Awesome read: easy to consume, hard to digest
342666
Hope I meet this guy some day.

I love his writing style. I'm not much of consumer of non-fiction, but Bob's amusing little vignettes are wonderful. Then once your imagination is totally engaged, he slaps you with a concept that challenges the way you do stuff each day. I couldn't have enjoyed it more.

Enjoy!!
747582
I read Wheat Belly first and began a regimented attempt at Gluten-free, both my wife and I are happy with the wheat free results, less bloated etc. Then we read The Plan, which is extremely informative and has merit, yet the complex or should I say difficulty factor is high. A 3 day detox followed by 17 days of testing foods for their reactive value is tricky. We made many of The Plans recipes and sauces and enjoy staying in touch on FB, yes their articles are worth a read. I rated the book a 4 star because many of you out there deserve the opportunity to explore the uniqueness of The Plan lifestyle, remember it's not what you eat, it's all about the chemical reaction! enjoy
Dave and Lynn Ajax, Canada
4615520
Great reading material, something I am glad I bought because I need to digest a bit at  a time and try.
3266731
How to sum up this book?  It is a combination of so many types of writing. Part memoir. Part cookbook (but the recipes aren't the main focus). And then there are the sections which highlight some of the best producers and manufacturers of various foods, products ranging from olives to chocolate to cheese.

At the heart of this work, however, is the voice of a woman,Dayna Macy,  who struggles to understand her uncomfortable love/hare relationship with food. It had been her comfort after she drove her father to the hospital when he was struck with a heart attack.  So much else in her life is put of whack as well. Her brother's lack of mental stability. Her parents' fights and chaotic marriage.

So Macy eats - and eats more and more over time. All the high-fat foods she consumes not only add visible padding to her body but also help her feel safely padded from scary feelings and memories.

In an effort to stop the semi-conscious, never feeling totally full type of eating that fills her life, author  Macy decides to visit farms, food producers,etc  and to learn from them, perhaps even gaining a new, saner perspective. She wants to truly enjoy meals without losing control of her appetite.

In the process, Macy revisits her own, often painful, memories from childhood on, yearning to discover how and why eating became an overwhelming compulsion.

Okay, so maybe this sounds familiar...an overweight person who writes a memoir, possibly gains insight, changes his or her life,etc. I certainly don't mean to be glib  but it is no secret that these types of books flood the market. I've bought my fair share of them.

Even after reading other books centered on overeatimg, Macy's book struck me as unique. The rhythm, flow, and liveliness of her style interspersed with nuggets of info about food purveyors held my interest. And I'm a sucker for books with recipes, although it can be a challenge to keep reading rather than take a break and whip up one of the recipes.

Ultimately, though, Macy's insights helped change my own attitude towards food, although my attitude (as for Macy) is "a work in progress."
3812872
This is NOT an easy read where you immediately absorb the information.  This thing is jam packed with some great info referencing all sorts of documents, articles, etc.  This volume was great but if you want to know about similar information about OJ Simpson or George Zimmerman you HAVE to check out this new book I just read through:&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/When-Prosecutors-Attack-OJ-Simpson-Roderick-Scott-George-Zimmerman-Baseless-Government-Attacks-and-the-Media-That-Lets-It-Happen/dp/0615871453/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">When Prosecutors Attack!: OJ Simpson, Roderick Scott, George Zimmerman - Baseless Government Attacks and the Media That Lets It Happen</a>
4033487
I bought this book because I am a fan of the author's website, and especially her readable, approachable writing style. The book held true to form in that regard, making it an easy and informative read. The book is full of tips and tricks to be more healthy and I found sections about the author's father to be moving and really a great anecdote for how mindfulness can transform lives.

I would say there are a couple of areas in which the book is lacking. One being that it is hard to tell what the 'thesis' is. Obviously there are some big messages driven home: diets are bad, processed is bad, mindfulness is the goal, and habit forming is the best way to transform your eating. But I didn't feel like the book reached a point of unifying all of its messages into an underlying thesis woven throughout. Rather it read like disjointed chapters, albeit all of them useful and well-written. The other main complaint I have is just the over embracing of a reductionist nutrition perspective and the author's shying away from the ill effects of consuming animal products frequently.

