Review of Seduced by Bacon: Recipes & Lore about America's Favorite Indulgence (Hardcover)

I feel vindicated!I knew I loved bacon for several good reasons, and now we know that there are others out there just like me including the likes of James Beard & Julia Child.I love that the author educates and entertains us with the history of bacon.I'm a picture book lover and this book is loaded.Even if you can't cook (like me) you've got to try some of these recipes (the Bacon-Popped Popcorn is outrageously good).

Very cute Bacon Bits: "My favorite animal is bacon." - Fran Lebowitz
Five Yums Up!


Product Description
A celebration of bacon, filled with gorgeous photographs and seductive new recipes both savory and sweet.


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Review of Bodyfoods for Busy People (Paperback)

Nutritionist and Cordon Bleu trained chef Jane Clarke uses a particularly 'reader friendly' approach to providing information for the time stressed as to what they can eat to best fuel their bodies to life a hectic lifestyle. Included are savory recommendations for 10-minute emergency suppers and energy-boosting snacks; instructions on the healthiest ways to eat out in upscale, family, and fast-food restaurants; effective travel snacks; ideal lunches; and even 'late-night soothers'. "Best Foods For Busy People" also addresses such issues as using food to treat ailments ranging from head aches, hangovers, fatigue, bad complexions, and weight problems. Enhanced with "kitchen cook friendly" recipes, color photography, and such specialized advice as 'Bodyfoods Solutions for Preventing Cancer', 'Combating the Symptoms of Stress', and 'Bodyfoods Solutions for Mothers-To-Be', "Body Foods For Busy People' is highly informative and strongly recommended for non-specialist general readers with an interest in creating and maintaining good health for themselves and their loved ones.

Product Description

Aiming to show how even those with the most hectic lifestyle can eat foods that will nurture and energize them, this innovative guide to eating right offers suggestions for all modern life's most common ills: from hangovers to jet lag. With 100 recipes and ideas, it shows how to get the nutrients the body needs to feel truly alive and juggle life and the demands of it.



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Review of The Man Who Ate Everything (Paperback)

`The Man Who Ate Everything' is written by Jeffrey Steingarten, credited with being the food critic for `Vogue' magazine, belongs to a very exclusive club of American culinary columnists whose present leading light is James Villas and whose biggest star was M.F.K. Fisher. Oddly, I always had trouble appreciating Fisher's writing, while I simply can't get enough of either Villas or Steingarten. And, of these two, I am leaning to Steingarten if anyone asked me for a `good book on food'.

Steingarten's greatest strength as a writer to the amateur foodie is his ability to put himself in our position vis-à-vis the experts. He never pictures himself as an expert like Harold McGee on food science or Mario Batali on Italian cuisine or Nick Malgieri on baking or even like gifted neophyte Alton Brown on cooking technique. Unlike these professionals and teachers, Steingarten's shtick is how he gets there, not what he as learned after arriving. He is the culinary everyman's surrogate who can travel to Venice to visit Marcella Hazan for an education in cooking and eating Venetian seafood and have cooking expert Marian Cunningham fly in to teach him how to make a perfect piecrust.

Steingarten's introduction which gives an explanation of the book's title makes one seriously wonder what our dear reporter did before he was tapped to write on food for `Vogue'. His list of culinary aversions could fill several major cookbooks, and have. One wonders if Steingarten had any food related assignment before he embarked on reforming his tastes to fit his `Vogue' assignment. While I sometimes fear that my sense of taste is remarkably dull compared to those of talented chefs, my compensation is that there is literally nothing I will not eat and there are very few things I will avoid. In contrast, pre-Vogue Steingarten had aversions to kimchi, dill, swordfish, anchovies, miso, falafel, clams, and all Greek food. The introductory essay is the story of how Steingarten overcame all of these aversions except to the one for eating insects.

This first essay is a perfect exemplary of Steingarten's style. It may have been easier to say these are the aversions he overcame, but it is much more fun to describe how he overcame them. This is not to say that the book is all about the tourist to the banal. Steingarten is well prepared for most of these trips and we, along with the author, learn much in the course of his trials and errors.

While this is not a book about food science a la Robert Wolke's `What Einstein Told His Chef', there is a lot of scientific method afoot in many of the essays. My favorite is Steingarten's excursion into the world of the perfect piecrust. As dedicated `Good Eats' fans know from Alton's episode on pie crusts, the building of the perfect pie crust involves resolving two contrary properties, flakiness and tenderness while doing battle with properties of wheat flour gluten which work so well when creating bread, but which, it is said, cause all sorts of undesirable characteristics in pie crusts, known to the French as `pate brisee'. Before expert Cunningham flies in from California, Steingarten surveys the entire body of writing in English on what makes a good pie crust and comes up with a perfect procedure involving a whiz of the flour in a food processor with half the shortening followed by a careful folding in of the remaining shortening and a hint of water to bring everything together. The result is a disaster.

The lesson from this attempt is that that villain gluten is not so irrelevant to a pastry crust as some writers would have you believe. When Madame Cunningham arrives on the scene, she whips up a dandy piecrust in about as much time as it may take you to write about it. Ms. Cunningham then flies off before Herr Steingarten has gotten everything about her technique down on paper. This leads to many transcontinental telephone calls while our Jeffrey perfects his fingering with the dough and gets everything down in black and white. The really ironic outcome of this exercise and the resulting essay is that Steingarten's description of the complete procedure takes SEVEN (7) full pages. And, that is with a recipe using shortening rather than my preferred butter. I may not follow his procedure, but I certainly enjoyed his journey needed to get him to that result.

