SuperFoods Rx : Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life

Rating:
Summary: Great Book--Hope there's a sequel
Review: Why can't a well researched, practical, common sense approach to food like this become the latest fad diet instead of the low fat, low carb diets that deprive people of much needed nutrition. (Yes, humans need FAT and CARBS!) My advice to anyone who begins this way of eating is to start by substituting some of the less nutritious foods you eat with some of the Super Foods that the author recommenends. This substituting should be fairly painless (EX: eat low fat frozen yogurt when you have an ice cream craving, put extra vegetables and less processed meats on your pizza, add some berries to your morning cereal, tea instead of coffee, etc). By starting slowly, one is less likely to feel overwhelmed by trying to eat everything that the author suggests one should eat on a daily basis. My only complaints about this book relate to what the book doesn't have rather than anything it does. First, the book needs simple everyday recipes and suggestions for how to get the super foods into one's diet. The books does a good job of telling the reader what to eat for breakfast but I wished there had been more realistic menu suggestions for most of us who have minimal time to prepare lunch and dinner. And what about suggestions for meals that can be made ahead of time for leftovers and meals that can be frozen for later use? This plan will not be successful for most unless the reader can develop his own menu and recipes that fits his lifestyle. The other option is to eat out a lot but for most this will impact one's budget. And it may be hard to find these superfoods (especially whole grains) on many restaurant menus. My only other wish is that the book gave a greater discussion of why certain culture's diets seem to be healthier than others. The author mentions the "French Paradox" but his book seems to suggest that just drinking red wine may not help your health if one continues to eat unhealthy foods. To the surprise of some, red wine is not even considered one of the author's super foods. Is there something else in the French diet that is helping the French (cheese, more vegetables, less beef) because the French are certinaly eating their share of saturated fats and processed flour???? These wishes may go well beyond the author's intentions for this book but perhaps he can address these in future writings. All in all this book is highly recommended as a replacement for all of the "fad" diet books out there!