Still, I would say this is a useful book for everyone, and as someone who was already a *relatively* healthy eater, I would say I learned some tricks and ground rules which have helped me improve further. Recommended!
4398590
The less you know about the food you eat, the more urgent your need to read this book. Organized around Kingsolver's family decision to eat-local for a year, the tale she tells is much larger--encompassing as it does the entire relationship between food, energy, nutrition, corporate agriculture, marketing, global climate change and the sexual habits of turkeys. The novelist brings all of her writerly experience to the task and she is at her best in barbed asides about the forces that force feed Americans with the manufactured crap that is now reducing our children's life expectancy.

On the other hand, if you are an organic grower, a slow-foodist, a farmer's market afficianado, a nutrition activist or a deep ecologist (a multiply redundant description, I'm sure), you will find less to learn here. Still, Kingsolver is fun. Add to that the instructive asides by her husband, environmentalist and naturalist Steven L.  Hopp, and the observations and recipes from daughter Camille Kingsolver, and you are treated with a volume that wholly embodies the story it tells--a family writing about a family passion, learning together and living what they learn.

As I wrote in my book,<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Garden-My-Heart-Organic-strategies-for-backyard-sustainability/dp/0615220320/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Garden My Heart: Organic strategies for backyard sustainability</a>&nbsp;"I have directed or redirected this sprawling patch, this tiny fragment of the vast network of living systems on our planet, eaten a little of the bounty and been intimately rejoined to life's miracle and power--all without toxics, without poisoning the plants and the creatures and the air and the soil.

"I have struck a bargain with life and tried to keep my side of the deal, at least here, in my backyard, on a little patch of dirt."

You can strike that bargain too.
524311
Word Lovers Book Club Review

Hunger by Roxane Gay

Living life as a fat person is not easy. Living life as a fat person and rape survivor is doubly hard. In  Hunger, Gay gives readers a raw and authentic look at her life, her feelings, her pain, and yes, her body. Her explanation of why she allowed herself to become super morbidly obese is valid but at times seemed to be an excuse. At various junctures in the book we wondered why Gay did not say, Okay, this is really over the line here. But, we realized and finally accepted that initially Gay intentionally became obese to shield her body from abuse. As we continued reading, we realized that Gay no longer wanted to use her body as a shield but somehow could not bring herself to allow her body and herself to be loved. Collectively, we agree on this point.

However, there were contentions. When Gay examined her space and how she occupied it, one of our members so acutely identified with this sentiment that we had to pause and entertain incessant conversation about how people perceive overweight people versus how those overweight people perceive themselves. We explored the idea that Gays perception of herself did not necessarily mean that others viewed her that way. There are thousands of overweight people in the world, so Gays dilemma with weight was not unique but instead unquestionably common as she so indicated when she discussed several weight loss reality shows. Essentially, one of the members, who is considered by medical professionals to be morbidly obese, cemented her point that others have a negative perception of overweight people. On this notion, we were divided.

We were certainly on one accord with other themes in the book, such as symptoms and actions of having low-self esteem and peer and parental relationships. We did not understand why Gay refused to tell her parents about the rape or why she decided to lose her mind, in defiance of it. However, we did understand her obsession with wanting to confront her perpetrator and why she allowed herself to have so many toxic relationships. We loved the writing. We loved the themes. We appreciated the bareness the writer allowed readers to see and certainly the cannon of courage it took to write about herself in this raw and authentic way. We would have liked to have had a smoother ending as the book ended a little roughly for us.

The book begins with an admission, then proceeds to events, and then explanationsat least that is how we embraced it. We recommend this book to women in general but specifically to overweight women, rape survivors, and teenagers who struggle with low self-esteem. We will be on the look out for other books by this phenomenal writer.

This review is the collective opinion of Word Lovers Book Club (WLBC) and may not be reproduced in any way without the written permission of  WLBC. (c) August 26, 2017
1495644
This is a very easily digested, visually stunning book.  I really like that not only does it tell the facts, but it also freely tells the areas of contention.  I feel better about a source that is willing to address what we do know and what we don't.  The best example of this is when the authors include quotes for and against supplements.

