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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
I am really kind of surprised at how many great ratings this book has received. In a lot of places it read like he had been doing all of his research online - and trusting all kinds of crazy sites as factual. He doesn't site any of his information and even in the resource list at the end - he has sources from the 70s and 80s...the book came out in 2007, and there were only a handful of sources from 2003. One in 2006 was Michael Pollen, which, while a great book, is not exactly a primary source. One of my favorite examples was "So complete is this wonder-food that, when consuming nothing other than chlorella, human life can be sustained for an extended period. This was discovered by NASA when the space agency was looking at ways to sustain astronauts for space travel." Now, just guessing here, but I'm thinking that if NASA did a study - the results were a little more precise than "an extended period" which means nothing. Extended over what?
I bought this thinking it would be a bit more about his actual experiences - he claims to have come to this diet style from experimentation on his own diet and training. That would at least have been interesting to read instead of all this pseudo-science that he puts in here. Especially as he never claims to be a scientist or dietician or in any way have any nutritional or medical knowledge. So I would have appreciated more about his training and how he felt eating certain things - a personal story, which is all he seems qualified to write.
And then the recipes. Almost none of them even sounded remotely worth trying.
There are a lot of times where he sounds like he is simply repackaging Dr. Fuhrman's books (and indeed, he recommends reading Eat to Live in his list of resources) - he coins his own terms for all the same concepts. But then he recommends eating lots of oil - because it is nutritionally more dense than the seeds it comes from. Which makes absolutely no sense.
Anyway, really wasn't what I thought it was going to be, and really wasn't quite worth reading.
Oh, and of course he is trying to sell you his own products throughout - even while he tells you that whole foods are best.
I bought this thinking it would be a bit more about his actual experiences - he claims to have come to this diet style from experimentation on his own diet and training. That would at least have been interesting to read instead of all this pseudo-science that he puts in here. Especially as he never claims to be a scientist or dietician or in any way have any nutritional or medical knowledge. So I would have appreciated more about his training and how he felt eating certain things - a personal story, which is all he seems qualified to write.
And then the recipes. Almost none of them even sounded remotely worth trying.
There are a lot of times where he sounds like he is simply repackaging Dr. Fuhrman's books (and indeed, he recommends reading Eat to Live in his list of resources) - he coins his own terms for all the same concepts. But then he recommends eating lots of oil - because it is nutritionally more dense than the seeds it comes from. Which makes absolutely no sense.
Anyway, really wasn't what I thought it was going to be, and really wasn't quite worth reading.
Oh, and of course he is trying to sell you his own products throughout - even while he tells you that whole foods are best.
Some interesting tips and ideas. Though, To follow this closely without a medical or athletic performance reason would be very difficult. (and I say this as a vegetarian who is primarily vegan!) Also, the author makes a lot of assertions without backing them up with any kind of evidence. You have to simply accept the arguments, as laid out, are accurate - which always makes me nervous.
This book was interesting, but it wasn’t new. Oh, reduce stress and eat real whole foods and you’ll feel and perform better? Fancy that. Brazier presents a lot of “facts” and “scientific information,” but I would have liked to see more/better sources. There is a reference list in the back, but it is not connected to any specific statements made throughout the book. Additionally a lot of his information is geared towards endurance athletes (yes, I do realize he is an triathlete), as revealed when he lists “quick” workouts as those lasting 1-2 hours. I was looking for information that would apply to weightlifting and was somewhat disappointing by his limited view of an "athlete."
Okay, despite the criticisms, I enjoyed reading this book, I just took it all with a grain of salt. This book has some good advice for balancing life, fitness and diet. It is not lacking in inspiration--I am definitely on a mission to eat more greens and other raw/minimally processed superfoods now. It stresses how important diet is to overall well being and offers great options for whole meals with raw options (and great options for buying Brazier’s products! Okay, okay, I was going to be nice for a moment). I’m not going to take on his twelve week meal plan, but the healthy, wholesome and balanced recipes will keep me coming back to this book, even if the information in it won’t.
