Rip Esselstyn

I like some of the recipes. This book is not really for vegans, who know the stuff he's preaching already. It's for people who eat meat and need to be convinced how unhealthy it is.

I am revising this review. It IS a book for vegans, in that it presents comebacks to your"scientist" friends who are suddenly so interested in your diet when they find out that you're vegan.

I bought this book. That tells you how much I liked it, because I rarely buy books; I am addicted to libraries, since at the age of seven, my father banished the TV from the house. He said "I don't want my kids to have boob-toob-itis."

… (mais)

I read this during the time I was also reading Whole, by Colin Campbell. Both are arguments to eat a whole foods, plant-based diet- even referred to by Dr. Campbell as the WFPB diet - for your health and for the health of the planet (and the animals). But they approach the subject from different angles. I think it's useful and instructive to read both.

Esselstyn's book is a combination: half is the logical scientific arguments against eating animal foods and in favor of plant-based whole foods. It is, as he says himself, all of the answers to the meat-eaters' questions. Campbell's book is both narrower and broader: it provides the scientific background, simplified for the intelligent lay reader, for treating nutrition in a "wholistic" rather than a "reductionist" way. Throw out the single-element studies and study, instead, the whole body and how it reacts to whole foods, says Campbell.

Esselstyn agrees that the only healthy way to eat is to eat the whole food. He makes cases that are a bit more reductionist than Campbell, however. He looks at individual dietary needs and shows how plants satisfy those requrements (Campbell, by contrast, shows how simplistic calculating nutrients can be).

Beyond that, however, Esselstyn counters the actual challenges that have been thrown at him over the years. He makes the case that "plant strong" (his term) eating is cheap, easy, and delicious. He addresses supplements (no need to take any), grass-fed as opposed to grain-fed cattle, the myths about oils, and more. What's more, he does so with confidence, humor, and simplicity. Each chapter is short - no more than three pages - and addresses a single question. Anyone reading (and rereading) these chapters is going to be ready for anything the meat-eater wants to ask.

The second half of the book is the recipes. A generous 140 recipes culled from all over the place, tested and retested. Each one is plant-strong, uses no added oils, little or no salt, and only natural sweeteners. Each is easy to make and includes ingredients that should not be hard to find. I have tried several and loved them all. The lasagna takes a lot of prep but goes together easily and is wonderful (great for a potluck). The brownies were a hit at a vegan gathering recently.

It's a nice combination - the information you need and the recipes you will love.… (mais)