Rating: 
Summary: FANTASTIC book
Review: I just finished reading "12 Steps to Raw Food" and I was compelled to tell others that I thought it was a FANTASTIC book. Victoria, you have spoken to a very deep part of me. I think this book will help me in many ways.
Rating: 
Summary: BeforeI ever read the book...
Review: I ran track 9 years, from junior high to college, studied martial arts, boxed and kickboxed. Before I ever read the book these are some of the things I experienced directly.I was better off eating junkfood and exercising than eating healthly and not excerising at all. Physical exertion should go hand with hand with eating right. When training I ate primarily raw fruits and veggies, supplemented with proteins shakes and plain tuna. Since I was training I was also working out 4-6 hours a day. I was sleeping 5 hours a day and was completely rested. I'd workout 8-2, go to work 4-midnight and had energy every step of the way. As I grew older I noticed it was to my benefit to eat less. I went off my diet after 6 months to "treat myself." I had a McDonalds value meal with a shake. I was bed ridden for 4 days. Also, after eating primarily raw for that length of time, I went to my parent's and had deep-fried catfish dinner. I could not digest the oil. It came out in my stool totally un-digested. Since I studied martial arts I also practiced chi kung and meditated, so I was acutely aware of how my body reacted to things. Though subjective I realized it took several days... almost a week for meat to leave my body. In that time, I noticed my body responding as if I was poisoned. I did some research and found that because the meat is not digested right away, it has time to rot in your body and the body interprets the by-products as toxic. I learned that lions, tigers etc., animals that eat meat, have very short digestive tracts. The meat goes in and out in about a day, 24 hours. Humans and animals like rabbits have very long tracts. Rabbits are vegetarians of course so it made sense that humans should at the very least be eating raw foods for the majority of their diet. As far as the type of cooking that my body responded to best, it was steamed. Overly cooked or fried foods appear to be highly toxic. All this I learned before I ever heard of the book. So despite the book's subjective nature, my personal experience supports a large majority of it.
Rating: 
Summary: No, no, no....
Review: I rated this book 3 stars because I actually did like it in spite of the awful writing and weak content. If you're college educated or have ever had a chemistry or nutrition class in your life you are not going to be able to accept a lot of the silly things the author writes, like strange wives tales or something wrongly presented as fact. But otherwise, I found this book very encouraging in the quest for a healthier and raw diet.
Rating:
Summary: I re-read your book for the 4th time!
Review: I want everyone to know how much of a difference Victoria's books have made in my life. It was like I had a light bulb go on for the first time.
Victoria, You are my inspiration! I just re-read both of your books last night for the 4th time. I just re-read for knowledge and inspiration. You are my answer to prayer. I dream of meeting you someday and coming to one of your classes. I will buy every book you write and may God continue to bless you.
Rating:
Summary: impressive
Review: I was impressed by so much sound advise and logical thinking. The author writes in a very convincing way about the raw food 'diet'. I should try it for myself.
Rating: 
Summary: Yet Another Twelve Step Rehash
Review: I was sad to see that this book is based for the most part on pseudoscience and outmoded models of addiction and recovery, because I admired the enthusiasm of the author for the raw lifestyle.
In the first part of the book, she presents a number of personal experiences with the raw lifestyle, which I enjoyed. However, she mixes in various factoids that seem like they come out of nowhere. In one chapter, she presents a table showing the importance of being 100% raw because of various food absorption values. She says the table isn't scientific but is true anyway. How are we to know that? In another chapter, she claims that the person eating cooked food will have their lungs fill up 2/3 of the way with mucus and then the mucus will go under the skin and out the pores. I challenge her or anyone else to prove that this happens, this is really nonsense and, unfortunately, perpetuates some of the pseudoscience around raw foods.
The second part of the book is worse yet, as Boutenko presents eating cooked foods as an addiction which the raw foodist may fall back into should they not be 100% raw. She even states that if she were hospitalized for something and had to eat cooked food that the result would be horrible because she would presumably fall back into the cooked food addiction. To counter this, she offers yet another version of the tired old 12 step program of AA (which is more and more being replaced with "rational"-based programs in the field of addiction). This is not to say that some of the suggestions don't have merit, but I find the whole thing really hard to swallow.
My opinion is that if you are looking for unsubstantiated pseudoscience or want to believe you have yet another addiction or want to start yet another 12 step program, this book might be for you. If, however, you just want to eat raw, whether 50% or 100%, buy some good raw recipe books and have at it... If you want some technical background or motivation go to some of the raw web sites or check your local health food store to see if there is a raw group in your area. Life is too short to have yet another addiction or to be worrying if that roasted peanut you ate at work has make you less that 100% pure raw and endangered your eating habits. Relax, enjoy. Isn't that a big part of what food and eating is about?
Rating:
Summary: You too can be healthy
Review: I was surprised to find such dificulty in increasing raw food in my diet. This book was inspiring and very useful as well. It is my first raw food book and attempt to change from a vegetarian diet. I can go up to three days now (after two weeks) and feel better mentally and physically already. I refer to the text often.
Rating:
Summary: A WONDERFUL STARTER BOOK!
Review: I wish I had known about this book when I was first starting on raw food. It has everything a person needs to know to get started. There are many great tips and examples. The author makes a very good point about needing to build support for yourself and your choices.
Rating:
Summary: I gained "clarity" just by reading this book!
Review: I would like to tell everyone how much I really appreciate this book. I recommend it to everyone who even suggests a slight interest in living raw. I think, Victoria, you are "right on" when you say that eating cooked foods is an addiction. I never really got a full grasp of the body's cycle as it adapts to eating cooked food the way you describe. You've given me "clarity" just by reading this book!
I don't believe that sticking to raw food living is possible without following a 12-Step program, and would feel like I was misleading people, getting them all excited, just to be let down, as Victoria describes in her book. I've gone through it myself several times. The first time I actually stuck to raw food for a full year. Since then, it hasn't exceeded a month. I believe this book gives me the proper tools to teach it and live it. Also, Victoria Boutenko's reasoning for living raw exceeds any other book I've read,
Rating:
Summary: I gained "clarity" just by reading this book!
Review: I would like to tell everyone how much I really appreciate this book. I recommend it to everyone who even suggests a slight interest in living raw. I think, Victoria, you are "right on" when you say that eating cooked foods is an addiction. I never really got a full grasp of the body's cycle as it adapts to eating cooked food the way you describe. You've given me "clarity" just by reading this book!
I don't believe that sticking to raw food living is possible without following a 12-Step program, and would feel like I was misleading people, getting them all excited, just to be let down, as Victoria describes in her book. I've gone through it myself several times. The first time I actually stuck to raw food for a full year. Since then, it hasn't exceeded a month. I believe this book gives me the proper tools to teach it and live it. Also, Victoria Boutenko's reasoning for living raw exceeds any other book I've read,
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