What an excellent book. I got The Thrive Diet as a birthday present
while camping and I read the entire book with-in three days. It was
such a great, inspiring read. I was familiar with the author
Brendan Brazier's main message as I had just finished his new (and
free!) Thrive in 30 program offered from his website. The book has
clarified and expanded on those points, where I now have a much
better understanding on his approach to a healthy body (and mind).
I love his premise on reducing all types of stress (nutritional,
psychological, environmental) and his explanations for his Thrive
diet. Truly amazing. And definitely following his advice will get
you extremely healthy! I have many books on health, and the good
ones stress the same elements: eat more vegetables. Especially
green leafy veggies, plus switching a plant-based diet. Of course
there's so much more, which is why I recommend reading this book.
I would say my only gripe is Brendan doesn't footnote; he does
mention a lot of research and science-based studies but there are
no further noting/resources about these studies. I know what he
says is correct as I've read other books on plant-based nutrition
(like Eat To Live book by Joel Fuhrman, MD and Michael Greger, MD
DVD series) who do mention similar studies and research and provide
the footnotes (and/or shows the studies on the DVD). I figure
Brendan is coming from an athletes perspective, not from a
researcher and/or MD, so he doesn't need to provide all the medical
and clinical studies.
I have tried many of his recipes and I enjoy all his smoothies,
pre/post exercise, cereals, and some of his veggie recipes. I have
had to adapt many of his other recipes to suit my own tastes, but
the recipes are definitely a good starting point. For newbie cooks,
I suggest getting other healthy eating or specifically raw
cookbooks (or checking out the internet) to complement Brendan's
recipes. I love Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, Becoming Vegetarian, and
The Gluten-Free Vegan, but of course, I usually adapt those as
well.
Good book! Change your life (and health) and read it!