Will Bulsiewicz

There is some useful information in this book, but the author's way of presenting it makes me want to scream. He is constantly gushing and his enthusiasm comes off as insincere. "I absolutely adore this category [flaxseed and chia seed]...!" Flip over two pages and he's now raving about "cruciferous vegetables and their super chemical sulforaphane", the plants he "love[s] the most".

And the cheerleading. "I'm building a fiber bandwagon. Who's coming with me? Invite your friends, Grab your show more family. Let's be loud and proud so they can hear us." (Loud and proud. One sentence later we're supposed to Eat The Rainbow. Mixed message?) The cheerleading goes on and on and ON. I just can't.

And the acronyms. FODMAPS and FGOALS and SCFA abound; also SAD which has a new meaning (most of the often-used acronyms, but not SCFA, are in the index). And the cutesy wordies. "Shrooms" and "veggies" . So very twee.

It's really hard to sift through this word salad to find any meaning, but I did get a few take-aways. In Chapter 4, the above mentioned EAT THE RAINBOW, he talks about Dr Rob Knight, whom he actually describes as a "god of gut health" (sort of like one of those chubby Buddhas, one assumes). Dr Knight's startling and useful finding, as presented at 2017's Digestive Disease Week in Chicago, was that "the single greatest predictor of a healthy gut microbiome is the diversity of plants" in the diet. And he quantifies it. 30 different types of plant is a number to aim for. Another take-away from that chapter is that in a study (as the review from 2022 points out, the study is completely anonymous! but oh hey, if we want the citations we can type in the web address at the end of the chapter, how generous) ANYWAY, in "a study" consuming whole grains let to a strong anti-inflammatory effect. A third identifiable piece of useful advice is that leafy greens are nutrient dense, extremely high in fibre and low in calories, so that even if you are unprepared to do a complete diet change immediately, adding more of these to your meals is basically found healthiness (and if you use a variety of them, you're working towards those 30 plants).

My request to the library had been "a high fibre cookbook please", and sure enough by page 200 he's done with the unalloyed puffery and is ready to tell us about The Fiber Fueled Four Weeks that will make us "a plant-based rock star". Uh, thanks. The recipes don't read as being very good at all (I originally said "look", but there are no photos), and I gather he isn't expecting you to like them: he suggests picking out your five favourite dinner dishes out of the 28 and go from there, after you complete the month of gut boot camp. What I was hoping for was a cookbook with appetizing recipes, attractive pictures, and suggestions on how to increase the fibre content of what I already eat. show less

Significantly less annoying than its predecessor because the necessity for including lots of recipes leaves less space for padding with empty but enthusiastic rhetoric. We still hear too much about Dr. B's food "obsessions" and far too much about his alleged poor health as a medical student and intern eating every available junk food (I'm probably too skeptical about this guy's sincerity after reading page after nauseating page of his cheerleading and boosterism, sorry).

The cookbook itself show more has attractive pictures and many of the recipes look like they might be good. It's sort of hard to tell because of the absolutely aggravating layout which prevents the cook from scanning the ingredients and makes it difficult to plan. The usual cookbook layout lists ingredients in a column, and if the page is wide enough for two columns the second column may be devoted to the procedure. This cookbook is aggravating, to put it mildly. The space that would fit a single column of ingredients has TWO columns. Some pages have FOUR columns of ingredients and put the procedure on the following page! The reverse of the ingredients page! Each ingredient uses at least two or three lines, So hard to even read, cannot be scanned by eye. Electronic scanning and editing might be necessary to actually use the recipes without the mishaps occasioned by misreading, skipping ingredients, or even reading across columns and combining.

You know what, I'm taking off another half star for that.

Dr. B has a real vendetta against dairy. Everything fermented is good, but not dairy. No yogurt! No kefir! Or beer for that matter. It's mildly annoying. On the other hand, I give him credit for a realistic take on sourdough. Yes, pure whole-wheat sourdough really is too tough to chew. The recipe for sort-of-whole wheat sourdough bread looks quite good, and the directions for creating a sourdough starter from scratch look very practical with helpful hints.

The awkward format means I won't be buying this book; life's too short for the aggro. But I plan to check it out from the library again, if I don't find an easier to read high fibre cookbook. show less

Pales in comparison to Gregor's How Not to Die. Has some interesting information but neglects the more detailed 'why' for a lot of things which lessens the impact for me. Also, seems like the author has a bias against dairy (and alcohol) that lead to some hypocritical statements. Don't eliminate an entire category of food but eliminate all dairy. There are risks associated with fermented foods but we will be eating them in moderation so it's okay but all the potential benefits of dairy show more (which he discounts as propaganda) aren't worth the negatives (which are...?) so don't have any. Additionally, the meal plan strikes me as expensive, excessive, and unpractical. And I say this as someone already eating predominately whole foods and almost no dairy. show less

A book that can set you on the path to full vegan life. This doctor lays out a compelling case as to why fiber rules the day when it comes to correcting chronic digestive issues and building a lasting healthy biome.
I suspect few would follow the pretty drastic measures laid out here, but for those who do take on the challenge the rewards could be immeasurable.