Julieanna Hever

The complete idiot's guide to plant-based nutrition by Julieanna Hever has been a life changer for me. In this book Julieanna explains the benefits of an unrefined, unprocessed, plant-based diet, she gives advice how to bring this in practice and shares recipes that set you on your way to a better diet.

In the past I've read books like Becoming Vegan, Becoming Raw, The China Study and Turn off the fat genes. They are good books and I learned quite a bit from them, but they never had a big show more impact on my life. They made me try better for a few days and then I went back to my old ways. The complete idiot's guide to plant-based nutrition did make an impact. I've found this book easy to comprehend and it came at the right time in my life.

I have GI problems, I gain weight from looking at food and I'm a compulsive eater. These problems have been escalating the last few years. While reading this book I had the worst bout of abdominal pain I've ever had and the message got through (from my abdomen and from the author). I needed to change my diet because my diet at the time was toxic to me (my diet was mostly plant-based with sweet, salty and fatty food added during my cravings). I put into practice the advice given in the book and it's been easier than expected! My cravings and my GI problems are much less, I lost 3kg in two weeks and finally I believe in myself that I can make this work. I still have eaten some bad foods and to much a few times but my body gives an almost immediate return of the GI problems which gives me resolve to continue following this diet. Where other diets only increased my problems, this one finally works!

Eat to live, not live to eat. show less

DK has published a very scientific view of following a plant-based diet, and outlines all of the benefits and nutritional information associated. Though the book was very thorough and full of facts, the eARC was lacking in the magnificent photographs and other illustrations for which DK is famous.

I liked the chapter ‘Controversies Clarified,’ which explained commonly held beliefs about excluding animal products from your diet, and the ‘Finding Hidden Ingredients’ section, which helps show more identify what does and does not contain animal products.

Also includes chapters on supplements, fitness, plant-based pregnancy, raising children, feeding seniors nutritionally, meat replacements and a few recipes.

A great, factual, unemotional reference for following a plant based diet.

*eARC Netgalley* show less

Full disclosure, I generally dont read intros in cookbooks anymore so I cant speak to any of that. I found some technical oddities within one recipe that basically said soak a bun in water then there was no direction on what to do with it again. If I remember correctly, it was for falafel, which I've made many times (from other recipes not in this particular book), yet I have no idea what the bun was used for. After going through all the recipes, I only found two that felt different enough show more to try. Kind of disappointing as I was looking forward to learning something new. show less