Low Carb Slow Cooker Recipes

Rating:
Summary: A Misguided Low-Carb Approach!
Review: All the reviewers who have been aghast at the carb counts in this cookbook are correctly perceiving that much of this fare is hardly low-carb. However, rather than being just a "regular" cookbook with "Low-Carb" in the title to take advantage of the low-carb bandwagon, a close reading of the Introduction shows rather that this is one of those unfortunate - and unsound - attempts to incorporate the health advantages of severely cutting back carbs with the bankrupt principles of the old "food pyramid" diet (such as: saturated fat is bad for you, complex carbohydrates don't spike insulin, too much protein damages your kidneys, the cholesterol you eat becomes the cholesterol stuck to your arteries, etc.). These mantras have been repeated so often, even by professionals, that repudiating them sounds counter-intuitive. So this school of thought tries to mush everything together into a watered-down approach that doesn't violate the former principles while it attempts to incorporate the new principles.

I think that as the low-carb dietary approach moves further out into the mainstream, we will see more and more of this ill-conceived effort to keep a foot on both roads. New or inexperienced dieters will be lured by this ersatz approach and won't see the pitfalls. Their blood profiles won't dramatically improve, their energy levels won't soar, and their weight loss will be ho-hum at best. They'll think the low-carb revolution was a lie.

It would be good if knowledgeable low-carb dieters protested this misguided approach every time they encounter it, and if they truly understand the principles that made the old high-carb/low-fat diet pose hidden dangers to the health of its devotees. In this case, letters to the cookbook editors might be a good place to start.

Rating:
Summary: So-so recipes
Review: I bought this book to get some variety in my slow-cooker recipe collection, not because I am on a low-carb diet. So I've made some of the recipes, and they're not terrible, but they aren't great, either. Although the book does avoid the typical "add a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup" for the most part, which is a nice change, nearly all the recipes still call for some kind of starch to make the sauce thick: tapioca, cornstarch, flour. If you don't want every meal to be covered with a thick, jellied sauce, don't make these recipes! A good cook will be able to adapt them, but I wish I'd saved my money.

Rating:
Summary: High Carb slow Cooker Recipes
Review: I only paid $4.50 for this book at a discount bookseller. I think I paid too much.

Rating:
Summary: Low-carb isn't all about losing weight!
Review: I think this cookbook is great...is it for Phase 1 folks on South Beach or Atkins Induction people? No, but there's more to low-carb than just the first two weeks of the program.

For those of us who have been off of the "20 carbs a day" thing for many months and on low-carb maintenance, it's refreshing to find new recipes to fix. As anyone who has been on a low-carb diet for an extended period of time can tell you, life can get mighty boring and spicing up the way we fix food is always a good idea.

I also liked how many veggies are in the recipes to once show again that low-carb isn't all about how much meat and fat you can stick into a recipe. For the people who are up to 60-100 carbs a day, this is a great cookbook with easy recipes that don't take forever and are full of flavor.

If you're losing weight the low-carb way this isn't the book for you...but then again, the title of the book isn't Induction Slow Cooker Recipes.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I was quite disappointed with this book. I had been looking for a book like this so when I saw it, I grabbed it up. Most of the recipes are not what I would consider low-carb at all. There were a lot of starchy foods listed in the ingredients of the recipes I browsed through. Too bad I didn't keep my receipt, I could return the book.

Rating:
Summary: No "low carb" here!
Review: I wish I'd seen the other review before I ordered this book. It's a low carber's nightmare! Many recipes are for "side" dishes, and not made in the crock pot, and I do not believe that the (high) carb counts on the recipes are even accurate. Sure, I could keep this and try to modify the recipes to fit my diet-but what's the point?! If you are watching your carb intake for whatever reason-AVOID THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: Low Carb? No way! Its BOGUS....
Review: I wonder whose idea of low carb this is? Almost all of the recipes include items that are not allowed on any low carb plan...like potatoes, and all purpose flour. If you want a low carb cookbook, this is NOT it! If you are trying to follow Atkins, Protein Power, South Beach, or Sugarbusters, stay away from this one! I would have given it ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH stars if it would let me!

Rating:
Summary: Not for Atkins dieters
Review: I've just received my copy of BH&G's Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes, and I'm going to return it tomorrow, so I can't judge it by the recipes. They may be excellent for all I know; I'm giving it 2 stars since I'll never know. But I can't understand the "low carb" part of the title. Is 39g a serving low carb? Certainly not for Atkins users. Just glancing through the book, there are a few recipes with under 10 carbs (and it's tricky to go by the carb numbers on the top because they haven't subtracted the fiber), but most seem to be in the 20-40 range, which is very high for someone losing weight the Atkins way. Ingredients call for cream of celery soup (an Atkins no-no), kidney or pinto beans (ditto), and whole wheat pasta (needless to say). This may be a great book for people not trying to lose weight (at least with Atkins), or for people simply looking for a variety of slow-cooker recipes, but I'm disappointed. It's not for me or anyone who has found success with Atkins. I strongly recommend Dana Carpender's "500 Low-Carb Recipes", and "The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook" by Michael & Mary Eades, both of which include a few slow cooker recipes, using much more reasonable ingredients and with truly excellent results.

Rating:
Summary: Not for Atkins dieters
Review: I've just received my copy of BH&G's Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes, and I'm going to return it tomorrow, so I can't judge it by the recipes. They may be excellent for all I know; I'm giving it 2 stars since I'll never know. But I can't understand the "low carb" part of the title. Is 39g a serving low carb? Certainly not for Atkins users. Just glancing through the book, there are a few recipes with under 10 carbs (and it's tricky to go by the carb numbers on the top because they haven't subtracted the fiber), but most seem to be in the 20-40 range, which is very high for someone losing weight the Atkins way. Ingredients call for cream of celery soup (an Atkins no-no), kidney or pinto beans (ditto), and whole wheat pasta (needless to say). This may be a great book for people not trying to lose weight (at least with Atkins), or for people simply looking for a variety of slow-cooker recipes, but I'm disappointed. It's not for me or anyone who has found success with Atkins. I strongly recommend Dana Carpender's "500 Low-Carb Recipes", and "The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook" by Michael & Mary Eades, both of which include a few slow cooker recipes, using much more reasonable ingredients and with truly excellent results.

Rating:
Summary: The only thing low-carb about this book is the title.
Review: My wife and I grabbed this book when we saw it at a local bookstore. We bought it, started reading it in the car and immediately took it back in for a refund - it's basically a normal slow-cooker book with a slapped-on cover to jump on the low-carb bandwagon.

Our first read-thru of the book turned up several recipes with more than 40g of carbs "per serving" (and you know how skimpy these so-called "serving sizes" are, so you might as well double that number) other recipes called for more potatoes than protein (one recipe for a chicken stew called for 12oz of chicken "to serve 6-8 people." Wow. A whole 1.5 oz of chicken each? How generous!)