Customer Reviews

The Carbohydrate Addict's No-Cravings Cookbook

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was a little reluctant to purchase yet another low carb cookbook when I happened upon this one while browsing. I picked it up, looked through it, put it back, moved on and came back to it later. Am I ever glad I did! This book is the best low carb cookbook that I've ever owned, bar none, and I own quite a selection. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the recipes are "new" (you won't find a single cheesecake recipe), and that the ingredients could be purchased in any local grocery store. The format is enjoyable to simply read, for those cookbook lovers like myself who can spend an evening reading recipes! All recipes I have tried thus far have been very good; I wouldn't think twice about making them for guests as well.

After reading all Drs. Heller's Carb Addicts books and having great success with their diet plans, I was hesitant to buy this cookbook because I'd not been too impressed with the recipes included in their previous books. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the No Cravings Cookbook...these recipes seem to have more variety and offer several international variations (whole sections of Japanese, Chinese & Italian dishes, plus individual recipes like Chicken Vindaloo and 7-Mile Beach Jerk Pork). They've branched out quite a bit from their first cookbook which had lots of repetitive ingredients & not much for adventurous palates, and I was thrilled to see that they've largely abandoned their prior obsession with teriyaki sauce! Recipes for more familiar comfort foods are here too, such as 60's Shepherds Pie and Smooth & Cheesy Crabmeat Casserole.

The first recipe I tried was "Chicken with Green Cheese"...sounds a bit odd from the title, but makes a delicious dish. Some have unusual ingredient combinations, but you have to get creative to keep things ultra low-carb, and if you try them with an open mind, you'll find they often work...case in point, Waldorf Lamb Salad which calls for lime juice! There are a few odd-sounding recipes which will be the last ones I'll try (for example, Vanilla Clouds - unsweetened egg whites beaten stiff with vanilla extract & fried in olive oil??). But by and large most sound tasty and should "hit the spot" for what you're craving. The best part: all the recipes are truly low-carb, with 6 grams TOTAL carbs per serving or less (NOT net/usable carbs, which subtracts fiber grams). So this book is perfect for those on non-"Carb Addict's" diets too, especially the induction phases, or for those who need to stick to a very low daily carb intake.

Another plus: no "fake" or hard-to-find low carb ingredients like Atkins bake mix, rice protein, or artificial sweeteners...these are all-natural, grocery store whole-foods, mostly glutamate-free, healthy recipes. (Therefore, really no dessert recipes to speak of - the closest thing is an unsweetened almond smoothie). Some recipes (maybe half) are high in fat, so if you're watching fat as well as carbs like I do, you may need to cut back on some amounts of oil, sour cream & cheese. All in all, a great ultra-low carb cookbook!

I recently started the South Beach diet so I was looking for some low/no card recipes. I wasn't too excited by the recipes in this book. Some offbeat stuff and stuff I would never eat. True, no sugar substitutes, but I like other low card recipe books I've gotten better. But heck, it was real cheap.