Hypertension or not, these are some tasty recipes.
922269
If you or anyone you care about suffers from or is at risk of hypertension, this is the cookbook for you! Although the introductory information is a little on the repetitive side, it is nonetheless a great resource for anyone looking for more information about what foods are ideal for a healthful, low-sodium diet. The recipes in the back half of the book are excellent as well. I have no issues with hypertension but I am still definitely going to try some of these recipes, especially the Maple-Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes, the Curried Zucchini and Goat Cheese Rolls, and Spicy Chicken-Chipotle Tortilla Soup.
1857687
I thought this would be a recipe book of the old mix-it-all-in-a-pan-using-vinegar recipes.  Since I'm on a very low sodium diet and make most things from scratch, this looked interesting.  It is a book of dump cake recipes using a cake mix.  BUT, there is a recipe to make a basic cake mix you can use in the recipes AND recipes for homemade chocolate using carob or powdered cocoa!  So I can make these recipes from scratch using low sodium ingredients.
  The recipes are interesting and combinations that I probably would never have thought of ... and they all contain chocolate.  Black Forest Dump Cake, Pumpkin Chocolate, Hawaiian Chocolate (with pineapple, coconut, fruit cocktail and pecans) and more.  They all sound pretty good.
  This would be a great cookbook to have when you need to whip up something quickly but don't have a lot of time.
3638877
I have made two recipes from this book and they are delicious.  However, when I checked the fat, salt and calorie content of each recipes I found several that I wouldn't even consider making because they are so unhealthy.  I will use many of the recipes and therefore find the book worthwhile.
1202472
I have checked this book out from the library a couple of times (I do that when I can before buying a cookbook, to make sure it's going to be a keeper), and I'm very happy with it.  On the side of each recipe is nutrition information, not just how much fat but salt, cholesterol, carbs, calorie count, etc, and diabetic exchanges. Being recently diagnosed with high blood pressure, it was nice to be able to see the hard, cold numbers at a glance and start consider any adjustments to be made right away.

There are eggs and dairy in this book, but there are vegan recipes as well, indicated by the "V" beside the entry.  I'm not a vegan, but I'm betting an experienced vegan cook would be able to adapt some of the vegetarian recipes as well, especially the recipes where the only distinction is milk or cheese.

I consider most of the recipes to be in the "comfort food" category, sprinkled with more exotic dishes (Mediterranean, E. Asian, Indian, TexMex) that can still be made with ingredients you can buy at a regular grocery store. Another point is that most of the recipes are quick (45 minutes or less according to the book).  As much as I love to cook, I don't always want to spend a lot of time on it, but I don't want to be bored, either.  I think this book will come in handy when I want to mix things up a bit, but not be chained to the stove.

I've tried some of the recipes and they have worked out fine so far.  I've not made that many, because the book had to be returned all too soon:

Roasted Potato Salad (I hated creamy potato salad before I tried this recipe)
Indian Lentil Soup
Greek Style Green Beans
Tempeh Steak with Red and Green Stir Fry
Mock Chicken Salad (I liked this a LOT more than I thought I would!)

I really want to try one of the veggie sloppy joe recipes (there's two) and maybe one of the breads or desserts in the future.

In short, this is a good basic vegetarian cookbook at a low price.
2420723
I must admit that I have never heard of the DASH diet before. I am not a sufferer from hypertension, but having come across this book I thought that prevention is better than cure.
What a revelation, not only are a lot of health information contained here, the recipes are out of this world. With delicious tastes like this is it hard to believe that they are healthy too!
Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner, I can hardly wait to try them all.
502262
The book begins by noting the premise that our lives are hectic and that we have limited time to carry out many activities--including cooking. How to have good, healthy meals with time pressures? This book provides one answer--quick recipes, taking 30 minutes or less to prepare good, healthy meals. Does it succeed?  Let's look at a handful of recipes to illustrate.

"Tomato and mozzarella toasts." This is a tasty appetizer--and easy to create!  3-5 minutes to prepare and about 7-8 minutes to actually make. Ingredients: three thin ciabattas, sun-dried tomato paste, mozzarella, dried oregano (or mixed herbs), olive oil, and ground black pepper. Broil the bread until lightly toasted, then apply the ingredients, put on a baking dish and bake until the mozzarella bubbles.

