Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Being Vegetarian (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this book a year ago when I was thinking about becoming a vegetarian. A year later I'm still a ovo-lacto vegetarian (the book goes over the differences), and about to cut out all egg products. I've also lost all the weight I've gained since high school (18 pounds) just from nixing the meat.
This is the first book I bought on being vegetarian and it has proved to be invaluable. I don't think I could have stuck with the change in diet if I had not read this book.
Ms. Wolfe does a great job covering everything you could want to know about going vegetarian, or just eating healthier! Knowing what to expect from my body as far as cravings and how to continue to get enough protein were incredibly helpful.
There is also a great chapter about eating out!
I would strongly recommend this to anyone who wants to go vegetarian or just cut back on meat. The book is easy to read and follow- perfect for anyone!

This book taught me so much about being a vegetarian! and I've been a ovo-lacto-pescatarian for six years (Frankie's book taught me that). I consider this book an invaluable text for the person considering becoming a vegetarian or anyone who is interested in learning more about the food that they DO eat - meat, dairy, fish, or vegetable.

For the aspiring vegetarian there is a great 12 step guide that is "idiot proof". The chapter on diet related to the heart and cholesterol and the chapter on weight loss were two of the best written and informative pieces on these subjects that I have ever read. Frankie makes the information clear and informative without being too technical. She shows cause and effect from food to physiology and how to choose food to effect your body in the way you want.

Once again, I feel this book is must reading for anyone who thinks about the food that they put into their body. Reading this will give you the good, the bad and the ugly about all types of food, letting YOU make the choice on what you eat.

Keep up the great work Frankie! and keep your great books coming!

I picked this book up because I was thinking about moving from no red meat to ovo-lacto vegetarianism. While a good deal of interesting and pertinent information is presented in this book, I had a problem with the way the author wove her belief in various alternative practices, such as food combining and herbal supplementation, throughout the book. I'm interested in going vegetarian for environmental reasons, and I'm not as interested in holistic/alternative approaches to nutrition.

I found it distracting to have to wade through references to be sure to eat fruit by itself in the morning and to slow cook grains (by adding boiling water to grains in a thermos and leaving overnight) to preserve their enzymes and life. I don't think this book really lives up to the "complete idiot's" part of the title. Maybe if it was "complete new age idiot's."

Wow, this book is truly amazing! Frankie Wolfe is such a gifted, clever writer who makes it easy to understand! I never knew how unhealthy I was until I read her book! I have done so much to change the way I eat now & have lost SO much weight from learning everything.

You DO NOT have to be just a vegetarian to read this book. Im not & I still learned a whole bunch. Its wonderful, reccommend it to anyone who wants to be a healthy person!!

I fully support my daughter's becoming a vegetarian because there are a lot of good reasons for doing so. You don't have to make up reasons like this author has. I was a fan of this book series until I read parts of this book. Apparently the publishers will publish anything that will make money, and they don't bother to check the facts. This book is riddled with distortions and untruths. The author seems to think that enzymes are living organisms. She compares the human skull with that of a lion to argue her point that humans aren't suited to eating meat. She says that our molars that are meant for grinding plant tissue but fails to mention that we have incisors for tearing into meat. Students learn around 3rd grade that while a lion's teeth are suited for a carnivore and a cow's for a herbivore, humans have teeth for both plants and meat and that makes us a versatile omnivore. The author seems to think that the reader is truly an idiot: "Gee, I've been able to chew meat all of my life, but this author says I shouldn't be able to, so I'll stop eating meat." Much of this book is just new-age propaganda designed to convince readers at the expense of the truth that they should become vegetarians. Shame on the Idiot's Guide series for publishing such crap!

Unfortunatley, this is a bad book. The first editon was much better. Wolfe wants us to take her views seriously, but we can't because she comes across as a writer who does not have the knowledge to separate science from her own personal unfounded views. I cannot tell if this is supposed be a new-age philosphy book or a scientifically founded manual to help someone be a vegetarian. Wolfe has done vegetarianism a diservice in this book.

There's a wealth of fabulous information in this book, on subjects such as factory farming, how to maintain a vegetarian diet while traveling, how to raise vegetarian kids and have a healthy vegetarian pregnancy, all of the different types of vitamins, minerals, and other things that make up our food, sample international vegetarian menus (such as African [as unspecific as that category is, since there are lots of cuisines in the continent], Italian, and Greek), how to handle your new diet at work, and rebuttals of myths about vegetarianism. Since everyone becomes vegetarian (at whichever level) for different reasons, obviously different sections of the book will be more compelling and relevant to different people. For example, one who was told by one's doctor to stop eating meat will likely be more interested in the chapters on the health benefits, and one who is an animal-lover will more appreciate the chapters on just what really goes on inside the modern farming industry and in other facets of animal exploitation. All in all, there's a lot to soak up here.

