Customer Reviews

The Fat Flush Cookbook (Gittleman)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I started the Fat Flush Diet Plan less than 30 days ago and am happy to report a weight loss of 27lbs. in that short time frame! This cookbook is essential if you wish to follow the Fat Flush Plan! This diet is not totally easy if you really value the addition of salt or butter, but really effective! Flax oil is a primary ingredient and I believe it does promote weight loss in addition to many other health benefits, but it is not at all tasty, in my opinion. Try the mock mashed potatoes, using a cauliflower puree and several of the breakfast suggestions (eggs are vital to success), plus the smoothie recipes and you will lose weight and (most importantly, inches) in a short period of time! This book contains many delicious and health smart recipes, using ingredients you may previously have discounted, and the diet plan works. After a month on the plan, I craved salt on my entrees more than anything else, but I did lose a great deal of weight and inches and truly recommend the diet plan and cookbook to anyone committed to real weight loss and helpful insights to healthy eating.

Let me start by saying that the diet works. I lost 40 lbs over three years ago, I feel great and I look great. The cookbook is one of the worst cookbooks I have ever bought. A few of the recipes are good, but most were dreadful. Titles like "Cauliflower and Peas in Yogurt" and "Brussel Sprouts With Curry" are about as tasty as they sound. It's the only cookbook I have used where I have baked an entire dinner only to throw it away. It's happened a few times, so now I don't use this book. Look elsewhere for good, low glycemic-index recipes using non-processed food and flax oil....

Having tried the Fat Flush Plan successfully, I was excited to buy the Fat Flush Cookbook. What a disappointment! The chapters that describe the plan are not coherent, and the information contradicts and repeats itself. In several places, Gittelman refers you to Chapter 14 for information on tools and resources. However, Chapter 14 (with a different title than the references) includes none of the tools and seems to be a sales description for the company selling her vitamin package. Also the recipes need editing to confirm the right ingredients are listed and to make sure the recipe correctly describes what to do with ALL of the ingredients.

Some recipes are good, such as the mashed potates substitutes from cauliflower and some quick soups. However, I already had those recipes from another book and the web site. The new recipes I tried were a waste of time and tasted awful. Two cloves of garlic in 4 salmon cakes certainly eliminates the fish taste! The recipe for marinated shrimp involves lots of chopped vegetables for a marinade that you apparently throw away. I can get the same taste with the herbs in a crab boil mix and save an hour. And the recipe for "carrots and snow peas with parsley" is described at the top as being a great basil-flavored vegetable.

This book was obviously written in a hurry to hit the market while interest in the Fat Flush Plan is peaking.

What I esp. like about the 200 or more recipes is that they are generally pretty easy to prepare and don't take a lot of ingredients. They emphasize the natural flavor of the foods. Plus, there are a lot ideas for those tastes you may think you're missing.

The section on the recommended herbs and spices is esp. informative.

There are lots new, original recipes for all phases, but those who've made it to the maintenance stage, will esp. find new ways to create healthy versions of old favorites. The book includes updates for all phases, but esp. for Phase 3, with a greatly expanded list of suggested foods for special occasions.

Thanks to Ann Louise Gittleman and her Fat Flush Plan, I have lost over 70 pounds in the last nine months! I did it by following the protocols in the Fat Flush Plan and have enjoyed all the recipes that are included in that book. However, the new recipes in the Fat Flush Cookbook are WONDERFUL! It's great to have some new dishes to add to my Fat Flush repetoire.

Yet, the Fat Flush Cookbook is far more than just a bunch of recipes. Ann Louise provides an abundance of great advice on everything from Fat-Flushing Herbs and Spices to healthy cookware to how to keep special occasions healthy and Fat Flush-friendly! (I've already planned some GREAT meals over the holidays, using the new recipes in the Cookbook.)

If you are new to Fat Flush, the basic Fat Flush Plan is the place to start. But, you'll want to add this excellent cookbook as soon as possible to get some additional ideas about how to make Fat Flush your eating plan for life.