Like Villas, it is quite likely that you will find much in Steingarten's writing with which to disagree. This is part of the fun. For example, he can find little to like about roasted turkey, the national American holiday meal. Since `Gourmet' and `Bon Appetit' and Nigella Lawson (among others) are still cooking up new recipes for the maligned bird, I suspect Steingarten has not talked anyone out of eating their gigantic poultry, but it is certainly fun listening to him rant about it and, as Ms. Lawson so aptly points out, tradition may be as much or more important than the turkey's culinary virtues.

As we are approaching the dark evenings of winter, I definitely recommend this book as a classic of American culinary writing. It is our Yankee answer to B'rer Villas' writing about food from the Southern perspective. As an essayist, Steingarten has the eye and mind of Stephen Jay Gould and the wit and wordsmithing (and similarly strong prejudices) of H. L. Menchen, my two favorite American essayists.

Highly recommended.




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Review of What's Cooking : Low Fat (What's Cooking Series) (Hardcover)

This is one of my favorite cookbooks! Every recipe I've tried is fabulous and I've made some of them so often that I have them memorized.I really love the Pan-cooked Pork Medallions w/ Apples & Cider, Strawberry Roulade, Red Roast Pork w/ Bell Peppers (on the cover) and the Broiled Chicken w/ Lemon & Honey. The Red Fruits w/ Foaming Sauce is very simple to make and very impressive to dinner guests.
The recipes are simple and use ingredients that you can find at any grocery store. Most recipes are no more than 5 or 6 steps and include color photos of some of the steps--how to cut the meat, folding in ingredients, etc. I love this because I'm a visual person and I like to see what I need to do instead of just reading about it.
There is also a beautiful, full-page, color picture of the final product FOR EACH RECIPE!This is wonderful because you have an idea of what the finished product should look like and how you can present it. I highly recommend this cookbook! It proves that low fat does not mean no taste or flavor!

Product Description
This inspirational and comprehensive cookbook offers the home chef a wide array of low-cholesterol recipes that are both healthy and flavorful.Chapters include ideas for soups and starters, meat and poultry, fish and shellfish, vegetable and salads, and baking and desserts. Balances exciting new ingredients and recipes with a wide selection of traditional favorites.Includes 120 easy-to-follow recipes, each illustrated with full-page color photographs.The What's Cooking series also includes: Baking, Barbecue, Chicken, Chinese, Chocolate, Indian, Italian, Pasta, and Vegetarian.

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Review of Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection (Paperback)

This book is a personal re-examination of food--what we eat, and why we eat it. In this book, Prentice examines food customs and traditions, searching for their physiological and environmental rationale.Her primary observation about food traditions is that they are strictly tied to the seasons, and thus the continual year-round availability of our foodstuffs has resulted in loss of much traditional knowledge about what is good for us and what isn't.In recognition of the essential seasonality of foods, Prentice organizes this book into the thirteen moons that make up the year, from the famine moon, to the sap moon, from the egg moon to the corn moon, from the blood moon to the wolf moon.

Each chapter describes the ecology that led to the association between a particular food item and a specific time of the year.In the chapters, Prentice discusses the nutritional contributions of the featured food items, and how her relationship with that food has changed over the years.For example, she explains how she used to avoid milk and other dairy products, but now relishes them as a gift of love from Mother Earth.Each chapter also includes recipes of the season, ranging from exotic dishes of non-Western food cultures, like Cardamom and Jaggery pudding, to simple directions for lost arts, such as rendering pork, or making homemade yogurt and sauerkraut.

Prentice was once a strict vegan, who for health reasons, eventually found herself drawn to a diet which includes animal products, but not the products of industrial agriculture. There is much that vegetarians and vegans would not like in Prentice's essays, since she explains how her 10 years of vegetarianism were not healthy for her.Having had the same experience myself after being a vegetarian for 20 years, I can appreciate the wisdom in what she writes.While vegetarian diets work well for some, they are not appropriate for everybody.But at the same time, diets that include the consumption of industrially produced and processed animal products do nobody any good.We need to be willing to recognize our relation and responsibilities to the animals that we consume.

I first heard of this book when I attended a Vermont Localvore potluck at which Prentice was the invited guest chef.I was deeply offended then at her attitude, when she announced she was going to make a salad using a recipe from her book, but lamented the lack of local artichokes or olive oil.`How could such a person be associated with local cooking,' I wondered, `if she doesn't even have the sense to find out what the best local ingredients are and celebrate them, instead of parading the products of another region in front of us?'I figured that a seasonal local cookbook written by a national author would be a worthless concept.Fortunately, that's not what this book attempts--instead the book is much more about rediscovering our connection to food than about specific local recipes.