"Corned beef hash." When I was a kid, my mother used to buy those cans of corned beef hash, heat the hash up, and serve with a side of eggs.  I recall enjoying it a lot.  But making the hash fresh produces something a whole lot tastier!  Ingredients: sunflower oil, butter, onion, green bell pepper, diced potatoes, corned beef, nutmeg, paprika, eggs, black pepper, parsley, and (if one wants) sweet chili sauce or tomato sauce. It takes about 4-5 minutes to prepare and some 12-15 minutes to cook. Tasty.  The photo on  Page 112 nicely illustrates how this would look served.

"Seafood pilaf." 3-4 minutes to prepare and 17 or 18 minutes to cook. Ingredients: olive oil, long grain rice, turmeric, red bell pepper, onion, zucchini, button mushrooms, fish (or chicken) stock, orange juice, white fish fillets, shelled mussels (which I would omit when I fix this), ground black pepper, and orange zest.

Some other dishes that I look forward to making in the future: pasta with broccoli and artichokes (a nice vegetarian dish), Cajun-spiced chicken, spaghetti with seafood sauce, pan fried Mediterranean lamb, tuna steaks with pan fried plum tomatoes, crunchy topped cod, and eggs with spinach and cheese sauce.

My answer to the question posed in the first paragraph? Yes, this book succeeds. One question that my brief experiences with these recipes raises: The actual process seems to me to take a little more time than the recipes allow for.  But it's not a whole lot longer in any event--and the recipes produce tasty dishes.
4340984
I'm not diabetic (yet - have had one pre-diabetic reading in the past), and bought this book looking for recipes that would allow the two of us to eat sensibly while still enjoying good desserts.  What I particularly like about the book is the number of recipes for SMALL cakes, made in a single 8-inch layer pan.  We do like to treat ourselves to cake once in a while - which I have to bake myself because I'm on a gluten-free diet.  (I just substitute my own flours with a little xanthan gum, and the results have been fine.)  When I make a cake of normal size, the two of us eat way too much, but a single 8-inch layer of cake will give us a dessert for 3 or 4 days without tempting us to overdo it.  To me, the recipes for the Havana Banana Cake (a banana upside-down cake), the Charming Chocolate Bundt Cake, and the Blueberry-Lemon Buttermilk Cake are worth buying the book, and there are other ones that look good that I haven't tried yet (e.g., the Chocolate-Drizzled Peanut Butter Cake).  One of the ways that these cakes cut down on sugar is by not having conventional frostings - and being delicious without them.  I've learned a lot from this cookbook and am adapting other recipes we love to smaller sizes and healthier ingredients.
1232627
Since Hubby is on a low sodium diet now, we are using a lot of Mrs. Dash seasonings. This is one of our favorites.
157059
We all know what a serious and all too common health problem hypertension or high blood pressure
has become. Too many people have become dependent upon prescription drugs in order to control
their blood pressure.  Fortunately, there is a healthy and delicious alternative!  Dash Diet Slow Cooker
Recipes by Brittany Davis offers a variety of great recipes for every meal.  Getting healthy looks great!
1675609
Recipes are quick and easy to make.  Some of them actually taste pretty good for not being gourmet, others, well let's just say I won't be making them again.  Overall there are plenty of recipes to pick from and other helpful tips such as a glycemic index, how to read food labels,  and "how to" grocery shopping.
2218588
Unless you have low blood pressure, pretty much every American could benefit from reducing their sodium intake. The introduction to the Low Sodium Cookbook is a comprehensive list of diseases and conditions that can arise from consuming too much salt. This is not an inflammatory 'fad' cookbook, but seems like something written by medical professionals.

