Customer Reviews

Zest for Life: The Mediterranean Anti-Cancer Diet

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

In a mostly vegetarian household its always good to discover a new and refreshing way to look at food, underpinned by lots of soundly based based advice on the whys and wherefores. This book does just that. The first part of the book provides a clear and commonsense guide to the modern science of food. Now I understand meaning of "glycemic index" and its practical application in daily diet. Its not all theory though. Our own limitations in the kitchen notwithstanding, all the recipes we've tried have been very successful. The "Broccoli-Cauliflower Medley is a good example of a dish, easy to prepare, which looks, smells and tastes delicious. The olive oil based Granola is not only delicious and crunchy but filled the house with wonderful smell of cinnamon and roasted nuts-a real treat. I have used the book and recipes to shift from a high dairy and high glycemic index diet to one with little or or no dairy and lower GI carbohydrate. Net result is that I have lost some weight and feel more energetic. We are giving "Zest for Life" to all the family for Christmas.

A refreshing and innovative approach to healthy dieting. This is a great cookbook even if you are not dealing with the cancer issue. It is informative and packed with great knowledge and tips on health issues, wonderful and easy to make recipes that are for everyone. As a cancer patient I whole heartily recommend this cookbook. Conner's enthusiasm on healthy dieting is an inspirational take on the issue of cancer prevention and of well being

Zest for life is an easy to read, well researched and comprehensive book that will give you plenty of simple and delicious recipees, but also brush up your nutritional culture and dietary knowledge. The author starts with a comprehensive presentation of healthy eating and proceeds with a description of the mediterranean diet she has learned to love. The book is full of simple but profound ideas, such as the essential social and emotional dimension of eating together with friends or relatives. One section includes great tips on meal planning or effective groceries shopping. Parents will find new ideas about how to make their offsprings like vegies, and busybee singles will marvel at how quick they can prepare a delicious dinner - a balance to their invariable sandwich lunch. Zest for life is the unique combination of a serious dietary compendium and a creative glimpse into the joyful mediterranean eating culture.

This is a remarkable little find - a book packed with information and practical advice. Although it's particularly aimed at preventing cancer, it's equally an excellent guide to eating for good health generally. It manages to steer the fine line between informative and passionate without veering into dogmatic or patronising, a balance very difficult to find in dietary advice manuals! I hate diets, but this is really just guidance for eating,and living, well. It's extremely well researched and scientifically based; I learned a lot. The recipes are very easy to follow, despite not having photos (which I usually require in cook books). The author has obviously tested them thoroughly herself; you feel as if you've got her encouraging presence at your side as you try the recipes out. The half a dozen or so I've tried so far have all turned out really well. And the recipes don't require lots of esoteric, hard-to-find ingredients; it's all very down to earth. The lentils bolognese (much yummier than it sounds) has become a family favourite; even my three and a half year old loves it! If you're anything like me and need the occasional boost of encouragement to cook and eat well, this is the book for you!

Conner Middlemann-Whitney's Zest for Life: the Mediterranean Anti-Cancer Diet is a two-part food joie de vivre brimming with information on healthy eating, hopefully as a way to defend oneself against cancer, followed by delightfully tasty recipes.

I found Zest for Life well-organized for ease of use, extremely informative, and very readable. Ms. Middlemann-Whitney's personal voyage to a healthy diet in Chapter 1 and how she wards off junk food temptations are interesting in themselves but also instructive and useful. I especially appreciated her list of items to take on long plane or road trips. Chapter 3, A Cancer Epidemic, is scary but then Chapter 4, Eating for Life, gives hope along with practical information on herbs and spices, the colors of healthy vegetables and fruits and how they help to stay healthy as well as an easy way to measure portions. Those are only a few of the useful bits of information, not only found in Chapter 4 but also throughout the book. The appendices are full of practical information as well with, for example, a shopping list in Appendix 2 of fresh and frozen foods along with a list of staples to keep handy.

The recipes in Part II that follow the five chapters of Part I complete Zest for Life. They are easy to follow, healthy, and tasty. Since I'm forever looking for ways to prepare fish for my husband who would rather not eat it at all, I really like (and he does too) the Fish plaki and the Garlic-crusted baked cod. There are many other appealing and delicious recipes.

Most of the ingredients in the recipes are available in our small mid-western university town supermarkets but others are a bit esoteric. However, they can be found in our local health food store.

Zest for Life is well worth the read and the recipes.

I love trying out new receipes especially having a family. It is not always easy to find something which all the family love to eat but with this book I have found so many receipes which appeal to all my family and friends. The receipes are simple yet very healthy, so delicious and very easy to cook. My daughters both 1 and 7 years old just love the cauliflower soup (which makes me really happy). The book is an 'all-in-one'. It helps you learn the importance of food in our daily diet( how eating healthy can avoid alot of health issues)and gives a pleasure to cook the receipes. I have now tried 4 dishes and all have been a success. It is now my number 1 cook book which I have put beside my cooker and the first book I choose when I want to cook a healty delicious family meal or when I have friends over for dinner.

Very pleased with this book. If you are looking for recipes that exclude dairy and most meat products but give great ideas for adding more vegetables to your diet then this book is for you. Only had this book a couple of weeks but have already used it a lot.

I have never possessed a cook book that had actually inspired me like this one! Health conscious since a long time and especially since my husband's serious cancer illness ten years ago, this book finally allows me not only to cook healthy stuff, but to bring delicious dishes on the table that everybody loves! The recipes are surprising, simple enough for me to not give up after reading and always with an ingenious special touch. My favorite is the pizza dough, I couldn't believe at first that this would work; now it's a standard and it doesn't take much time to prepare. And I can eat pizza as much as I want without feeling bad afterwards! And the part on state-of-the-art research helps me to answer lots of questions and put things into perspective. A must-have for any cook interested in healthy cuisine!

A very useful and informative book to own and read. The first 100 pages or so talk about the connections between cancer and diet, and how the move away from cooking our own simple, natural foods to a more processed, sugar-rich diet has led to a sharp rise in cancer rates.

Much of the information in this section backs up what is written in Dr David Servan-Schreiber's excellent book Anticancer: A New Way of Life.

What makes Conner Middelmann-Whitney's book stand out is the excellent practical advice on preparing nutritious meals packed full of ingredients that have been shown to have a positive effect on health.

I have prepared many of her recipes (soups, fish dishes, sauces) and have found them very easy to follow and, most importantly, delicious.

I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in food, as it makes for an interesting and thought-provoking read - even more so if you, or those close to you, have been affected by cancer.

When you are going through the deeply transformational journey that comes with a cancer diagnosis, you need all the help you can get. This books helps. It is well researched, written in plain english and offers a way of eating that is healthy, beneficial and delicious. It's full of food and recipes that you intuitively know are good for you, supported by scientific evidence that helps you to understand why. Highly recommended.