I'm pretty much getting away from doing much more reading. Between information overload and getting tired of being bombarded with a bunch of new age spirituality, I'm ready for a sabbatical from reading about raw food. I haven't read anything I considered worthy of buying yet. The following are books that are available at my local co-op. If you've read any of them, what do you think of them? Are they buy-worthy?



Sunfood Diet Success System -- David Wolfe

Raw Spirit -- Matt Monarch

Hooked on Raw -- Rhio

Raw Foods Bible -- Craig B. Sommers, N.D, C.N.

Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine -- Gabriel Cousens

Complete Book of Raw Food -- Baird Rodwell

The Raw Food Detox Diet -- Natalia Rose

Living on Live Food -- Alissa Cohen

Rawsome -- Brigitte Mars

Rawvolution -- Matt Amsden

The Raw Truth -- Jeremy A. Safron

Conscious Eating -- Gabriel Cousens

The Raw Food Primer -- Chef Suzanne, Alex Ferrora

Use the Source, Luke. (that is, go inside and find out for yourself).

what are you asking exactly? for a book that is only about recipes or the principles of eating raw? for sure don't go with david's book if you don't want new agey stuff, it's full of his hokey poetry.

let me look on my shelf and i'll tell you what i've got and what i like about it...

i brought home a huge stack of raw foods books from my library to see if there were any that i should consider purchasing. i skimmed through them all and didn't find anything there that i couldn't find addressed more quickly and more completely (and from more points of view) on the internet!

try this for awhile without any books. ask on forums or google stuff you are unsure about or have questions that come up. once you get a solid base of experience (especially the experience and confidence that comes from trusting yourself and your own resources completely), then you will be a reader who can consume another's ideas with a grain of salt, and a perspective.

i didn't own one raw food book for 6 months. then i was gifted juliano's raw and alissa cohen's book. i tried a few of their recipes, and by then they were just way too heavy for me (lots of oil, lots of nuts, etc.). and there was nothing in alissa's book that i didn't already know or hadn't already heard about from researching online. in fact, it seemed overly simplistic.

"serious" raw foodists kind of bash alissa/raw gourmet in general, but the one cool thing about her book is that it is very accessible to a mainstream audience. soccer moms really get it. i brought it in to work to show to a friend who expressed interest in trying some raw foods, and it has been circling around like wildfire -- everyone loves it. people have asked to borrow it or to loan it to their friends and family. to my mind, if it helps people incorporate more whole foods into their lives, then she is serving a very important role.

Of the ones you list, I liked these:

Complete Book of Raw Food -- Baird Rodwell
The Raw Food Primer -- Chef Suzanne, Alex Ferrora

But I agree with the library suggestion. Exhaust the possibilties at your library (and use interlibrary loan requests if they don't have what you want right away) before you spend any money, because, knowing what I know about you from your posts, I absolutely guarantee that you will find fault with all of them.

as you've already figured out, i think, the more "my way or the highway"/defensive the author is, the more full of sh** they are. that's a good rule of thumb.

I have Rawvolution (Matt Amsden). It's a really beautiful book with colourful photos for each recipe BUT a lot of the main course recipes are based around a raw onion bread (the onion bread recipe is in there, but what if you didn't want onion bread every other day?).

In hindsight, I'd wish I'd spent the money on a book more about the science etc behind raw health, as a website like www.goneraw.com has pretty much variants of all of these recipes, plus hundreds more.

Books are so expensive!!! I keep hoping I'll wander in a 2nd-hand store and find hundreds of raw food books in there going cheap ;-)

i took a peek at my collection and these are the ones that jumped out at me, the ones i actually read and use:

food combining and digestion by steve meyerowitz (he has such a great attitude, this guy)

edible wild plants ~ a north american field guide (eat your weeds!)

conscious eating by gabriel cousins (this book is purely a luxury item for me, i could easily live without it but i like it very much)

two of the Alive Books volumes, #30-sprouts and #35-making sauerkraut and pickled vegetables at home

the herb book by john lust (i use herbs for medicine often)

the very best book though, the one i access all the time is prescription for mutritional healing. this is the best book i own on nutrition, it's really stellar fantastic.

not exactly on your list but totally worth trying to find.

rawnoggin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have Rawvolution (Matt Amsden). It's a really
> beautiful book with colourful photos for each
> recipe BUT a lot of the main course recipes are
> based around a raw onion bread (the onion bread
> recipe is in there, but what if you didn't want
> onion bread every other day?).
>

haha, I just got this one and know what you mean. Not to mention that the breads are dehydrated! I find that a lot of raw preparation of food books have high(er) fat items, which is fine, and I'll admit I had a high-fat day today, but those are more for once or twice a week. I think some can be tweaked to be lower fat, too.

And I have the Complete Book of Raw Food by Baird AND Rodwell, but it's lent to a friend right now - but I LOVE it. Get that one, if any.