Although she has become famous for leading the concept of eating foods only from one's local region, what she urges here is really an appreciation for the products of small farms.Thus, instead of simply cheering on local food, Prentice argues in this book that our industrial agriculture system has torn us away from one of the most essential of human traits, our relationship to the food that nourishes us.Instead of following diets of avoidance, Prentice advocates recognizing the meaning that each item of food brings to our lives, and using food to re-establish our connection to the land.Indeed, the only foods that Prentice avoids are those heavily processed products of industrial agriculture: refined sugar, white flour, and pre-packaged extruded junk.Although the book contains a few recipes, it is not a cookbook, but rather a wake-up call: "Our poor diet is at least partly a physical manifestation of a spiritual decay," together with some suggestions of how we can begin the journey back to healthy eating.

Product Description
In Full Moon Feast , accomplished chef and passionate food activist Jessica Prentice champions locally grown, humanely raised, nutrient-rich foods and traditional cooking methods. The book follows the thirteen lunar cycles of an agrarian year, from the midwinter Hunger Moon and the springtime sweetness of the Sap Moon to the bounty of the Moon When Salmon Return to Earth in autumn. Each chapter includes recipes that display the richly satisfying flavors of foods tied to the ancient rhythm of the seasons.
Prentice decries our modern food culture: megafarms and factories, the chemically processed ghosts of real foods in our diets, and the suffering-physical, emotional, cultural, communal, and spiritual-born of a disconnect from our food sources. She laments the system that is poisoning our bodies and our communities.
But Full Moon Feast is a celebration, not a dirge. Prentice has emerged from her own early struggles with food to offer health, nourishment, and fulfillment to her readers. She recounts her relationships with local farmers alongside ancient harvest legends and methods of food preparation from indigenous cultures around the world.
Combining the radical nutrition of Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, keen agri-political acumen, and a spiritual sensibility that draws from indigenous as well as Western traditions, Full Moon Feast is a call to reconnect to our food, our land, and each other.

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Review of Ann Louise Gittleman's Eat Fat, Lose Weight Cookbook (Paperback)

good recipes; good information.I don't know that you would really lose weight with this cookbook though unless you really follow it.

Product Description
Ann Louise Gittleman's Eat Fat, Lose Weight Cookbook--the companion to the bestselling Eat Fat, Lose Weight--includes 150 recipes for delicious dishes which will not only speed up the metabolism but will also help lower the risk of heart attacks, Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, breast cancer, even PMS. The robust flavors and heady aromas of the recipes included in this groundbreaking book will delight the palate and put the pleasure back into healthy eating.

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Review of Whole Food Facts: The Complete Reference Guide (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading Whole Food Facts- The Complete Reference Guide by Evelyn Roehl. This is a very well written and informative book.It speaks to Dairy Products, Fats and Oils, Fruits, Grains, Legumes, Nuts and Seeds, Sweeteners, Vegetables, Other Foods, Types of Diets, and the Value of Nutrients and Food Supplements.It explains WHAT they are, HOW your body uses them, How Nutritious are the Specific Foods.Sometimes the Book explains how to USE and STORE certain types of food and explaines the different types of a certain food, such as Fats and Oils.It further addresses the Vitamins found in each type if food and some additatives.It provides a guide for how long you can store fruit and the peak season of availability of the fruit.Toward the end, there is a section on Vitamins and their uses in the body that I found extremely interesting.It also recommended amounts needed for good health.I am very glad I bought this book as it is a great reference book.It even tells me how to prepare a few foods- not receipes, just preparation.



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Review of Crazy Plates: Low-Fat Food So Good, You'll Swear It's Bad for You! (Paperback)

I just received CRAZY PLATES two days ago.Afer trying just two recipes, I am SOLD on this book!The food is great, it is easy to prepare, and the whole family loves it! I am on Weight Watchers and my husband is adiabetic.The nutritional information included with each recipe makeschoosing good-for-us foods a breeze.The Berried Treasure muffins arealready a hit at our house with just one batch! I collect cookbooks, andthis one is bound to become one of my most used.You can be sure I will bebuying LOONEYSPOONS, also by the Podleski sisters, too



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Review of American Heart Association Around the World Cookbook: Low-Fat Recipes with International Flavor (Plastic Comb)

A comment on my earlier review: I was going to use the author's recipe for paella until I read it more carefully and then I found that most of it went against the grain so I didn't. I understand that recipes for paella abound and that hers may be to other people's taste but it wasn't to mine. In the name of fat reduction she suggests that if the reader cannot get Spanish chorizo, but only Mexican chorizo, the reader use "light smoked sausage" (p. 154) because Mexican chorizo is "swimming in fat" (p. 144). While it is true that chorizo is quite high in fat, there is only so much of it in any particular serving and it is absolutely indispensable. Paella would just not be paella without it! Furthermore, she uses 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves and 1/2 pound boneless pork loin chops for 8 servings, in addition to 1/2 pound large shrimp. 8 fresh clams, 8 fresh mussles (understand that this is 1/4 chicken breast half, 1 oz. of shrimp, 1 mussel and 1 clam per serving and 1 oz. pork chops), and artichoke hearts, etc. (p. 144-145), and she says to cut the chicken and the pork into CUBES! While this may be fine for some, I could not do it this way. I omitted the pork entirely, and used what I prefer: bone-inchicken thighs with skin (I would use 1 per serving)), and I left them whole. Also, I omitted the artichoke hearts which I didn't think would work well enough, and I used more saffron than she says is necessary and no matter what recipe you use, I suggest that you use saffron to taste. Also, I would not (although one could) cook the chorizo in the stockpot with the rice-I panfry it. If the way I make it increases the fat content to some extent over the way she does it (her recipe has 7 grams of Total Fat and 2 grams of Saturated Fat per serving-but at 5' 3 1/2 inches tall, I know fromthe website of Dr. C. Everett Koop that I can have 50 grams of fat per day, so I don't know what the fuss is about), I think that that is vastly preferable, especially since one does not have paella every day. I am wondering what to do about the other recipes in the book about which I know nothing...

