Dr. Axe Real Food Cookbook Review and GIVEAWAY!

Several weeks ago, I was sent a book to review.  Dr. Axe’s new cookbook, The Real Food Diet.  The premise of the book is that you can lose weight while eating real food, without counting calories or fat or carbs.  The beginning section of the book has a lot of information on what real food is, how to find it, what to eat; and what not to eat.  The second section is all recipes.

I read through this book several times, actually, trying to get a full understanding of Dr. Axe’s advice and information.  I found that what he says in the beginning doesn’t quite match up the the recipes he presents later.  There were definitely good and bad points to his approach.

First of all, I definitely liked that he outlined what real food is.  He’s not afraid of real butter, coconut oil, and other healthy fats.  He talks about eating fewer grains and especially gluten-free grains.  He addresses the idea of eating whole foods and sprouted grains.  He talks about how bad artificial sugars and other packaged, processed foods are.  All of this is great, because so many diet books are afraid of fats and recommend artificial sugars.  His busts the myths that this is a healthy approach.

Dr. Axe also shows the glycemic index and glycemic load of several foods, and offers substitutions for popular meals.  This was good, except that I noted in his meal substitutions that not only did Dr. Axe recommend what was clearly healthy (more fresh vegetables, less sugar, lower carbs), but he also recommended many fewer calories.  His examples of “bad” meals over the course of a day added up to 2300 to 2500 calories, while his examples of “good” meals added up to only 1500 calories.  This is more typical of mainstream diet books, the idea that we should severely restrict calories in order to lose weight.  I have to wonder if it’s because he really believes this is a good idea, or because it’s technically a “diet” book, and people might not listen if he didn’t say some calorie restriction was necessary.

Then, the recipes section.  The photographs were beautiful and the meal ideas were certainly interesting.  I did not like that he recommended a few packaged ingredients, though, like gluten-free crackers or gluten-free baking mix.  A couple of recipes called for this baking mix; and that doesn’t seem much like a recipe to me!  I also noted that he used very small amounts of fat in most recipes, only about a tablespoon of butter or coconut oil.  So although he’s not afraid of fat, his recipes seemed a bit lower in fat than I felt was healthy.

Also, Dr. Axe focuses heavily on raw foods.  He includes recipes for raw cheesecake and other raw desserts, which do not use traditional ingredients at all.  He even includes a recipe for mac’n’ cheese (“Mac and Not Cheese“) that uses different vegetable ingredients to mimic cheese.  In my opinion, the best part about mac’n'cheese is all that real cream, butter, and cheese!

Dr. Axe kind of straddles right in between a true “real food” perspective (Weston A. Price-style) and a raw, vegan, low-fat type diet.

To sum up, the positive points of Dr. Axe’s book:

• Busts myths about artificial sugars being healthy
• Not afraid of fat; recommends organic butter and coconut oil (discusses why saturated fats are healthy)
• Simplifies real food
• Recommends several super foods
• Recommends lowering carb/grain intake; discusses sprouted grains
• Discusses why store milk is unhealthy; raw milk superior

Negative points of Dr. Axe’s book:

• Examples of healthy food include severe calorie restriction (around 1500 calories/day)
• Recipes have generally low fat content
• Use of some processed, gluten-free ingredients in recipes (baking mix, crackers)
• Heavy use of raw food
• Lots of “substitution” ingredients, like non-dairy milks (never calls for raw milk in a recipe)

I feel like Dr. Axe just doesn’t quite get it. He talks a great talk, and he does have several delicious recipes, but he still falls back on the mainstream advice of lower calorie, lower fat, raw, plant-based diets.  He avoids using too many animal products.  He also heavily prefers gluten-free grains and non-dairy milks even if processed to natural, whole options.  He mentions sprouted grains in the beginning but never uses them in a recipe or mentions them again.

Would I recommend this book?  Yes, with reservations.  If you go into the book knowing that there are a few things you should overlook, it’s good.  It’s definitely a lot better than most diet cookbooks, which recommend mostly fake food substitutes for weight loss.

Would you like to win a copy of this book?  I have a second copy here for one lucky winner!

To win, you can do any of the entries below.  Please note the first is required (all others are optional!):

1. Visit Dr. Axe’s blog to read his description of the book, and tell me what part you’re most eager to read.
2. Like” me on Facebook (and I’d appreciate it if you’d post this giveaway, though I can’t require it)
3. Subscribe to my newsletter (send an email with the word “subscribe” in the subject line)
4. Subscribe to the blog via RSS or email
5. Follow me on Twitter and tweet “I’m going to try Dr. Axe’s Real Food Diet when I win it @modernamama” and link to this post (you can use bit.ly to shorten the link)

That’s it!  Please leave each entry in a SEPARATE comment.  This giveaway will close on Wednesday, January 19th, and I’ll announce the winner by Thursday night, January 20th.  Good luck!