[utopiankitchen.wordpress.com]

arugula Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But I agree with the library suggestion. Exhaust
> the possibilties at your library (and use
> interlibrary loan requests if they don't have what
> you want right away)

The library in my town has its data base of books available on line and it even says if the book is there or is checked out.

rawsome was my first raw book and it converted me. before someone gave me that book i had no idea what raw even was or even thought of it as a concept.

i've read a lot of better books since then, but this book has a great appendix that has sooo many fruits and veggies and says all kinds of things about them individually. that was my favorite part of the book. it made me happy. =)

Thanks for all the feedback. I was in the co-op and saw all their books. I did start to look at some of them while I was there, but, obviously I can't look at every one thoroughly enough to see if I want to buy it.

I use my library as much as possible but I'm looking to buy a really good raw book or two. I didn't mention all of the ones they carry, or most of the "recipe only" books. I was disappointed to see they didn't have any Douglas Graham books. The articles Bryan's been posting have been making a lot of sense to me so I'd like to look into him further.

I'm losing confidence in Gabriel Cousens for the way his Tree of Life retreat center is run. From what I've heard, his practices at the retreat center differ a lot from his books. Besides, if someone is trying to sell me a supplement or anything like that, no thanks. Principle means a lot to me and Cousens loses out in that department for me.

David Wolfe, while having some good information, is not my style.

I'm constantly drawn to Matt Monarch, though. Not for wisdom, because I think he's very extreme, but I love his raw energy and his passion! His books are filled with opinions and other people's information, but that's okay. He motivates me to live life with passion!

Some things that stand out to me, from all I've learned so far, are:

- The way to live the raw food life is to just do it and listen to your body.

- Experiment with variety and have fun with it!

- The quote in Maui Greg's profile: There is no pill that can be swallowed.
There is no guru that can be followed.

- Give yourself time to ease into the raw food life. You're in control and will
eventually find what works best for you.

- The Douglas Graham articles I've found on the forums.

That's it. The big five that helped me begin down the raw foods road. If you'll note, Four of those were things I've gotten specifically from people here on the forums and not out of a book. Well, technically all of them came from here because I haven't found any Douglas Graham books to read yet.

I've learned from everyone who actively participates here. Even if it's what not to do.

I am a huge Victoria Boutenko fan. I love her style, her simplicity, her zest for greens, her following of chimps and of course her smoothie recipes. For some reason, I really get into the personal "real life" stories that I hear on here or get from authors. Her style is exactly that, I feel like she is talking to me as I read her stuff. It isn't rocket science, by any means, but it is a good informative read that puts some scientific means behind what we are doing. Just my two cents, but so far, I have enjoyed both of the books I have of hers, Green for Life and 12 Steps to Raw - also, no need to have both really - lots of repeptition. However, I was given one and have enjoyed reading them both. Good luck to you. Veggie

PS - When I started this process I got "The Raw Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose which was helpful for me, but also confusing once I began to delve in deeper. She give some great advice for a newbie just starting out completely unaware of raw diets, but the more I got into raw, the weirder I thought her style was. She eats cooked foods, some meats, fish, and promotes the use of cheeses and eggs! At first I remember thinking, okay, she is raw but not vegan. Then I was like, well, she is not vegan and what the heck is all of this cooked food!?!? Definitely confusing and not for me. I think it was Boutenko that said she could NOT go on and off the wagon. She had to do 100% raw - whereas Rose is fine mixing it up. For me, I can relate so much more to Boutenko - once I fall of the wagon even for one meal, it is difficult for me to jump back on.

Interesting topic, thanks for starting this thread.

I am like you and really enjoy reading as much as I can about stuff like this. I love getting different perspectives and ideas. I can't seem to locate enough stuff in the bookstore - it is all pretty mainstream. I am going to order a few books even though I can find most everything I need on this website. I still enjoy a quite read without staring at a screen and love to learn more about raw foods! Sorry for such a long rambling PS!

I love the Boutenko books too, but I don't have any at the moment because I keep giving them away! I think that they are the perfect mix of inspiration, information and practical recipes to introduce someone to raw food.

I know someone who has Hooked On Raw and I asked to borrow it from her and she was reluctant to give it up because she liked it so much (and I always borrow books from her). I thought that it was a good basic primer, but I really didn't get into it as much as my friend did.

I like check on Google book search and see if the books that I am interested in have a preview. A lot of times reading the preview has made me realize that I'm not really interested in the book and it has saved me money!
[books.google.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2008 06:53AM by Lillianswan.

> Sunfood Diet Success System -- David Wolfe

This is the only book from your list that I have read and I thought it was great. Lots of information in there that I have never found elsewhere.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

Hey Rob,

I like the look and feel of your website. It's easy on the eyes, easy to navigate and interesting without being overwhelming. Great job!

Keith

Hello!
The Amsden book 'Rawvolution' is the book that convinced me to go raw. He is very helpful and has some wonderful recipes! He also lets you know at the beginning which equipment you will need for each recipe-blender-food processor-dehydrator-etc.
I tried to read the Natalia Rose book was put off by it because she includes meat in her suggested diets- and I am vegan. Her book may be more accessible for those who are making more of a drastic transition to raw food from a "meat and potatoes" former diet.