Product Description
Bringing together heart-healthy, delicious recipes with international flair, the American Heart Association Around the World Cookbook takes you on a guided tour of the best dishes of many of the world's cuisines. By adapting the best-loved dishes from Italy, France, Asia, Greece, the Caribbean, Germany, the Middle East, and more, the AHA lets you savor the delicious flavor of old favorites and innovative, exotic dishes without all the fat, cholesterol, sodium, and calories that can sabotage your health. Charming illustrations, lots of cook's tips, and two glorious, full-color photo sections will help you bring these wonderful recipes to life. Special sections on planning and shopping for meals, dining out, cooking healthfully, and putting together menus will help you get the most out of your global culinary tour.

Whether you're looking for breakfast alternatives, tasty soups and salads, hearty entrees, special holiday appetizers, or decadent desserts, you'll find a wide variety or tasty options sure to delight.

With this latest offering from the bestselling AHA cookbook library, you can enjoy palate-pleasing fettuccine Alfredo, guilt-free mushroom strudel, delightful cannoli cream, and delectable honey-rum mango sauce: proof that good taste and good health can go together.




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Review of Snack Yourself Slim (Paperback)

I came across this book while looking for low calorie snack recipes, while it doesn't provide that it still captured my attention enough to purchase it.

POSITIVES: The book is based on the correct assumption that keeping one's blood sugar stabalized not only allows a person to remain satisfied, but also helps in weight loss. This is why many diets suggest you eat 3 meals plus 2-3 snacks per day. That method (eating 5-6 small meals per day) actually will keep your blood sugar as stabalized as this method.

CONS: For "real life" use and, later, for weight maintenance, this one is a tough one, in my opinion. While I agree that a few mini meals a day can be beneficial to most, the author suggests you find recipes for 100 calorie snacks and eat every HOUR from when you wake up to when you go to bed...you can also use ready made foods...the idea is to have a diet of, lets say, a few grapes one hour, then a few bites of mashed potato the next hour, then an hour later a slice of low fat luncheon meat, then later a few bites of fat-free cheese, etc.

First, if you have a family sitting down to meals, you lose out there and it's tough to push away all else that is being served. Secondly, it's rough to have any social occasions pop up on a plan like this that you can handle. Try going out to dinner and ordering a few grapes...he he...or going to a party and eating a banana. Third, who has the time to figure out hourly meals and eat em while saying no to all other food that you may come across? (the author suggests you dont be around other food; keep it out of sight. How is that learning how to live at your goal weight long term though?) And, finally, if you lose the weight but haven't changed your habits in learning to eat in the real world with real foods, and in real social situations, you may only regain the weight and yo-yo dieting isn't so great.

But mostly: aren't you gonna miss MEALS? I, too, love to snack, but I supplement my healthy low calorie snacks with meals that help me feel truly satisfied.

studies show that if you feel deprived, you will not only not stick to a diet, but can even "binge" when exposed to temptations.

I agree with the author on the mini meals, but few have time to prepare a meal each hour or even need to do that when you can eat every 3-4 hours with the same result and bigger portions.

I recently bought Hungry Girl's 200 under 200 which is a cookbook of 200 recipes under 200 calories. That purchase was what made me search for something similar because I like being able to do mini meals like 200 calorie ones to supplement my main meals. Snack yourself Slim doesn't provide the recipes though for 16 meals per day that you have to plan out, which is fine, but I think it's a tough act to stick to as well, unfortunately, on having a few bites each hour of nothing that makes you really go "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!" like a true meal does. (just my opinion...)

The most extensive weight loss study every completed just happened by the New England Journal of Medicine which found that it did NOT matter when you ate, (other than not being hungry prevents binging and we know eating breakfast needs to be a part of that...but eating 6 small meals per day help that) but as long as you ate less calories than you burned the nearly 1,000 participants who were studied for YEARS lost weight. At the same rate. (many had higher carb intake and lost the same amount as those on the low carb diet, finally--in 2009--disputing the carb myth in the medical society because they were studied in depth for years.) This was so extensively researched that it is now accepted by the medical society...and discussed on the news and large programs such as Weight Watchers. I mention this because, for many, simply cutting down to 1,600 calories WILL help you lose weight as most people burn more than that throughout the day. however, once you get closer to your goal, many will need to eat approximately 1,200-1,500 calories. (I personally have had my caloric intake studied and because of my height and weight my daily diet target is 1,200 calories in order to lose 2 lbs per week.)so...this alone means that instead of 16 meals that you have to take the time to plan and eat without enjoyment, you can have 3-8 of the same calories that you ENJOY and can share with family and friends...with the same results.Everyone's daily caloric needs are different...but, for some, 1,600 calories would be TOO low if they are quite large...the deficit of calories in vs. calories out should be gradually reduced to not feel deprived and to not take in too little.It's just not that cookie cutter. That can, most assuredly, leave larger people sluggish and very hungry. Not fair.

