Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is so much more than a simple raw food cookbook or commentary on raw food diets. I was surprised at the amount of information packed into this book. It has all sorts of nutritional information and easy to read tables on just about anything you can imagine relating to this way of eating. Here are just a few titles of the tables included: Research summary of the effects of cooking on phytochemicals, Calories, protein, fat, carbohydrate and water in raw food (6 pages long), Fatty acid composition of selected foods, Vitamins in raw foods, Minerals in raw foods, Vitamins A,C,E,K, and D: adult dietary reference intakes and intakes on raw and high-raw diets. And those are just a few. I like tables because I can get information at a glance and compare different values so this is really a good book for me.
You don't have to be a total raw food convert to enjoy this book. Even if you're just thinking about adding more healthful raw foods to your diet, I think you'll find this book as useful as I have. It starts out with a history of the raw food movement, gives lots of scientific evidence on why it can be a healthy way of eating, and then goes on to give all kinds of information, things you've probably never even thought about, on incorporating raw foods into your diet or going totally raw. It tells you what you need to know if you do decide to take the plunge, about getting all the nutrients you need.
There is a small section with raw food recipes and another section with full meal menus which I found especially helpful. I'm not looking (yet) to totally adopt this kind of diet but I would like to add a lot more raw food to our everyday meals. The recipes are pretty easy and there are a good variety. A few that I've tried and enjoyed are: Caesar's Better Salad, Warm Red Cabbage Salad, Morocc-Un-Butter and Marvelous Muesli. There's also a section on handling raw food safely and another on food enzymes. It's all easy to read and understand.
There's a large reference section, a glossary and an index. To me, this is important because I want to know the science or studies behind statements, not just take the author at his word. This is a high quality book, probably the best I've found on this subject.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets
This book contains a wealth of information on the raw food lifestyle. Nutrition experts Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina once again provide the essential information needed to safely embrace a new dietary lifestyle. As they did for vegetarians and vegans in Becoming Vegetarian and Becoming Vegan, they present the first authoritative look at the science behind raw foods. And both old converts to raw foods and new recruits alike will be fascinated with food historian Rynn Berry's presentation of the first narrative history of the rawfoods movement in the United States. More people are jumping onto the raw foods bandwagon either to lose weight, fight chronic health problems, or simply to benefit from the high level of nutrients found in uncooked or sprouted foods. Readers will find science-based answers to tough questions about raw foods and raw diets, easy-to-follow nutritional guidelines, and practical information on how to construct a raw diet that meets recommended nutrient intakes simply and easily. A section of over forty-five recipes provides dishes for any time of day and every occasion. Nutritional analyses are given for each recipe. Also included is a section on what foods and equipment are needed to get started and what raw food preparation basics are good to master. This book is a major contribution to the raw foods movement.
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