12/1/10

The Real Food Diet Cookbook review and GIVEAWAY

I'm not a big fan of diet books in general and when I was asked to review this new "diet" book I was hesitant. I took a look at Dr. Axe's website and I was intrigued and my hesitation dissolved. I really found his website overflowing with sound health and nutritional advice. This book is less of a diet book and more of a nourishing your health through food book. The last week and a half I have been trying new recipes from this book.

The Real Food Diet Cookbook by Dr. Josh Axe

The beginning of the cookbook is filled with great nutritional advice. Dr. Axe breaks down nutrition into easy to digest information:
  • real vs. fake food
  • explanation of nutrient density
  • the real food pyramid vs. the standard food pyramid
  • five best real foods 
  • five worst fake foods
  • a great explanation of sugars, fats and oils
  • healthiest milk and dairy
  • cooking tips
  • label reading
  • cooking equipment
  • glycemic load --eat this not that section is good
My favorite statement in the whole book is this:

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY
  • Stop counting calories.
  • Stop counting fat.
  • Stop counting carbs.
  • Stop measuring every last portion on your mini-scale.
  • Start focusing on eating quality food.
If you are just starting out on your real food / whole food journey then this would be a good book to get you started, mainly because of the first part of the book. 

If you have been eating with a real food / whole food concept for a while then some of this information will be stuff you already know.

Another nice feature of this cookbook is that the majority of the recipes had color pictures to accompany them. I liked that. 

Here are a few of the recipes I have tried:

Chai
This was a nice warm fall drink that uses almond milk. I enjoyed it and my kids did too. I plan to give this  to them  after they come in from playing in the chilly fall weather.

Almond Berry Cereal
I had high hopes for this cereal because it looked soo good but I didn't really like it. It had a paste like consistency  which was not very appealing. I still ate about half of it because I was hungry and didn't want to waste the food,  it was a very filling breakfast. I loved the coconut milk which I have never had before. The coconut milk was nice and creamy. Because of this recipe I plan on trying coconut milk in other ways.

Spinach Salad with Spiced Nuts
I actually made this salad for Thanksgiving. It was delicious and wonderful combination of flavors.  Since I had all the ingredients on hand I ended up making it a couple time during the weekend. It was good!


This morning I threw all the ingredients in the crock pot for the Crockpot Turkey Stew from  Dr. Axe's cookbook. I have just a little bit of turkey leftover so I thought I would give this recipe a try. 

Crockpot Turkey Stew
*recipe provided with permission from author.

2 lbs. boneless, skinless turkey (breast thighs, legs, etc.)
1 med. leek, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 tsp. thyme leaves
1 tsp. oregano leaves
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 c. winter squash, peeled and cubed
1 med. carrot, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
1 16 oz. can organic tomatoes
1 32 oz carton of chicken/turkey/veggie broth or water
  • Place turkey, leeks, celery and spices into crock pot. Turn on high and saute until leeks become translucent. (I did this in a skillet on the stove)
  • Add squash, carrots, cinnamon stick, tomatoes, water or stock and simmer covered for 2-3 hours on medium or 6-8 hours on low.
  • Remove cinnamon stick just prior to serving.
The turkey stew was yummy. The winter squash was a nice addition and the cinnamon stick made the house and stew smell delicious. The cinnamon didn't read sweet it actually added a little kick. The kiddos loved it probably because it smelled delicious. My husband did not like it but I thought it was good.

Giveaway!
As I mentioned in the title this is also a giveaway. When they sent me this book to review they were kind enough to send me one for my readers (that's you!). To enter the giveaway here's what you need to do:
1. Leave a comment at the bottom of this post.
2. Twitter about this giveaway.
 (come back and leave a comment re: tweets). 
3. Post a comment on Facebook about this giveaway. 
(come back and leave another comment re: facebook)

So that is three ways to enter. The giveaway is open until midnight tomorrow,  December 2nd. The winner will be chosen by random.org. I will announce the winner on Friday morning, December 3rd.

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