HOWEVER, any diet that motivates anyone is a GOOD diet so, while that may be my opinion, (I am a weight loss counselor but I'm not closed minded and always wanting to find something new that may work for someone having problems elsewhere) if this seems like a good plan for others then TRY it! Anything that leads you to lose weight is a GOOD diet plan! For me though...I'd rather cut down calories and have fewer true meals that are healthier, rather than bites that leave me feeling deprived more often. It's hard, for me to have 3 bites of something or plain food rather than a MEAL like a sandwich or a casserole or whatever...all those are out the door.

But again...if you can...and this works, then forget all of the above! Whatever brings one health is worth it's weight in gold!



Product Description
"This is a sure-fire way to lose weight and still enjoy eating."Dr Kenneth Buechler.The method also slashes cholesterol levels, fights diabetes and turns off hunger pains.

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Review of No More Bull!: The Mad Cowboy Targets America's Worst Enemy: Our Diet (Paperback)

The Mad Cowboy rides again! The long-awaited continuation of his rants and raves on veganism and politics comes through as madcap as ever but with a smart edge that promises to leave a trail of vegan converts. We all know someone who went vegetarian after reading Diet for a New America, and Howard Lyman is threatening to become the next John Robbins, with an endearing smile and naughty wink. No More Bull is a Howard Lyman hit.

The infamous cattle rancher-turned-vegan has a no-holds-barred writing style that occasionally smacks of his mischievous speaking style. I envy his matter-of-fact manner and I'd hate to find myself debating him, but I count on him to tell it to me straight. As a fan familiar with his speaking style, I often hear his co-writers in the pages of No More Bull, as if two others are sitting with Howard and me over coffee discussing veganism. Their writing styles gel together well.

Lyman doesn't mince words when he addresses meat-eaters in the chapter "Message for My Meat-Eating Friends":

"To state the obvious: vegetarians live longer than meat eaters simply and solely because we do not consume the filthy, fatty, disease-ridden, decaying flesh of animals. (Forgive me for being so blunt, but there is no such thing as a clean, lean form of meat, and no other honest way to describe meat - even if you buy it "organic," or blessed by rabbis, or hunt it down yourself.) Vegans live longer still because we avoid as well the fatty, hormone-rich, cholesterol-ridden by-products of the lactation of other major mammals."

Simple as that, my friends.

His call to arms comes in the next chapter - "Message for My Fellow Vegetarians and Vegans." Referring to milk as "liquid meat," Lyman asks "for those of you who are still merely vegetarian and not yet vegan, I ask, what in heaven's name are you waiting for?" He's endearing, nonetheless, not obnoxious, though some vegetarians might take offense if they understandably feel singled out.

Lyman pushes the point that herbivores shouldn't feel like they're saving the world through their food choices. It's not good enough to hide out and have meals with other vegans. Talk to children, talk to schools, invite omnivores over for vegan dinners, question authority, stop preaching. "You're better off serving the seitan stew than preaching the gospel of animal rights."

Unlike many recent books on veganism and health, Lyman doesn't discuss the tragic conditions of factory farmed animals. "People either feel for animals or they don't; while I believe they ought not be shielded from seeing what a slaughterhouse looks like, and the conditions in which their 'food' animals exist, I also think it serves no purpose to browbeat them over animal rights. If you must browbeat them, do so about their health."

Luckily, there are many voices out there describing slaughterhouse conditions. I'd personally eat white rice and cauliflower for every meal if it meant helping to prevent animals from experiencing such suffering. To me, health reasons pale in comparison to animal rights issues in my own personal vegan path. Lyman trusts that the average person is much more focused on their health, and he's left the environment, disease and political manipulation outside his scope.

Half of the 200-page No More Bull is recipes - great recipes from the likes of Neal Barnard, T. Colin Campbell and Frances Moore Lappe', among many others. I enjoyed Bryanna Grogan's Vegetarian "Meat Loaf" and Joanna Samorow-Merzer's Stuffed Eggplant, but the main event of this book isn't the star-studded recipe section. The highlight is Howard's convincing words.

He has seen the insanity of the meat and dairy industries first-hand. As a fourth-generation dairy farmer and cattle rancher, he's one of environmentalists' greatest resources in terms of exposing the truth of chemical fertilizer use, health side-effects of meat and dairy consumption, and the political nightmare we've become caught in like quick sand. In the genre of bold, inspirational books about veganism, Lyman's voice can't be ignored.

John Robbins' review of No More Bull encourages, "If you read this book, several things will happen. There will be more health in your life. There will be more joy in your life." Indeed, in today's sad, troubled world we could all use Lyman's humorous, honest, unapologetic words. --Caity McCardell





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Review of High Fit-Low Fat (Plastic Comb)

I own both of the High Fit - Low Fat cookbooks (regular and vegetarian).The books are good for both novice and experienced chefs.Although I own many cookbooks, I do the majority of my cooking from the High Fit - Low Fatrecipes.
The recipes call for healthy ingredients.The recipes arecreated in such a way that my family can't tell the healthy version fromthe less-than-healthy version, except that mine tastes better.Cooking hasnever been so easy and nutritious.
The cookbooks make great gifts too (Ibought 10 as gifts for family members)!

