Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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162 of 173 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book for the experienced raw foodist, January 15, 2005
As a long time 100% vegan raw foodist, I was excited as always to see a new raw book! I was very impressed with the overall layout of the book. The forward by Nicholas J. Gonzalez, M.D. was fantastic. His description of the raw food lifestyle is very well researched and beautifully presented. This alone makes me delighted to have the book.
I tried four of the recipes, and they were all good. My favorite two were Kelly's Macadamia Whipped Cream and Kelly's Lemon Custard. I was impressed by how Carol believes in and defends the raw food lifestyle. I also liked her honesty about her popcorn slip ups. I love how down-to-earth she is. I also loved how she pointed out in her book that the raw food lifestyle is not a fad.
The first raw food restaurant opened in 1917 and stayed open until World War II. There are books on raw foods that date back to 1925, and I'm sure if I did even more research I would find books dating back even further. As Carol puts it in reference to the books and restaurant, "That's too long ago for this to be a fad." I think Carol is wonderful for the raw food movement. People admire her and respect her, so it can only help push the raw movement mainstream.
My concern with book is that she mentions eating raw meat and raw dairy. I agree that we are all different, but I have not seen any value or benefit from adding raw animal products to one's diet. I have seen fabulous results with the raw vegan lifestyle mixed with exercise. I culture all my foods and feel that this is vital to our health. Perhaps this is why Carol adds raw dairy to her diet. It is quite simple to culture seeds, nuts, and coconuts and reap amazing health benefits from this.
There are a few drawbacks to this book. The recipe section is very small and surprisingly, none of the recipes are hers. There are many conflicting references in regard to eating animal products. Carol seems to spend a good deal of time defending that decision which ends up confusing the reader on whether one should or shouldn't eat raw animal products. The pro arguments aren't convincing enough. I would have liked to have seen solid up to date research. Although, I loved a lot of what was in Carol's book, I would not recommend that someone who is new to the raw food lifestyle purchase her book. It is too confusing. This is an excellent book for the experienced raw foodist.--Angela Elliot
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157 of 169 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Book For Beginners, March 7, 2005
I absolutely love this book. Carol is the reason I started on the Raw-food diet nearly a year ago. I happen to catch a glimpse of her on one of those "celebrities and their diets" shows on E and while typing away on the computer and partially listening to the show I was able to put my cynicism for some of the diets aside long enough to listen to what Carol had to say about dehydrated chickpeas sprouts turning into raw hummus and other details about eating raw while she was pushing a cart around a Whole Foods market, a place I frequent. I initially thought who on earth would purposely eat this way. Apparently she said something in that short segment that really stuck with me because 2 weeks later, out of no where, I found myself searching for anything I could get my hands on to make since of this whole raw-food lifestyle. After one day of searching I was able to find a few websites to get me going and I started cold turkey with nothing more than my Vita-mix, which I already had. I felt great immediately, but found it somewhat burdensome that every other recipe required that I sprouted this or juiced that and when it came to resources I definitely experienced information overload. I didn't want to buy expensive equipment while deciding weather or not I would continue eating this way. Where on earth do I find Spirulina Flakes? I sure wish I had Carol's book then because she answers those questions and many more. So many of these recipes are basic and require no expensive equipment which is very appealing to someone with a busy lifestyle or to someone with no interest in investing hundreds of dollars before reaping the benefits of raw foods. If you are ready to buy there is a great guide in this book, which points you in the right direction. I bought my juicer, dehydrator and Saladacco only recently after reading her book.
Anyone who eats raw should be thrilled that Carol has taken on this lifestyle and furthermore written a book about it. Carol is a very beautiful woman and super model who comes off as a very real person thus breaking down a few barriers one being the very cultish feel that permeates throughout raw-food community. Carol through her book gives you the comfort in knowing that everyone can painlessly take part in this lifestyle change. The ailments she describes are things that any normal everyday person could be experiencing including myself before I removed toxins from diet. I had no knowledge of Carol's reasons for going raw when I initially trusted her opinions and started down this road but she motivated me to make a very positive life altering change, now that I know of her reasons I can certainly identify with them. Something as simple as allergies, fatigue, poor eating habits hypoglycemia and even a poor mental attitude which can lead to depression should alert you to change your diet to get motivated to take control of your health and go raw before you are actually chronically ill. So many people end up at this very point after being diagnosed with life threatening illnesses later in life but in most cases the cause can be traced back to years of abuse stemming from poor food choices. I love the fact that her support system includes health professionals such as Dr. Timothy Brantley who have motivated and encouraged while guiding her through her raw food journey.
