- ISBN13: 9781605296449
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
In The Kind Diet, actress, activist, and committed conservationist Alicia Silverstone shares the insights that encouraged her to swear off meat and dairy forever, and outlines the spectacular benefits of adopting a plant-based diet, from effortless weight loss to clear skin, off-the-chart energy, and smooth digestion. She explains how meat, fish, milk, and cheese—the very foods we’ve been taught to regard as the cornerstone of good nutrition—are actually the c… More >>
The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet
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When I had the chance to pick a book to review, I could not contain my excitement. TWO vegetarian cookbooks to choose from. Well, based upon the write ups I went for THE KIND DIET by Alicia Silverstone. This book looked so full of information and exciting.
When it arrived yesterday I hunkered down in my pothole couch and began to read. Within minutes I burst out laughing. I tried to control myself. Then a few minutes later, I could not stop laughing.
Finally, wanting to be in on the fun that I was having, my kids came over and asked me what I was laughing at. When I began to read parts of this book to them, they also laughed and asked what kind of drugs this girl was on.
MY BACKGROUND
Before I continue, I want to let you know that my family has grown up eating only whole natural foods. We have been doing this since Alicia was a young child. I have explored and studied health and nutrition for many years and have lived a pretty strict lifestyle naturally speaking. This laughter was not due to being a scoffer at all. It was due to – well, this book is really … bizarre.
If you happen to remember the movie CLUELESS that Alicia was in some years ago, this book could easily be titled, Cher’s Clueless Diet Cookbook. Seriously. For the first time in my life, I said to myself, this is really how this girl is!
BASIC LOGIC OF THE BOOK
Okay, back to the book. I am not sure where to start- perhaps the long chapter on freaky farting cows (with an ode to Queenie the escaped slaughterhouse cow that fled through NYC), or perhaps it is that no fish is good to eat because they are all poisoned.
I could address the entire section where she explains her choice to eat raw foods and then was stopped in her tracks when she was chided about it. After all, you have to eat what is grown in your area. So, instead of papaya and mango which are supposed to be for people in hot climates, she opted instead for only apples because that is what is grown in NY area where she was living at the time. Then she proceeds to tell of her new favorite foods now that her thinking was corrected as being Umeboshi plums, rice, daikon radish, miso, and seaweed. Wow. Those rice paddies in NY are definitely everywhere you look- and I have never seen so much miso and umeboshi plums as I have seen made from things grown in NY. The raw diet was no good based upon the fact that the fruits she was eating were not local (hence wasted fuel on pineapple and mango importing), but she has no problem with the fuel wasted bringing Japanese foods here.
The excessive use of the word fart and other such words as *badass skin hair and nails* makes this book seem like it is written by an eighth grader who hangs out on You Tube all of the time.
Much of the food she likes is processed but that is okay because people that process organic foods are not going to do damage like the other people would. So some recipes involved using these much better processed foods.
Also, a lot of the *information* in this book is highly inflated propaganda from the animal rights industry, and the *chicken little* perspective that we are all gonna die from global warming so we have to stop the farting cows and waste of time and resources feeding them (words SHE uses).
Don’t get me wrong, I prefer to eat more vegetarian- mostly vegan, but realistically speaking, I think that going off the deep end with anything closes you off from reality to a point. I prefer cows and poultry being fed naturally and humanely treated as that is healthy for those who prefer meats. Meats and poultry have been damaged by the awful way they are raised for meats.
There is so much propaganda in this book, however, that it makes it even more difficult to read than it already is with her random approach to logic.
PHOTOS AND LAYOUT
The photos are VERY amateur. Some of the photos are so non-interesting, they actually make me NOT want to eat healthy by looking at them.
There are three levels of eating that Alicia attempts to outline in this random book- FLIRT, VEGAN and SUPERHERO.
The layout is okay, but rather mushed around. The chapters all run into each other and I find them to be a bit confusing and hard to follow at times.
There are some meal plans in the book and some recipes too.