Product Description
A collection of healthful recipes featuring the use offresh, whole ingredients. Techniques and methods of low-fat cookingare introduced with a focus on decreasing saturated fat andcholesterol and increasing dietary fiber in the diet.

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Review of The Healing Foods: The Ultimate Authority on the Creative Power of Nutrition (Mass Market Paperback)

Simple, alphabetized list of foods, illnesses and remedies. Not very detailed, but rather like a pocket-book reference point.

Product Description
The Knopf Canada Book of Healing Foods is a guide for everyday living, and the fastest way to understand how the foods you eat can help to heal, and help you remain healthy.

There's a healing food for almost every common health problem - from colds, stress, insomnia and high blood pressure to more complicated illnesses - and most are as close as your local grocer. Healing Foods is an indispensable guide to choosing the best foods for an active life - a bright and friendly market of knowledge that makes the time you spend at the dinner table an investment in spirited living.

In beautiful colour, it also highlights health-giving foods and their nutritional and medicinal benefits. Information on buying, storing and preparing healing foods is clearly listed, and each item - from pineapples and chilies to almonds and apricots - is linked to delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes from around the world.

A questionnaire helps you assess your diet and general health to pinpoint problem areas, while a section on ailments and treatments makes it easy to address individual concerns. Fully indexed, illustrated throughout in full colour, Healing Foods is a goldmine of information and recipes to treasure.

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Review of Easy Health Diet: Manage Weight And Prevent Scary Diseases (Paperback)

Easy Health Diet: Manage weight and prevent scary diseases is an easy to use beginner's reference to health, diet, and exercise. The author, a doctor of physics, does not claim any professional knowledge in these areas. Instead, the author has used his exemplary research skills to undertake his own health transformation. The author uses these experiences to guide readers towards undertaking their own research towards personal health transformations.

Easy Health Diet: Manage weight and prevent scary diseases is full of research material. The author includes sections demystifying myths about low carbohydrate diets, surgery, drugs, calorie cutting, and suffering.The author stresses that the only way to truly lose weight is to burn more calories than one is intaking while still eating a nutritionally sound diet. The author suggests that adding soy products to the diet while decreasing four-footed animal meats is the key to eating nutritionally while decreasing both calories and fat. To this end, the author explains in great detail the benefits of soy products, the types of soy products available, and how to prepare soy. The author even includes links to dozens of online merchants and recipe sources.

Easy Health Diet: Manage weight and prevent scary diseases is very well researched. Furthermore, the author makes great attempts to present his research in an informative way that gives the reader basic knowledge in health issues while challenging the reader to take charge of his or her own health concerns. Moreover, the author also introduces low cost and budget saving alternatives instead of promoting high cost specialty products.


Product Description
Much popular advice on weight loss violates known biology, chemistry, physics. Low carb is high dumb.
Book includes recipes and web links to over 32,500 more, but teaches concepts so readers can create their own menus.

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Review of Prevention's The Healthy Cook: The Ultimate Illustrated Kitchen Guide to Great Low-Fat Food (Paperback)

I love this book! It has so many yummy recipies that actually taste good! It also is very informative about preperation of foods It has been a great help to me in my quest for a healthier lifestyle. I use it all the time and they are recipies you can use everyday not just for parties. It's great, I really recommend this book!

Product Description
Here's the ultimate guide to wonderful food that's low in fat, high in nutrients and packed with flavor! It's like a complete cooking school-- all in one volume. Features:

* 28 information-packed chapters
* 450 homestyle recipes-- and hundreds of variations
* 424 step-by-step illustrations
* Health-boosting hints, tips and shortcuts
* Favorite low-fat recipes from two dozen of the country's best chefs-- including Jacques Pepin, Charlie Trotter, Michel Richard, Jim Dodge, Jean-Louis Palladin and Emily Luchetti
* "Is It Good for You?"-- the nutritional lowdown on eggs, white sugar, wine, liver, butter, white flour and more
* Complete herb and spice primer


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Review of The Dietitian's Guide to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) (Paperback)

*This is the review I wrote for my magazine, PCOS Today*

Angela Grassi, a licensed dietician headquartered in Haverford, Pennsylvania, has been a regular columnist published in PCOS Today Magazine. She has focused her entire practice on the service of women and girls with PCOS. Earlier this fall, she completed and published her new book, "The Dietician's Guide to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome." Her book is well worth the purchase price...for both professionals working with PCOS clients, as well as women with PCOS. Here's the review.

My copy of Angela Grassi's recent book, "The Dietician's Guide to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome," has a glass-bottom stain on it and part of the cover is ripped. Ms. Grassi's jam-packed tome of up-to-date information about PCOS has been used and reused by this author since its release just a few months ago.

During the past decade or two, a number of books about PCOS have been released. Some are rather general, others carry a heavy load of relevant content. The difference with Ms. Grassi's book is that while it was originally written with practicing dieticians and nutritionists in mind, women with PCOS will find it a thorough resource. Its more than 200 pages, including appendices, cover topics including both the physical and psychological aspects of PCOS, dietary strategies, alternative and complementary treatments, PCOS in adolescence, pregnancy, eating disorders, and sample menu plans. For dieticians, Ms. Grassi provides common IDC-9 codes and case studies, as well as organizations and publications that can provide both professionals and PCOS patients with more information about the disorder.

