Customer Reviews

The Healthiest Diet in the World

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For 47 of my 57 years I have struggled with being overweight. I read about "The Healthiest Diet In The World" in the vegetarian times mag. I got the book and went on their very easy to follow program not to lose weight but for the health of it and so far I have lost 17 pounds. The tips about combining a protein with a carbo has really changed my life. For the first time I do not crave sweets and I am eating more than I did when I was on a DIET. The recipies are great! I love tofu and they really have some great recipies using it. I don't know how to begin to thank the authors of this book. I have recomended the program to everyone I know and when people mention my weight loss I always give them the name of the book.

I am about three quarters of the way through the Healthiest Diet in the World and would have finished it already if my wife wouldn't keep trying to read it before I did. I was stunned to find a review here that thought it was difficult to follow with boring recipes. This is the most authoritative, research-oriented, clearly presented work on nutrition I have found. It is practical and addresses the concerns of the nutrition conscious. The Goldbecks have clarified issues about balancing nutrients, protein sources, weight control and many others with solid research and practical applications in the form of delicious recipes which we have been trying on every available occasion.

Pros:

1) The coverage of current scientific understanding of nutrition is comprehensive and detailed, yet clear for nonspecialists.

2) The text is well organized with a quick overview, followed by helpful recipes and tips, in-depth scientific information, references and two good indices.

3) It is apparent that the author is an experienced nutritionist-- she understands the practical problems faced by those of us trying to improve our diets, and she also is sensitive to the fact that food needs to taste good in order to satisify.

Cons:

1) The book is very focused on vegetarian foods and possibly slights the nutrition of food derived from animal sources. (However, after reading the book, you may as I did change your view on the importance of meat in a healthy diet.)

2) The book could be seen as a wholefoods manifesto. For example, the author promotes sustainable agriculture and organic farming. These topics are really outside of the scope of a book on nutrition.

I *highly* recommend this book. Following its guidelines has made a major improvement in my quality of life. (This is the book I come back to after having read a shelf full of diet and nutrition books.)

I haven't really used any of the recipes (although many of them sound great) but the nutritional information is very thorough and well-arranged. With so much contradictory information out there, this book is refreshing in that the authors' research is broad and many factors are explained with excellent detail.

Forget trendy diets, this book is a great guide to changing your life! It is very informative and provides recipes and guidelines for nutritional diet. If you want to lose weight, feel great, live long and healthy this is the book.

I'm surprised there aren't more reviews on this wonderful reference/cookbook. I repeatedly find myself referring back to the HDitW not just for recipes, but for nutritional info on such things as Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, how to cook dried beans, the glycemic index, etc. It is extremely well-researched and quite comprehensive. It's more a lifestyle eating guide than a cookbook. The recipes are very good, but not spicy enough for my taste - so I just double the garlic, etc.! Highly recommended.

In my search for the best diet for my family, this book never came up in my Amazon.com search. I ran across this book at a bookstore that included used books as well as new ones. I paid $9.95 for it and it is well worth it to someone interested in learning facts about nutrition. So many diet books take one small segment of nutrition knowledge and build eating plans around that one segment.

The Goldbecks have a long history of studying nutrition. This is not their opinion. It is based on much research. The book has 43 pages of bibliography!

I only had two problems with the book.
1) Although they admit that animal proteins and fats can help, they are proponents of a plant based diet (with the exception of eggs and yogurt).
2) There is a chart showing the number of grams of carbohydrates a person needs at different calorie levels, but the recipes do not show nutrition information. The information is not very useful if it can't be translated to the recipes. I plan to use the information when using recipes from other books that do include the nutritional information.

Here are just a few of the things included in this book:
1) A list of the foods that contain the most antioxidants
2) Fat facts at a glance.
3) Glycemic force ratings
4) Fiber content of some common foods
5) Foods and their fatty acids

The only reason I gave it a four instead of a five is because I have not tried the recipes.

Long before it was fashionable to do so, Nikki and David Goldbeck were writing intelligently about the relationship between healthy eating and healthy living. Now, in The Healthiest Diet in the World, they present their accumulated wisdom about nutrition along with delicious recipes that are clearly presented. This book should be on the shelf of anyone looking for thoughtful explanations about the human diet, and guidance for making rational choices about what to consume and how to prepare it.

This book was ahead of its time when it was written in 1998. It is thoroughly researched by nutrition experts and is user friendly in format. My book budget is small. I use the public library a lot, but I bought this one as I could see I would want to refer to it often.

Love this book and have been extremely happy to find this collection on your web site. Very difficult to find at the local bookstore.