The Fat Flush Cookbook is an excellent companion to the Fat Flush Diet. Anyone who complains that Fat Flush food is bland or boring will be surprised by these tasty dishes that even your whole family will love. My husband especially liked Tangy Chicken with Tomatillos. There are spice mixes to perk up your food. Especially nice is the section on "meal in one" dishes and easy-packed lunches. There's even two pages of speedy no-recipe snacks.

I was looking forward to using this book to get started on the Fat Flush Plan. Unfortunately, I now need to buy another book entitled "The Fat Flush Plan" to actually get the plan. My mistake. This book is supposed to be a cookbook filled with receipts that conform to the Fat Flush continuing program.

The problem is that, while the receipts may or may not be any good (see review from May 30, 2003), the book cannot be used for reference, as say, OTHER COOKBOOKS! Want to look up a recipe the sour cream substitute? You won't be able to find it in the index or table of contents. Want the author's recipe for yogurt dip? Good luck -- there are no listings for yogurt in the index AT ALL! How about a recipe involving nuts? You guessed it, NOTHING!

The recipes are complex and time consuming. For example, if a recipe calls for catsup, it means Fat Flush catsup you made from scratch. But if you need to whip some up in a hurry, you're out of luck. There is no listing for catsup in the index. You need to go through the entire book -- page by page -- until you find it. (I'm not joking!)

Also see review from May 30, 2003.

OK ... at the price of being whiney there are a few things that bug me starting with the name of the program or book ... The Fat Flush Cookbook ... gimme a break the toilet imagry was probably an in your face decision by the author .. Certainy sections of the book that practically describe what a knife or a wooden spoon is are over the top, trust me I don't think that this book is meant for people that are not wholly and totally comfortable in the kitchen ... the fact that as a cookbook there are no pictures to show meal presentation is a total bummer for me that's for sure ...

OK so this is not the kind of book that you want to read from cover to cover as the plot thickens, or should I say the sauce thickens .... but ... there are sections that make it worth the price alone ...

First .. chapter one and two that expalin the concept and process of the diet is very good and if you tie it in with your general knowledge of outher diet plans such of the 'Sugar Busters Diet' it is excellent ...

Then chapetr 3 is filler telling you that you'll need spoons and pots to be able to cook

Chapter four is absolutely fabulous since it describes the impotance and historically forgotten banefits of most of the important herbs and spices in your kitchen... I have a copy of that section right beside my spice rack as we speak ...

Lastly, the recepies, the reader should be very discerning and pick the one's that would be appealing and necesary... How to make sugar free catsup is super ... hot chocolate and even dishes using cardamon seeds are great ...

The book is a little pricy if you only buy it and put it on the shelf for some future project, but if you have the time and inclination to pick out what you want, well, then it's well worth it ....

First off, I am on the Fat Flush Plan, and enjoy it very much. However, several things about the plan and this book in particular really offend me:
1. The name. This is supposed to be a plan about cleansing the liver and following a healthy lifestyle. I tell no-one how I lost so much weight, because the name is embarassing and offensive.
2. You have to buy many books to understand the whole plan. I find this to be greedy on the part of the publisher. Just publish the plan, or even all the recipes in one place!
3. The cookbook has much filler material, very few recipes, and an absolutely useless index. I don't know about you, but the index is the most important part of a cookbook for me! This was horrible.

So, this book has turned out to be one more waste of money!

After my sister was told that her cholestrol was 319, I asked what she was doing about it. She told me that she and her husband (who lost 35 pounds: she lost 23 pounds) were doing the "Fat Flush Diet." I asked what that was and ended buying the book. After 18 months my sister's cholestrol was 198 and our family history points at heart disease. I read the book avidly, did the 2 week 'flush' and lost 12 pounds. "The Fat Flush" food plan was how I usually ate anyway, however new ideas from "The Fat Flush Cookbook" (which I have since purchased) for making 'good for you' foods was welcomed. Try it as a lifestyle! It makes sense! You are what you eat!