Throughout the book, Ms. Grassi asks a number of compelling questions and makes a number of compelling statements about working with women with PCOS. Does the American diet cause PCOS? The role of the dietician in treating PCOS. Weight loss to improve PCOS: Is it necessary? Polycystic ovary syndrome and pregnancy. In full detail, Ms. Grassi covers the Glycemic Index, postpartum weight management with PCOS, antiandrogen therapy in adolescence, thorough descriptions of herbs and supplements that can be used to decrease the severity of PCOS symptoms, and questions dieticians can use to screen patients for PCOS. Especially helpful to this author, who likes to have quantifiable information to gauge her food intake by, is a table of suggested carbohydrates amounts for women with PCOS, dependent on calorie intake. As a reformed label reader, I can now decipher how each serving's grams of carbohydrates fit into the grand scheme of my diet.

Rounding out Ms. Grassi's book are sample menu plans and a candid discussion of quality of life issues affecting women with PCOS, and how they can lead to the development of eating disorders. Following each chapter is a complete list of references for both professionals and women with PCOS to find more information.

Designed to accompany this guide is the PCOS Nutrition Handout Series on CD. Included on the CD (sold separately) are 20 printer-ready assessment, food exchange, mindful eating exercises, resources for PCOS clients, shopping for whole grains, and nutritional supplement handouts, among many more, for use by dieticians and nutritionists working with PCOS clients.

Published by Luca Publishing of Haverford, Penn., The Dietitian's Guide to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a book that not only every practicing dietician and nutritionist should have on their shelves, but any professional who comes into clinical contact with women suffering from PCOS. But not only will professionals working with PCOS clients find this book helpful, but women with PCOS will be well-armed to work with their doctors, dieticians, reproductive endocrinologists, and gynecologists to fight the symptoms of PCOS and its related issues. "Although it's a little technical," Ms. Grassi said, "I think it is a great resource for all women with PCOS."

Product Description
A much needed book for any health care provider, as well as women with PCOS themselves! It is estimated that 10% of the female population has PCOS. Lifestyle modification of diet and exercise has been established as the preferred method of treatment. Dietitians and other health care professionals, because of their unique role in developing long-term relationships with their patients, may be the first to recognize the syndrome. This book, the first of its kind, will give dietitians and individuals the necessary knowledge and training to effectively treat PCOS.

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Review of The Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook (Paperback)

To reply to the review below--you are correct, this cookbook is not for gourmet cooks. The majority of Americans eat fast foods and convenience foods. To make the leap to cooking regular balanced meals of real food can be discouraging if you feel you don't have time to cook or don't like tocook. The Schwarzbein cookbooks were carefully designed so that they wouldnot be intimidating to the average person who is not interested inpreparing complicated meals--the recipes are easy, quick, delicious andbalanced.

Product Description
Renowned physician Schwarzbein teams up with professional chef Evelyn Jacob Jaffe to whip up 300 delicious, healing recipes, proving that eating the Schwarzbein way doesn't have to be difficult, boring, or fat-free. Includes easy-to-follow directions and nutritional breakdowns.

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Review of C'MON AMERICA, LET'S EAT!: Susan's Favorite Low-Fat Recipes To Fit Your Lifestyle (Plastic Comb)

I just purchased my second copy of this book.I lent it to a friend and now I can't get it back!!The recipes in this book are delicious, easy, and will appeal to the entire family.This is the type of cookbook that you can actually use every day--not just for one or two recipes.Also, Susan teaches you how to cut out a lot of fat from your own recipes.I now use fat free chicken broth all the time. A definite must have for anyone who is watching their weight or who wants to cut out fat without cutting out flavor.

Product Description

Hey, Susan:
* WHAT CAN I EAT?
* HOW DO I LOSE WEIGHT?
* HOW DO I COOK LOW FAT?
* WHAT SHOULD I FEED THE KIDS?
These are the questions that Susan answers here with fast, delicious, low-fat, great-tasting, all-American recipes.
C'mon America, Let's Eat! is Susan's solution to your questions about lower-fat living. Here are more than 150 fabulous-tasting, wholesome, and healthy all-American food favorites that everyone will love, from burgers, pizzas, and fries to apple pie and chocolate sauce....
Easy menu planning and great suggestions from Susan make your meals
great tasting
fun for the kids
perfectly romantic
fancy schmancy
and a leftovers lover's dream....
This book is essential for your kitchen. For you, the kids, and that meat-and-potatoes guy, Susan says...C'mon America, Let's Eat!

