Raw Food Diet [Paperback]

Cherie Soria has lived this lifestyle for decades. As the reviewer above noted, she looks at least twenty years younger than her 60-something age.
Coming from a person like her, you can rest assured that this is not a fad, unbalanced diet. She is a vibrant, healthy, energetic person.

What I particularly like is that she has a great deal of sympathy and understanding of the challenges facing a person who is struggling with their weight and their health, and understands how intimidating it is to make that huge transition from a Standard American Diet to mostly raw vegan.

The best thing about the book is that each day's eating is completely laid out, so you don't have to fill your head with planning and making decisions. Just do what she says, and you'll very quickly 'get it' - because in the end, it's all very very simple. And you will feel so much healthier and cleaner (not to mention thinner!) very quickly. Within days. Once you 'get it', it's easy to use the book as a guide for taking over and planning for yourself.

There are lots of great raw cookbooks out there, but this explains the basics of what to eat, how much and when. So it's great for beginners.

She doesn't insist that you eat 100% raw, and has great suggestions for common concerns like cold weather, travelling, and eating out.

The book is very well-researched, and has a great deal of scientific information if you want it. There are easy to use charts. And she explains the big 'protein question' that always comes up - ie how do you get enough.

There are recipes for nutrient-packed and yet simple to prepare foods, with great sympathy for those of us who don't have a lot of time in the day. Nothing is very difficult to put together, and they are appealing to non-raw diners as well (who, if you didn't tell them what you were serving, probably wouldn't notice, and might even congratulate you on the quality of your hummus and hungrily devour the nut creams and desserts).

She goes on to explore and recommend special equipment like juicers and dehydrators, which might be useful additions to your kitchen if you continue to eat in this vein.

Overall, an excellent introduction to the new healthy you. My criticisms are minor, but I did find it a little hard to navigate without reading from cover to cover. And I would have preferred color photographs, to enhance the recipe pages. I'd recommend this book if your current food-style isn't creating the health and life you want to have.

I am surprised that this book has not already been reviewed. It unlike anything on raw food. It gives details of the diet from Cherie who walks the walk. When reading this book I became amazed. I saw Cherie at a booth during a Vegetarian Event last year. I thought she was around my age. In reading the book she is old enough to be my mother. That is an endorsement for this book. She must be in her mid 60's.

Of the recipes I have tried the cashew yogurt worked and tasted good. The zucchini hummus will be made again this week. I have shared the mexican-style seasoned cabbage with people at worked and everyone loves it.

The two other authors Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina give a thoughtful and scientific basis for raw food. Becoming Vegan by these authors is a wonderful book that any vegan should have.

"The Raw Revolution Diet" markets itself as a weight loss diet, which in some ways is a shame because the second half of the book is one of the best raw foods "cookbooks" on the market. If you're looking for a 5-star raw foods cookbook of mostly beginner and intermediate level recipes, then do not hesitate to buy this book! However, most people who come to Living Light (Cherie Soria's raw foods school) and need to lose weight, do lose weight on a raw foods diet.

The first half of the book is what I consider to be a 4-star book on vegan raw foods nutrition, weight loss and lifestyle. While I definitely recommend this book for raw foods nutrition and weight loss, the truth is that the very intelligent and knowledgeable vegan dietitians, Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina are capable of doing a more thorough job than presented in this book. Although they no doubt did many hours of research and discuss many studies on the advantages of a raw foods diet, the book references none of them! Without so much as a footnote or even author name, the reader is unable to evaluate these studies for her/himself.

As with their other books on vegan (and vegetarian) nutrition, Brenda and Vesanto cover macro (fat, protein and carbohydrates), and selected micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) of interest to vegans. Unfortunately, while their level of coverage may have sufficed about 10 years ago, there are a few gaps for the 2009 reader:

*Vitamin B12 - While otherwise extensive coverage, not a word is mentioned about which form to buy as a supplement. Health food stores commonly sell the better absorbed/shorter shelf-life methylcobalamin, as well as the less expensive cyanocobalamin. As a vegan, I'd be interested to know if the authors recommend only the methyl form, or if they also find the cyano acceptable.

*Vitamin D - The authors mention that vitamin D supports bone density, and that a lack may be linked with depression, certain types of cancer, and multiple sclerosis. However, despite there being extensive research and anecdotal evidence of vitamin D preventing colds and influenza (more than a year prior to publication), there is no mention of this. Also, they mention the "vitamin D winter" when it's difficult to obtain enough sunlight to produce vitamin D, but don't give specific information on this. The information is available as what months constitute vitamin D winter for various latitudes and exactly how much vitamin D supplementation and skin exposure is recommended for both light and dark skin in these latitudes.

Curiously, in a book about raw foods nutrition, there is no discussion of any benefit a raw foods diet may convey due to the dietary enzymes not being destroyed in the cooking process.

Despite my quibbles with the nutrition section, I find it otherwise complete and helpful. I especially like the tables, listings of raw foods highest in calcium, and iron. There's a helpful 4-page table giving, among other things, the number of calories, and protein grams in many raw foods, but curiously the number of fat grams are missing. (Although they do give you the number of calories from fat.) Most importantly, they provide sensible and specific guidelines for eating a raw foods diet that keeps people from making the mistake of gorging on nuts and seeds while considering cooked food to be "poison" and thus always foregoing steamed vegetables and cooked legumes.

I would have given this book 5 stars for the fabulous recipes and the mostly complete nutrition section, but they do not give caloric nor any nutritional information in the recipes! Occasionally they will mention in the comment section that a dish packs in certain nutrients, but it is not presented on a recipe-by-recipe basis. In a book touting itself as a weight loss program, I find that inexcusable.

Going back to the recipes, IMO that is the number one reason to buy this book. As a graduate of her raw foods school, I can tell you Cherie Soria is both a genius and perfectionist when it comes to her recipes.
I've made some of the recipes at home and others as a student at the school, and with a bit of toning down of Cherie's generous amounts of onions and peppers, love every one I've tried! This includes the Not Tuna Salad, Onion Rings, Zoom Burgers, Zucchini Hummus, Garden Blend Soup and more. (Note to Cherie - The Basic Nut Cheese is delicious, but it calls for probiotic powder, which most people are not familiar with. If there's a second edition, I think you should mention what this is and suggest a brand.) I want to give special mention to the Creamy Kale-Apple Soup and the Bananas I-Scream. Both recipes are amazingly simple and amazingly delicious.