I was not a Vegan before starting the raw-food diet a year ago and wasn't thrilled that I had to become one in order to take part. Just like vegans I also love animals which is why I ate organic and caged free when ever possible just as Carol mentions in her book so it is no surprise that I love the fact that Carol advocates the eating of raw fish and other raw animal products, because they do have their place in a healing diet, weather strict vegans want to agree or not. Her choice in advocating this as an option in the world of raw food, gives the entire raw-food movement a stamp of legitimacy in my opinion. It also opens up the idea to those who wouldn't ordinarily consider it at all. I think it boils down to making choices that are best for your body because we're all different and there is no cookie cutter diet that works in the exact same manner for everyone. Even Dr. Bernard Jensen Doctor of Iridology and advocate of Nutrition and Holistic Health strongly advocated the use of Raw Goats Milk as a healing aid to many of his patients.
If you prefer to go completely vegan then this book can even be used as a good stepping stone between the world of cooked foods and the world of Raw foods, I'm not too fond of the sound of fertile eggs but I occasionally like having the option to test out some of the raw cheeses, and a few of the raw fish recipes such as "Doctor. Minarik's Ceviche Royal" have been fabulous and I don't miss out on having my raw goats milk smoothies. I absolutely love the fact that real chefs from real restaurants contributed to the recipes in this book. If you've read or attempted many of the amateur recipes on some of the popular raw foods websites or from a particularly poorly edited Raw-Food reference book then you'll understand my excitement. Particularly impressive are the contributions made by Kelley Serbonich who is the executive chef at Hippocrates Health Institute which was started by the highly revered Ann Wigmore over 40 years ago. I think Carol's book is up there with Nomi Shannon's "The Raw Gourmet" for great exotic recipes and with Shazzie's "Detox Your World" for realism and down to earth rapport building with its readers. I would highly recommend this book as well as the books mentioned above to anyone starting out on their raw-food journey, also check out Carols website for a few good resources (www.carolalt.com). There are so many wonderful books on the Raw-Food diet & holistic health such as "Sunfood Diet Success System " by David Wolf, "The Uncook Book" by Juliano Brotman, & "Conscious Eating" by Dr. Gabriel Cousens these are just a few good books that worked very well for me in the beginning and will prove to be very useful for anyone starting out or who is well on their way.
PS: For those of you who are having trouble finding raw sprouted Ezekiel or Genesis Bread go to your local Trader Joes, Wild Oats or Whole Foods, also check out Food-For-Life.com to find a retailer in your area. To order Flax Crackers, Olives, Raw Honey, Raw Olive Oil, great snacks and many more raw food items Check out: rawfood.com, eatraw.com, rawbakery.com and for resources and recipes see Living-Foods.com. You can also make your own Flax Crackers at home using a food Dehydrator. Good Luck!
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63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book, but know what you're getting into! Don't make yourself sick!, October 25, 2006
This was the first raw food book I read (a year and a half ago). It's a great introduction, but my mistake was jumping right in after this one book. Carol Alt says her boyfriend switched to raw overnight. I decided to switch overnight, but the detox experience I suffered through was unbelievably awful! Don't put yourself through the same thing I did!
Start with "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose. It emphasizes the importance of transitioning (so you don't shock your system and make yourself sick like I did), and the importance of combining food groups properly for best results.
Since Carol Alt's book, I've read dozens of other raw food books. I'm dismayed at how many of them say you may go through a detox but just stick with it. What bad advice! Natalia Rose explains in her book why you shouldn't detox too fast - if you overload your system with too many toxins too fast, your system can't eliminate them all and your body might re-tox and turn on itself. It's important to transition slowly! But so few raw food books bother to mention that!
Also, Carol Alt's book doesn't give any information about the importance of food combining - something else I learned the hard way. She gives the impression that it doesn't matter WHAT you eat or HOW you eat it, as long as it's raw. Unfortunately, it's not that simple! An almond butter & banana sandwich on sprout bread (p. 140) is a horrible food combination! Don't rely on the recipes provided in this book until you learn more about food combining.
Despite all the things I now see are missing from this book, I have to say that it was extremely inspirational and convincing as my first raw food book - I committed to going raw and never looked back (I just didn't educate myself enough before jumping in). Alt provides enough information, suggestions, and resources (lists of raw food distributors, stores, and restaurants) so that you don't feel overwhelmed. A year and a half later, I'm still using the kitchen appliances recommended in this book, still buying some of my foods from stores listed in this book, and still using the almond milk recipe all the time.
BOTTOM LINE:
Don't make any radical changes based on this book alone! Read this one if you want to find out what the raw food craze is all about, but make sure you read plenty more (such as Natalia Rose's Raw Food Detox Diet) and educate yourself before you jump right in.
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