other food allergies. Yeah for being back in the kitchen!!! Heather Jones

I am hesitant to give a low review to any GF cookbook, if for no other reason than there just aren't enough GF cookbooks out there and any cookbook is a good addition to the GF lexicon.

However, I recently perused a copy of You Won't Believe It's Gluten-Free by Robin Ryberg. There are some problems with it.

There are no major errors or dangerous problems with Ryberg's cookbook. Several years ago, one "GF" cookbook that I bought included recipes with spelt, an ancestral wheat, which is absolutely verboten to us celiacs. Ryberg's book is safe, as far as I read. I admit that I didn't extensively delve into the book, but she seems knowledgeable.

However, there are some problems.

First, in many recipes, the author/chef uses one or two, maximum, of our funny flours. It's like those terrible old pre-Hagman monoflour days of crumbly breads and hard-baked paste. This is the largest shortcoming of the book. Most of the recipes look like they'll be bland and crumbly.

Next, the cover states that it has 500 recipes in it. Well, sort of. For many recipes, probably most, the author remakes the recipe several times with different flours, and each recipe utilizes just one flour.

For example, a biscuit recipe might have a "rice-based" biscuit, made from just rice flour, a "corn-based" biscuit, made from just cornstarch, a "potato-based" biscuit, made with just potato starch, and one biscuit recipe from one other starch.

That's four recipes down, only 496 to go!

Last, many recipes are quite nutrition-free. Granted, I'm a bit of a health nut. Before my diagnosis, I ate 15 grain bread. Once, I found 18-grain bread and was in multi-grain Heaven. The bread that I make is whole-grain and has lots of fiber and protein.

Most of Ryberg's recipes make Wonder Bread look like a loofah sponge. They are based on starches like cornstarch or potato starch instead of whole grains or legume flours. If I ate the recipes in this book, I would never poop again.

I'm sure that Ryberg worked hard in writing this book, and I'm sure that she was meticulous in testing the recipes. This is not a personal attack on her. Indeed, if you are allergic to several grains or other funny flours, this might be a good book for you, due to its alternate versions of each recipe.

This is absolutely the best gluten free cookbook available. I highly recommend it, especially to those new to the Gluten-free life.