Cooking from the Farmer’s Market by Jodi Liano

A beautiful book from Williams Sonoma, Cooking from the Farmer’s Market did not disappoint.  The photography is colorful and enticing.  The recipes are varied enough that there is sure to be enough to warrant owning the book.

I was a little put off by the assumption that all Farmer’s Markets are the same.  I’ve been rather stunned to learn that’s not true as I follow blogs that offer seasonal cooking.  I live in Washington and, though we have an amazing farmer’s market, our seasons and variety of produce do not match what is offered in this book.

With that said, that doesn’t mean I can’t find the produce at our local Co-op.  I do appreciate encouraging local produce and learning to eat those foods. 

This would be a perfect book for those who have joined a CSA or get Bountiful Baskets.  I’m always trying to figure how to use some of the unique produce we get each week.

The Naked Foods Cookbook by Margaret Floyd and James Barry

The concept of naked eating is to eat clean, whole, unprocessed foods. The authors ask that you investigate your food before bringing it into your kitchen. This is not only a good practice for the environment but will allow the preparer to create more healthy dishes. The first few chapters of this cookbook explain the concept of eating naked as well as how to stock your kitchen and preparation methods. The recipes contained have vegetarian versions and all are gluten-free. The authors are supportive of raw organic milks but include ways to make dairy free milks at home. I liked that the recipes varied from raw to cooked and included vegetarian and meat ideas. The recipes are all rated based on difficulty and easy to find. The book ends with sample menus and food seasons. All in all this is a good book for those who are investigating eating raw, vegan or unprocessed.

The Hunter/Farmer Diet Solution by Mark Liponis

Mark Liponis works as a doctor at the Canyon Ranch (an upscale diet center). Over the years, he believes he has found the secret to weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I can’t say I agree or disagree but I enjoyed his book. His theory is based on a sort of common sense.
The idea is that anthropologically speaking we have evolved to need a particular diet. In Mark Liponis’ book, he identifies two types of diets – The Hunter and The Farmer. Placement in one diet or the other is based on medical information – mainly insulin and cholesterol. The Hunter is insulin resistant and often suffers from high blood pressure and cholesterol while The Farmer is insulin sensitive and often suffers from hypoglycemia.
The Hunter diet is a low sugar, low processed carbohydrate diet that focuses on healthy proteins and vegetables. His theory is that Hunters are addicted to sugar. I do like that he encourages doctor support and says that a Hunter has found the correct diet when their blood glucose is under 100 and triglycerides are under 150. Basically this is a low glycemic diet designed for those with diabetes or susceptible to diabetes. The idea is that a Hunter eats a diet similar to what a hunter/gatherer would eat.
The Farmer diet is a low fat, high fiber, high grain diet that focuses on maintaining a steady glucose level throughout the day. He claims that Farmers are distracted by eating and often eat more than they need because their body is attempting to prevent drops in glucose levels. With this diet, one eats what they would grow so there’s a higher amount of grains, vegetables and fruit with less focus on meats.
All in all, there’s great information in this book. I liked that it’s not a fad diet. There’s no calorie counting but suggestions on eating better with the focus on losing weight. It may or may not work for everyone but the information is still good.

The 5 Minute Snack Diet by Benjamin Swartzman

I'm just not sure where to begin with this book. I was excited to get to review a diet book and this one sounded like a great one. However, pages into this work red flags began to pop up for me. This is one scary book and I hope people are not so caught up that they don't notice. The first thing that caught my eye was the author mentioned studies but didn't cite a single one. For me, that's important. It says several things - one the author is honest enough to share the data's source, two the studies are real and three the author has enough education to know how to write a real paper (even grade school kids learn to cite their information).
I started wondering what the author had to hide and I wanted to know who this man was that wrote the book. The book does not come with an author biography. I checked his website - none there, not even so much as a mention of anything personal about the author. I went to Smashwords where I got the book - nothing there either. This is where I begin to have problems with self published books. There is a reason why it's difficult to get a nonfiction book published - you have to have some expertise. When it comes to dieting, you really need someone who has some medical or nutritional background. I'm not saying that the author has to be a registered dietitian but have working knowledge of health.
With that aside, this is a terrible book and had it not been for the fact that I feel like I need to warn the world away from this book I would have totally skipped reviewing it. It's poorly written. The information is confusing and contridictory. The description of the book claims that the reader will learn to cook their meals in five minutes but the book lacks standard recipes. There is some cooking information but it's poorly designed and a small part of the book. The language is off putting. I don't care why someone diets but having the author tell me every few pages that this diet will make me "hot" makes me want to buy him a thesaurus. There is probably some good information in this book but I can't tell you where. It's not worth anyone's time to find out.
If you want a good diet book - there are tons out there or better yet join a group that will support you while you work towards becoming more healthy. Maybe it's my age but I found the idea of being "hot" to be less important than trying to be healthy.