First the good...the info about when to eat different types of foods, the enzymes your stomach uses to digest different kinds of food...that made sense. Before this book, I ate oatmeal with fruit and nuts every morning. Now I eat an apple first, then the oatmeal, and I bring a handful of almonds in to snack on later in the morning.
That said...per this book, that breakfast is still 'bad.' The book says that I should drink a blended spinach smoothie for breakfast, be okay with being hungry, and not eat again until afternoon. (Shocking that people lose weight on this...) The book directs that if I DO have my 'regular' breakfast I should do the following: eat an organic apple first, then some organic spinach, then organic oat groats (oatmeal is bad) that have soaked in water overnight, then, three hours later, organic raw almonds that have soaked in water overnight. I just don't have the time or money (oat groats cost twice as much as my regular thick cut organic oatmeal and organic almonds are outrageous) for all that. And really, that's one of your few choices for a 'regular' breakfast. Cereal is out, eggs aren't allowed, yogurt (dairy and soy) is bad, etc.
The book promotes being a vegan, which is fine. While I'm not a vegetarian, I like to have a couple vegetarian days each week. But the book also says not to eat any beans, tofu, soymilk (or any soy product), peanuts, etc. It also says I should ferment cabbage and water in my pantry for several weeks and drink the foamy, bubbly, enzyme-full water. Not something I'm ever going to do.
Granted, the book is titled 'Detox' so I guess anyone could follow the diet (minus the fermented cabbage cocktail, sorry) for a week or two. And, since you'll probably be eating less than 1000 calories a day, you'll definitely lose weight. But I was hoping for a new, practical approach to eating healthy. And, like I said, the food combination ideas were helpful and there were other helpful pointers but, 70% of the proposed diet was simply not practical for everyday use.
If you're already a vegan, you might be able to follow this. Though being a vegan and not eating soymilk, tofu, any soy product, beans, or nuts is still seriously restrictive. If you're an omnivore, this may work for a week or two and you will definitely lose weight...but when the detox is over and you return to a chicken breast sandwich on whole wheat, there's a good chance the weight will come right back.
Bottom line, I think there are some interesting digestive/food combo ideas but, overall, the diet is entirely too restrictive for the average person who has a job and/or family.