A Review of the Buckwheat Pancake Recipe from Thrive:
Brazier’s buckwheat pancakes are amazing–they are full of buckwheat, hemp protein and banana yet were still giant, light and fluffy. The recipe said it served two, so I halved it…and still got a ridiculous amount of food. I felt full for multiple hours after eating these–and let me tell you, that does not happen often. I’m usually hungry ten minutes after finishing a meal. I found Brazier’s buckwheat pancakes to be delicious, but I won’t lie, they do taste healthy (a.k.a. like hemp and buckwheat), and someone just transitioning to whole foods may not be as excited about their deliciousness as I am. These are definitely going to become a regular meal, and I’m excited to try more Thrive recipes (at least those not calling for ridiculously obscure or expensive grocery items).
Okay, despite the criticisms, I enjoyed reading this book, I just took it all with a grain of salt. This book has some good advice for balancing life, fitness and diet. It is not lacking in inspiration--I am definitely on a mission to eat more greens and other raw/minimally processed superfoods now. It stresses how important diet is to overall well being and offers great options for whole meals with raw options (and great options for buying Brazier’s products! Okay, okay, I was going to be nice for a moment). I’m not going to take on his twelve week meal plan, but the healthy, wholesome and balanced recipes will keep me coming back to this book, even if the information in it won’t.
A Review of the Buckwheat Pancake Recipe from Thrive:
Brazier’s buckwheat pancakes are amazing–they are full of buckwheat, hemp protein and banana yet were still giant, light and fluffy. The recipe said it served two, so I halved it…and still got a ridiculous amount of food. I felt full for multiple hours after eating these–and let me tell you, that does not happen often. I’m usually hungry ten minutes after finishing a meal. I found Brazier’s buckwheat pancakes to be delicious, but I won’t lie, they do taste healthy (a.k.a. like hemp and buckwheat), and someone just transitioning to whole foods may not be as excited about their deliciousness as I am. These are definitely going to become a regular meal, and I’m excited to try more Thrive recipes (at least those not calling for ridiculously obscure or expensive grocery items).
4 stars seems a little presumptuous considering I haven't tried out all the recipes, but the ones I've tried have been really good so far. A few times in the book I wished Brendon was a bit more concise, but it's a minor critique. Now I have to go buy a food processor to be able to make more recipes and dive into this diet.
Definitely some good stuff in here, but it feels a bit dated and is definitely entry-level. Could be helpful to someone getting started though!
It's an interesting read that breaks down the vegan diet in an easy way my brain to get around all the needs. It makes a lot of sense even if some of the numbers are just pulled out of arse, as others have suggested.
This three star review is a placeholder until I have dried some of the recipes. Ifs they are as good as they sound and make me feel as good as he suggests then I will make it a four star review.
This three star review is a placeholder until I have dried some of the recipes. Ifs they are as good as they sound and make me feel as good as he suggests then I will make it a four star review.
I didn't totally finish this, but whatever. It would be a good reference in the event that I ever ramp up my exercising. For the moment, though, I think I eat a pretty balanced, mostly-whole-foods diet. The most interesting takeaways were the list of alkaline foods, what to eat before, during, and after exercise, and the concept of nutritional stress.
In short, I'm not going to incorporate dates into everything I eat, but I would like to find some chlorella somewhere around here.
In short, I'm not going to incorporate dates into everything I eat, but I would like to find some chlorella somewhere around here.
While I find Brazier more than a little self-promoting, I feel that this book is a must read for any vegan or aspiring vegan interested in a solid nutrition plan.
Very interesting read. It showed some new aspects of nutrition that I haven't thought of before. I also like the recipes of sport gels and drinks and I will definitely try them out. I did not like the redundancies in this book though. I read the german translation which was awful, unfortunately the original is too difficult language-wise for me. I will need it though for the recipes because the translation is incorrect at many points.