FINAL COMMENTS
I have to say that this book is one of the weirdest and most difficult books to read on the topic of natural foods eating of any that I have read in all of the years I have eaten this way.
On the plus side, at least Alicia is trying to get people to eat more healthy. If someone gets that way from reading this book- then at least they are moving in a good direction. I honestly don’t think that there is enough information in this book to KEEP someone wanting to eat naturally. The Kind Diet is so all over the map that I am just not sure how much solid foundation a person would get from it to keep them living a natural lifestyle long term.
At least she is not a fan of sugar or white flour or hydrogenated oils. Although some of the products she recommends seems to indicate she is not THAT opposed.
All in all, this book is not worth a high price tag. There are much better books out there which are laid out better and have more information to help someone seriously interesting in improving their lifestyle.
There are some interesting recipes in here that I might try out, but on the whole they are not overly motivating.
I have eaten the high level diet she suggests and once Alicia hits 45, it will be interesting to see how she changes her approach to healthy eating. The disturbingly low level of raw foods in her photos and diet might take a change for the better, but only time will tell.
What kind of sums it all up was my son’s earnest question after a few moments of reading excerpts to him.
“Wait, Mom, are you SURE this is not meant to be some kind of a joke?”
Rating: 2 / 5
This is an excellent book! I say that as a fitness professional, nutritional counselor, and just as an interested reader. I like that Alicia provides different levels for different people, and/or for people at different levels themselves. This is a book that helps the reader to really prepare and execute on a life-changing diet. I will definitely be recommending this to some of my training clients! I personally am not trying to remove all meat from my diet, but when I do want to remove it from meals, this is a great resource book!
The other one that I always recommend is: Attract Men Like Bees to Honey: The Magic Formula For Putting Him Under Your Spell Fantatsic diet and great tips on how to attract men is something all women need to know so I highly recommend both books!
Rating: 5 / 5
After reading this book the thought of eating meat turns my stomach. I still can’t imagine collard greens for breakfast.
Rating: 4 / 5
Alicia Silverstone was a ’90s icon thanks to her performance as Cher in Clueless (Special Whatever! Edition) For a brief,shining moment in the ’90s,she was the It Girl–till she got cash for clunkers in movies like Batman & Robin and Love’s Labour’s Lost Now,Silverstone has a made a comeback as a PETA spokeswoman,touting vegan mayonnaise, and writing a cookbook.
Celebrity cookbooks are a mixed bag. Some celebs do them as vanity projects (like record labels),others seem to leave their cooking to their personal staff, and others clearly know their way around a kitchen. Silverstone’s falls in the median. It’s not a terrible vanity project like Ethel Merman’s disco album,but it isn’t like Justin Timberlake’s successful Southern restaurant either. The book has a fun,easy layout, well-illustrated,and it’s user-friendly. Oddly,it would be a better fit in the health section than the cookbook one. The health and environmental tips outnumber the recipes.
“The Kind Diet” tends to the preachy (especially when it comes to meat,dairy,sugar) Luckily, Silverstone has a charming and personable style. She’s preachy,but does it with a smile. The recipes come in three levels-Flirty,Vegan,and Superhero. Somewhat confusing. There are good recipes but they tend to be highly dependent on tofu. Tofu seems to be the main ingredient. She’s also into seitan and tempeh. Tempeh is an acquired taste,and I’m not a seitanist. Some of the best vegan recipes are dependent on veggies,grains and legumes instead of meat substitutes. This one is more economical The World in your Kitchen: Vegetarian recipes from Africa, Asia and Latin America for Western kitchens And,if you must have a celebrity vegetarian cookbook,this one is superior,and best enjoyed with Strawberry Fields Forever Linda McCartney on Tour: Over 200 Meat-Free Dishes from Around the World
“The Kind Diet” is okay. It’s good as an environmental and health tome,not so much as a cookbook. Still,it’s a delicious comeback for Alicia Silverstone.
Rating: 3 / 5