I am not looking for a great change in my lifestyle, I was just looking for guidelines to help me get as much active life and I can out of my chance here. Much of this book's content is kind of clichd but the presentation is not. For example, don't smoke.  But  the authors and designers go beyond with info graphics, illustrations and factoids that bring the information home and make it clear. It's kind of light reading with heavy duty information.  Love it.
4138218
An impressive and interesting read that Id definitely recommend to anyone. It is filled with great, even profound, information regarding the importance of developing the mind through reading but in easily digestible pieces.  The author does a stellar job summarizing articles, scholarly research, and entire non-fiction works focused on the benefits of reading or learning in general.  I wish Id read it before Id wasted an entire week trying to get through Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother as his one paragraph concerning it summed it up nicely enough. For the wealth of scholarly information the book offers, it still finds a way to be warm and entertaining. The family anecdotes are engaging and just plain down-to-earth.  Also, it offered some simple suggestions to have a more reading centered home, without putting me on a guilt trip if I don't care to have my kindergartner reading Harry Potter.  Although, what would be so bad about that?  After reading this book I really do just want to do a better job teaching the little people in my life to love reading. More than that, to teach them that anything is possible with hard work and dedication.
3498875
Gulp is an informative and entertaining book -- and one that might prove particularly important for people dealing with digestive-related problems. (Which eventually seems to all of us. Oy!)
Mary Roach includes multiple, well-referenced, resources about historic and current research explorations and outcomes. She offers loads of observations and considerations for general consumption (no pun intended), and does so with a compelling, conversational, and humorous style.
My one complaint is that Ms. Roach couldn't resist taking a PC shot (sadly so common nowadays); this one by way of a smarmy quote from a researcher about Republicans. Ms. Roach, if you're reading Amazon reviews -- you really had to include his remark?  With that potentially alienating exception (at least to this reader), I'm delighted to recommend Gulp.
4618124
I read this book in one sitting a few weeks ago, and I am still digesting it.  An easy read, this book is filled w/ difficult topics- shame, grief, anger, rage, humiliation.  It's a book about one man who comes alive and "finds himself," but the author does something truly amazing. He talks about it in a way that is intelligent and practical, rather than totally cheezy (as is the case w/ many books abt. weight).  Prager is gifted, as he writes about serious issues with such down-to-earth-ness.  Authors writing about such topics either get caught up in logical rhetoric or sappy emotion. Prager does neither of these- he somehow manages to make human emotion okay.  This book is for anyone, not just those with weight issues.  It's for everyone who longs to let go of control and pre-conceived ideas about life.  It's for anyone who wants to strengthen a relationship w/ him or herself.  For those with weight issues, this book is essential.  "My mistake was that as I got closer to normal size, I thought I was getting closer to normal."  Anybody out there NOT able to relate to that statement?  I think Michael Prager is a stellar writer and an incredible person.  Anyone who faces fear and overcomes it is amazing in my book.  One who is able to put those experiences down on paper in an honest and readable way is a hero.
1014270
Adam Gopnik's latest book on French culture is a delight to read.  He understands how history  can illuminate experience, in this case, eating.  I liked this book as much for its comparative take on food literature (19th and 20th century) as much as on his critique of the culture of contemporary French cuisine.  New York French restaurants, Food TV star chefs and characters  from the world of restaurant newspaper criticism  and food movements (i.e. Fooding, Localvores, Foraging etc.) all take a turn under his pen.  He is a fine writer but why does he describe women and compare them to other women.  It's so annoying.  He doesn't describe men this way.  This kind of stuff gets in the way and I wish his editor would be a bit tougher on him...but HE probably doesn't notice.
654267
Hunger is fantastic. Way too short for me, but an excellent read. I realize that this is Barton's preferred medium (he's likes writing short stories and he's good at it), but some of these narratives felt like dipping my toe in the ocean. I know there could be more, but I'll never find out because the tide went out. All were equally good, but the first one, the Mask of Sisyphus left marks on me. It's about a man who works at a fast food joint in the future whose boss makes him an offer he can't refuse. I don't know whether to call it fiction or a critique on modern society's minimum wage slaves. Each paragraph is bursting with the author's thoughts on the subject, but cleverly masked to read like fiction. I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say that the protagonist does what his boss wants, and things go topsy-turvy from there. I do have a small issue though: his style reads like a stream of consciousness making the narrative a little less tight than it could be. I found myself rereading several paragraphs over to try to get what he was telling me. Overall, the entire book is excellent and I highly recommend it. Barton's writing reminds me of Philip K. Dick and I can see his work being optioned into Hollywood movies years down the line. It's really that good.

