Brendan has done something amazing for us... he has given us recipes for amazingly yummy foods that you can feel good about inside and out!
Stress does affect us all, and by helping our bodies have as little physiological stress as possible, the foods and information in this book make it easier to spend your energy where you want to, on life, rather than in the boring waste-of-time state of digestion.
The athlete specific stuff was amazing and my training has taken on a whole new level now that I can properly fuel my machine.
I would buy it again just for the gel, energy drink and recovery pudding recipes!!

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!

You may have to have been familiar with him prior (i.e. tried Vega products) in order to understand where he's coming from but he tries his best to explain his theories on vegan eating to newcomers.

And that's part of the big problem that I had with this book: Brendan stating "fact" without footnote. There is a reference section but it's a bit inadequate considering all the science he drops. The index could also use a bit of work because there's yet to be a time where I look something up in the back and find it listed.

Otherwise, try Thrive. It's an introduction to stricter/purer veganism (e.g. less processed foods) as well as the raw food lifestyle.

The first section on food is wonderful, but the recipes are terrible, it's almost as if they didn't actually make them. And don't, whatever you do, try to pop amaranth in your hot air popcorn popper (as suggested in the book) not only did i make the biggest mess EVER, it broke my popcorn popper! The concept of the recipes is good but they need more work. Disappointing.