However, I would have to agree that there are a fair amount of mixed messages and borderline preachiness too. I also ascribe to a number of New Age views, but even I found some of them irrelevant in a book about vegetarianism (such as the chapters on holistic health and alternate dieting and cleansing methods) and somewhat hard to swallow. While it might be true that not eating meat or other animal products slows down puberty, am I really supposed to believe that it can be put off till as late as age 21 and that it's better and more natural to go through one's entire teenage years without menstruating, starting to develop an adult body, and devoid of hormones? At times it seems like she's unsure of her audience; is it for health nuts, those into New Age and holistic dietary practices, regular vegetarians who still eat dairy and eggs, strict vegetarians and vegans who are cutting out all animal products, or those who eat fish or some meat yet still consider themselves vegetarians of a sort? A lot of the stuff she says about developing a new diet, going shopping, dining out, etc., seems really geared towards those who are giving up just about all animal products, the way she talks to the reader as though s/he'll need to be things like buying egg replacements and soy milk. I myself am experimenting with and slowly transitioning towards veganism, or at least strict vegetarianism, but if I were only interested in the more common lacto ovo vegetarianism, I wouldn't have appreciated a lot of this book as much. There's even a chapter on fish-eating, half of which covers the benefits of eating fish; there are also sections on how to choose one's meat if one still eats it, as well as earlier claiming that some types of vegetarians still eat meat. That's like saying you're a little pregnant! (She also actually tells the reader about making up a shopping list, as though you were so stupid that you didn't know about such a concept, particularly when it comes to starting a new diet.)

And while I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that her heart was in the right place, Ms. Wolfe does come across as borderline preachy in a number of spots, like claiming that all of your health woes will be solved the moment you stop eating meat and all major animal products, that the reason you have bad body odor, stomach aches, headaches, dry skin, and low energy is all because you're eating animal products. And even though she does stress that these changes don't happen overnight but gradually, she does seem to have a lot of scare tactics, as though one's gradual pacing of a change in diet won't be good or healthy enough until one is a strict vegetarian, and not only that, but eating 99% whole organic uncooked unprocessed foods. Somehow I don't think I'm going to be on the road to a heart attack or stroke because I'm not about to give up bread and crackers made from white flour and anything that's not in its pure organic state. I'm also not that interested in brushing my skin every day. Again, these things seem geared more towards the health nut and not for the average run of the mill lacto ovo vegetarian.

In spite of the flaws, though, the book's in-depth and thought-provoking information does override the negative attributes. When the core material is strong enough, the less than great attributes can usually be overlooked or excused to a point. It seems to me more like Ms. Wolfe is so passionate about and carried away by her version of the vegetarian lifestyle than being deliberately holier than thou.

Or maybe you just need a little back-up material for all those questions you get when friends and family find out you've gone.

THIS is the book for you! The answers are here. Find out great facts like - just how long does it take the human body to digest meat? (too long...it actually starts to rot in your gut) Why should you be concerned with how cows are treated on a dairy farm? (because the hormones they pump into the cows to keep them lactating could be effecting your own hormones! And that's just one reason!)

This book solidified my choice and has got me thinking of going Vegan. Don't know the difference? This book will explain that and SO MUCH MORE!

Definitely one of the best Vegetarian information books I've read so far. A MUST for every Vegetarian and anyone considering going vegetarian.

I have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for a few years now and was thrilled to receive this book as a present. It clearly explains reasons for going vegetarian, degrees of vegetarianism (ie pescatarians or pesco vegetarians eat fish, but other than that consume a plant-based diet), how to eat healthily, and provides witty information throughout the entire book. It's been a great source to me and I always recommend it to people who have questions about vegetarianism. I do not find it to be preachy. I just think it provides thorough information. It's simply a great source!

I saw this book in Boarders Express. I went to a vegan cooking class this summer. It was all good but I wanted to know more info on reasons to go vegan. I read this book and it gave me good reasons. There is enviromental, health and humane reasons. I mostly went for health becuase I can't belive meat producers would put hormones in their animals. Maybe thats why many women this day I suffering from PMS! And I don't like the fact that its takes a long time to digest meat. And drinking cows milk IS for baby cows only! Our bodies are only desiged to drink human milk. And the way the environment is being polluted from factory farming. They give all the water and food to make meat when we could be using all the grain and water to feed for starving children! Plus since the U.S. eats alot of meat and not alot of veggies, we are walking fatties! Only 2% of vegetarians are overweight while meat eaters are 60% over weight. And all those hormones they put in milk and meat. Maybe thats why girls as young as eight are starting puberty! I pledge to go vegan from this day.