I'd give Hunger 5 stars because the story is excellent, but is overridden by the writing style at times and jolts me out of the flow.
4839129
Likes
I've read over 100 self-help books and what I liked about this book was it contained food choices to nudge one into a different mindset.  I also liked how the author tied in greats such as Napolean Hill.  Great discussion on the power of giving.  It is clear the author is quite a giver himself!  Also really liked how the author brought up understanding one's partner's dharma (the passions that fuel them).

Gripes
I thought the writing style could have been better.  I felt the author overflowed the book with aggrandizing thank you letters from his students and including his first name on seemingly every other page (not wrong, just awkward).  I think more humility and less pats on the back would have made the author come across as more credible and emotionally secure.  For example, saying "I have higher sex drive than most young men and women" is just awkward, lol.  I had to knock off a couple of stars for the gripes, but much of the content came from a good place.
4728967
For the average modern American reader this book should be educational, as far as eating healthy and exercising, and it should be inspiring in the sense that the mental approaches & personal standards required for greatness in one field (triathlons) can apply to almost any field.
For those who are already familiar with quinoa, acai, spirulina, maca, and alkalyzing, his dietary approach is not groundbreaking news.  For most, it will be a challenging call to abandon what we have been taught for years is 'healthy' (eggs, milk, white meat, whole-grain bread, etc).
I do agree with the author that soy and tofu are not the healthiest choice, especially for men.  I personally disagree when he says that using a blender for vegetables is healthier than using a (masticating) juice extractor, and I don't recommend storing fresh-made juice to drink hours later, whether blended or extracted.  (I had the same objection with the equally-good DVD titled "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead")
There were several sections I skimmed over, rather than reading word for word, because I didn't relate.  For example, I don't relate to the problem of trying to get out of golf classes at an elite private college, and I don't instinctively feel bad for Hollywood lawyers who are 'struggling with finances' so much that they must drive an older Land Rover instead of a new one. :p
This book may particularly touch readers who struggle with alcohol, as several chapters describe his addiction and recovery regarding that.
There was some mother-earth new-age spirituality here and there, but not enough to turn me off.
Overall I would recommend this book to friends, with the caveat that it includes obvious promotion of the companies who sponsored his athletics, and promotion of the health products he and his colleagues have created.
I wish him well. I'm glad he wrote it, and glad I read it.  I hope I can be as healthy and successful someday.
3316361
I received a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Clean" for Christmas (an item on my Wish List), and by New Years, had read it from cover to cover.  It is easy to read, the concepts made a lot of sense, and the recipes sounded delicious and simple to follow.  To say that Diane Welland sold me on the concepts of eating cleaner was an understatement.  I even went out on a limb and used several of the recipes for a very large party celebrating my daughter's December college graduation and commissioning in the Army--an important celebration for us.  Wandering among the large crowd, I took great delight hearing people rave about the dishes.  They had probably never eaten so "clean" without realizing it.  I came clean and admitted that I got the recipes from the guide.  Afterwards, I heard several people (including my 82-year-old mother) say that they planned to get a copy.  It goes to show that you are never too old to change your eating habits, and in her guide, Diane Wellend shows how easy that is to do.

One thing I really appreciated about Diane Welland's guide was that she didn't preach, and you won't come away from it feeling that it is an "all or nothing" approach.  The tips she provides show how to make both large and small improvements in preparing meals and snacks - even desserts.  My one small criticism was with the index.  Recipes aren't always listed logically.  For example, I couldn't find hummus (a recipe I knew was in the book).  I finally found it listed alphabetically as "Spicy Hummus."  A problem probably created by electronic indexing software rather than an error by the author.  A small thing when compared to the great information this book provides.