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Review of Play Your Carbs Right!...With The Brennans (Paperback)

The book "Play Your Carbs Right!" by the Brennan's is an easy plan to help you get skinny and enjoy yourself in the process!
Recent studies have shown that many Americans have "dieted" themselves into obesity and poor health. By eating low fat we have filled our food with chemicals and sugar that create havoc in our bodies. By counting calories we have slowed our metabolism and can't maintain any weight loss.
The key according to the Brennan's is the amount ofcarbohydrates you consume. A diet rich in protein with moderate amounts of carbs added will trigger satisfaction and help curb temptation.
Eating a lower carb diet is not new. There are a number of books on the market that espouse the low carb lifestyle. However, many of them are so scientific they are hard to understand. Others lay out plans that have you severely restrict carbs from your diet. Strict low carb diets are hard to stay with over the long haul.
That's where the Brennan's book differs. Their book, "Play Your Carbs Right" offers a kind, gentle, low carb eating plan that you can commit to for life!
I first learned about the Brennan's when I came across the books "Sugar Bust For Life! with the Brennans" and "Sugar Bust for Life! with the Brennans Part II" at a book store. I love the books!
They are chocka'block with great recipes, wine lists,tips and more on following a low sugar, healthy diet.So when I learned they had recently released another book, "Play Your Carbs Right", I decided to pick up a copy.
As I read through the book something "clicked" for me. Over the past years I have read a number of different diet books that teach the low carb lifestyle. (I had already tried and failed at calorie counting and eating low fat) Despite trying some of the plans I couldn't stick to them. Either too complicated, too strict, or just plain boring. But "Play Your Carbs Right!"spelled out in simple terms what I had to do to accomplish my weight loss goal. AND IN AN ENJOYABLE WAY THAT I COULD STICK TO FOR LIFE!
It absolutely simplifies low carb dieting. It explains in easy terms why low carb dieting is an effective weight loss method. It teaches you how to figure out your personal carb intake to lose and maintain your weight. It lists daily menus for several weeks, snack ideas, and a handy mini carb counter. I started losing right away!
The book also includes a ton of delicious low carb recipes.
The Brennan's own the well known Brennan's restaurant in New Orleans. The recipes in "Play Your Carbs Right" are based on their many years of working in the food industry. These are recipes for folks who love to eat and want delicious meals that satisfy.
Unfortunately many low carb diet books contain alot of awful dishes. (I hate to think of the times I have wasted food as low carb recipes I made came out inedible.)
The Brennan's book is an exception. I have tried a number of the recipes and they are great! There are a variety of recipes including: Appetizers, Sauces, Soups, Stocks, Salads, Salad Dressings, Mayonnaise, Omelettes, Frittatas and Quiches, Entrees, Side Dishes or Vegetarian's Fare, and Desserts and Dessert Beverages.
Some of my favorites include Classic Buffalo Wings, Asparagus Bisque, Green Bean Salad, Creamed Lemon Chicken with Asparagus, Ellen's Crabmeat Salad, Pecan Crust and Italian Shrimp.
The recipes are not only delicious but they are easy to make and call for ingredients that are easy to find! Each recipe also includes carb counts per serving.
It's my personal belief that more and more folks will realize that weight loss does not have to involve starvation diets or over analyzing the nutrients you eat. The key is simply to be smart about carbs.
If you watch the carbs you eat, you can eat delicious, filling meals and snacks. By making smart carb choices you will lose weight quickly, without hunger and become healthier.
"Play Your Carbs Right!" is a great guide to help you get healthy and lose weight! You can accomplish your goals!

Product Description
GET SKINNY - EASY WEIGHT LOSS - SATISFYING AND DELICIOUS
Surrounded by a myriad of dining opportunities and impassioned by their sheer love of food, Ellen and Ted Brennan of Brennan's Restaurant in New Orleans understand the challenge of weight control confronting all food lovers. They have learned to adjust their eating habits the low carb way while maintaining their good health. The Brennans have done so, first, with a simple formula for counting carbs and losing weight. Next, they have incorporated a complete understanding of carbohydrates with easy recipes that create scrumptious, satisfying meals.
Eating a low carb diet is not new. What is new is that medical researchers now recognize that losing weight the low carb way is not unheathy - quite the contrary! There are numerous diets and diet books on the market that espouse the low carb lifestyle. However, many of them are so scientific they are difficult to understand. Some diets severely restrict carbs from your diet. Strict low carb diets are unrealistic to maintain over the long haul.
Unlike many low carb diets, Play Your Carbs Right! offers an approach which forgives the occasional splurge. In other words, "falling off the wagon" is no reason to quit. You can still lose weight!
Play Your Carbs Right! is a realistic method for losing weight. The Brennans will help you understand and simplify your low carbohydrate approach to weight loss and good health with an easy weight loss formula and simply, delicious recipes that complement a low carb lifestyle. These recipes are not only satisfying and delicious, but they are easy to make and call for ingredients that are easy to find. Most importantly, each recipe also includes the carb count per serving - making these very same recipes acceptable on other low carb diets as well.
Ellen and Ted Brennan will teach you how to count your carbs, eat healthily and lose weight. The Brennans will lead you down the low carb path as they began it over thirty years ago. They will teach you how to lose weight and keep it off while sharing the numerous, delicious and satisfying choices available when you Play Your Carbs Right!...With The Brennans.

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Review of The Healthiest Diet in the World (Paperback)

For 47 of my 57 years I have struggled with beingoverweight. I read about "The Healthiest Diet In The World" in the vegetarian times mag. I got the book and went on their very easy to follow program not tolose weight but for the health of it and so far I have lost 17 pounds. Thetips about combining a protein with a carbo has really changed my life. Forthe first time I do not crave sweets and I am eating more than I did when Iwas on a DIET.The recipies are great! I love tofu and they really havesome great recipies using it. I don't know how to begin to thank theauthors of this book. I have recomended the program to everyone I know andwhen people mention my weight loss I always give them the name of the book.



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