There are practical lists of easy things one can do, like eating fresh over frozen or canned, resisting fermented or smoked foods, and simply cooking for yourself more. The 14-day meal plan lays out accessible meals and snacks that would be second nature to an even remotely health conscious person. What's not delicious about whole wheat English muffins with unsalted peanut butter,  apples and honey, or jalapeno and cilantro hummus?
335993
This book has a collection of some pretty decent recipes. They are healthy and are base on some potent super foods. If you try some of these instead of eating processed or fast food then you should improve your health.
Thankfully I already enjoy most of these super foods but this book has some good recipes to change it up a bit.
1715233
I have worked as a healthcare professional, but  I found the descriptions of insulin related to fat storage,food combining logic, etc. not to be clear enough in this book. Perhaps this is better reviewed in the first  book. Although I had to read the combining sections a few times, I think  that this is a healthful way to eat the right foods. And like the eat right  for your type books, it really helps if you have problems with bloating, GI  upset resulting from your current way of eating. Would like to have seen  more pasta options. Also, I think that it would have been helpful to  suggest similar substitution dishes to those favorite dishes that cannot be  eaten due to combinations. The recipes are simple and easy to prepare, and  quite tasty. I did enjoy the book, but I think that it needs to be  augmented by the first one or Dr. Schwartzbein's.
280382
I'm not a diabetic, but have family members on my moms side that are so I try to watch what I eat and exercise so that I don't develop diabetes later in life. This cookbook has a variety of recipes. Recipes that include pork, beef, chicken, and fish. There are vegetarian dishes, breakfast meals, salads, side dishes, sauces, and soups. All recipes include healthy substitutes, for example coconut flour in place of regular flour. One particular recipe I look forward to trying is the chicken Parmesan breaded with almond meal instead of breadcrumbs and with low fat cheeses. At the end of each recipe the per serving nutritional values are given. These recipes are meals for two and are low fat and low carb. The difference in the two types of diabetes is discussed. It also reminds you that exercise and portion control is important. The one thing I wish it included was a few dessert recipes which is why I'm leaving four stars instead of five.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
1730338
You'd be forgiven for thinking that a diet without animal products, processed foods, nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants), alliums (onions and garlic), wheat, and oil would be a particularly cruel form of punishment. Blissful Bites proves otherwise. While it didn't convert me to author Christy Morgan's super healthy way of eating, I definitely did enjoy the colorful and, yes, tasty recipes within it.

Blissful Bites is a collection of over 175 vegan and macrobiotic recipes, including some raw and gluten-free dishes. Most are low in oil and (more importantly for me) can be made in under 45 minutes. There's an emphasis on seasonal, whole foods and hardly a stick of Earth Balance or bag of Daiya to be seen. Also good: lots of glossy, full color pictures to inspire you. Sections, which feature recipes organized by season, include breakfast, salads, soups and appetizers, sea vegetables, grains, and desserts.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't immediately attracted to many of the recipes. The author favors very different spices and seasonings than I do -- lots of recipes call for miso, different vinegars, sea vegetables, brown rice syrup, ginger, coriander, and nutritional yeast. But I rolled up my sleeves and started cooking. Instructions were clear and easy to follow, and although everything tasted very different from what I usually eat, nothing was less than enjoyable. I faced down my tofu prejudices and surprised myself by liking the Southwest Tofu Scramble. The Un-Tuna sandwich filler, which calls for garbanzo beans, was a welcome change from my usual mock tuna recipe with green onions, and the Sweet Carrot-Ginger Bisque had a delicate, mild flavor with a definite zap at the very end. The soup section is my favorite; there are quite a few that I'm looking forward to trying this fall.

A few caveats: I didn't find the dessert section very interesting, since 1) my kitchen is not equipped for vegan, gluten-free baking, and 2) I refuse to believe that tofu has any place in dessert. I also found that a few of the recipes sacrifice a little flavor or time to be healthier. If I make the Sage-Infused Polenta Fries again, I will probably pan-fry rather than bake them. Also, a number of the recipes in Blissful Bites will require either substitutions or trips to Whole Foods for the more obscure ingredients (palm sugar, arrowroot powder, dulse flakes, brown rice flour).

Being neither vegan, macro, low-fat, nor gluten-free, I'm probably not quite the right type of eater to get the most out of Blissful Bites. But macrobiotic vegans and other health conscious eaters might well fall in love with its bright flavors and emphasis on healthy yet tasty meals.
490613
Love these ... Sugar and sodium friendly ....great snack for those of us with diabetes and hypertension.  Chile adds just a little bit of kick
2287738
A great cookbook for anyone!!!  Yes, I have high blood pressure & have been diagnosed as 'salt sensitive,' and my husband has had open heart surgery, so we have to be careful, but I have lost 50 pounds without giving up pizza, sticky buns, and chocolate brownies!!!  This cookbook enabled me to change my lifestyle without having to redesign my cooking.  The recipes in here are easy to make, taste great, and keep you in the mainstream of the food chain even though you are dealing with serious health issues.  Don recommends buying a bread machine - who knew store- bought bread had so much sodium!!  Anyway, I bought a bread machine , and recipes for the pitas, the breads, the pizza dough - all superb!  So many of the heart healthy books do not understand that is not just the fat...many of us have to watch the salt as well.  This cookbook guarantees that we do not have to give up the flavor and the fun of food.