The Raw Food Detox Diet: The Five-Step Plan for Vibrant Health and Maximum Weight Loss – Gourmet Recipes and Satisfying Meals for a Slimmer Figure and Radiant Energy (Raw Food Series, 1)

If you are intrigued by the current trend of eating real food, want to take this concept to the next level but are skeptical as to how to implement the raw food lifestyle on a practical everyday basis, pick up a copy of Natalia Rose's "The Raw Food Detox Diet, for a fast and fun introduction that does not require a cold turkey approach to eliminating cooked foods. Rose is in agreement with French dieting guru Michel Montignac on her definition of what constitutes a "legal" food on this plan. Montignac, a long-time proponent of eating real food as opposed to processed junk, urges us to forego the old dieting adage of counting calories and all the newer macro nutritional phobias with regard to too much or too little fat, protein or carbohydrates and instead analyze each food choice with an eye on the food's metabolic reaction with regard to fast and easy bloat-free digestion and elimination. Rose agrees, emphasizing that whereas natural foods are easily recognizable by the body and therefore easily broken down, utilized and eliminated, the processed foods that make up so much of the typical American diet are deemed by the body as the worst kind of illegal aliens that sadly deteriorate into waste that the body can neither utilize nor expel. Waste in this case, has no other recourse than to morph into a variety of problems like weight gain, a degeneration of the organs, a slowing of the metabolism and premature aging. By utilizing a method of food combining where mixing foods in different categories is verboten, similar to that of the Montignac method (minus the glycemic index factor), Rose further expands this theory by grouping nuts - an iffy category on most food combining plans (Somersizing immediately springs to mind) - as a separate category (starches, fleshes and fruits being the other three categories) , to be combined only with dried fruits and vegetables. She provides an extremely helpful hierarchy of eleven types of quick exit foods, where level number 1, the best, contains fruits and vegetables and level number 11, the worst, contains chemicals and artificial colorings and sweeteners. She adds that as eating from quick exit levels 1-8 is doable by everyone; the higher levels of health will be reached when eating only from levels 1-5. In addition an indispensable transitional food grocery list is included to provide brand name items that act as substitutes for mainstream comfort foods that must be eliminated to insure success on this program. She is not a big fan of dairy and as expected pans the consumption of power shakes and bars. Surprisingly she eschews the current 'soy is nirvana' bandwagon, labelling soy products as mucus-forming poisons. Neutral foods, those which may be eaten with any category except fruit include such treats as nut milks, 70% chocolate, olivess and olive oil. how refreshing! Way to go, Ms Rose! On the practical side, the book abounds with menu plans, recipes, and suggestions on what to eat in a restaurant or at social occasions. For the aspiring raw foodist, separate chapters are dedicated to detoxifying all aspects of your lifestyle including your bathroom, your living space, your kitchen, your family, fasting, traveling, holidays and your colon. I emailed Ms Rose with questions that pertained to the diet as juxtaposed with my lifestyle and was extremely pleased that the author very pleasantly answered all my questions promptly and professionally and made suggestions that I was able to implement quite easily. Bottom line: Ms Rose achieves the impossible, a raw food diet that doesn't force you to eat only raw foods, but urges you to discover your own lifestyle at your own pace for achieving optimal health. With a combination of guidelines, recipes and a fresh common sense five part transitional approach, Ms Rose sends you out into unknown territory, with the option of staying on one particular phase of the diet for as long as you wish.

August 2002 is when I first learned about and tried the whole "raw food thing." Since then, I've purchased 9 books, spent countless hours online, patroned raw restraunts in every city I've visited, and still found myself strugging to get it to work for myself, my lifestyle, and more importantly not alienating myself from the rest of the world. And then I found this book...on Amazon (I actually bought both of her books at once). This is it! Natalia is not a preacher...she is not telling anyone to become "100% raw" or downplaying those who can't or don't want to commit to that level. She just wants others to feel the benefits of this healthful, natrual, and easy way of eating! Her main point is how food combinations affect proper digestion (and it works so well that it's scary!). There aren't a ton of recepies, but they are exceptionally tasty, satisfying, and EASY!!! Her recipes don't call for dehydration, sprouting, or soaking. Since I've read her books, my other raw food books make much more sense and I've been able to eat plenty of raw foods withough wating much produce if any. She also includes a great FAQ section in the back...so awesome!!!! PS - As for juicing, this book doesn't claim to be a juicing book, but has basic helpful info. If you want a straight up juicing book...then go buy one!

I always buy things on Amazon and I NEVER write reviews. I love this book so much I decided it was worth the time and effort just to let people know what a great book it is. This book changed the way I think about food. All those diets that tell you to stay away from fruits and carbs are WRONG! I have never been "overweight," I just wanted to eat healthier and hopefully lose a couple inches. I am 5"5', went from 132 pounds to 120 in about a month on the Level 3 diet. It was amazing! And what I loved most about it was, I could still drink my oh-so-important coffee in the morning, just without the milk. I've done other detox diets, but they were all missing key points. The food combining is very important. Also, this book might not be hard core raw, but Natalia understands that most people don't have the time and willpower to stick to a rigid diet like that. This is a diet that is totally within reason and doesn't make you feel guilty if you "cheat" once in a while. I hate this cliche, but it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle. Now that being said... this diet is not easy. You will have to give up some foods and let go of they way you think about certain foods (like carbs being bad), but it's worth it! I still have the "Green Lemonade" every morning and eat raw until a healthy cooked dinner and I feel the best I have ever felt in my whole life. If you go on this diet, about 3 or 4 days in, you will feel light, happy, and slim. Exercising is easier for me and I sleep better at night. And there's no way you couldn't lose weight, just give it a try for a month!

This is a good book to start with if you're thinking of going raw. All the basics are here. The author encourages you to start slowly and introduce raw foods gradually into your diet rather than going raw overnight. On this diet, it is so important to food combine properly, which is explained in the book. Also, she includes easily digestible foods that are not raw. I would have given this book 5 stars, but she did not fully explain that apples and lemons can be combined with vegetables, so I think it looks like she is contradicting herself when she includes a recipe with apples, lemon, and greens. Earlier in the book she says that fruit must be eaten alone. Also, she says that avocado is metabolized as a starch, but all other food combining sources say it is a protien. It's okay that she has a differing opinion, but she doesn't state why she thinks so. Read this, get what you can from it, but also do your homework and read from other sources, as well. Gourmet Raw is also good.

I bought this book after a blogger recommended it for women over 40 who want to lose weight. I bought this book in hopes of using it as a "diet" but in fact, after 3 weeks of following the diet ( and losing 3 kilos), I am ready to adopt it for life. You don't have to count calories or weigh portions, just prepare food in advance or have snacks handy so you won't make unhealthy choices when you're feeling hungry. Honestly, I feel better mentally and physically with this diet. It is so worth reading, if not for weight loss purposes, for a new way of approaching what and how you eat. Only downside of the book is the author relies heavily on purchased snacks; chips, bars, cookies, etc. and there are not enough recipes included. Thankfully, the internet is full of raw recipes so it really is not a problem to find something to eat on this diet.

This is a great guide and awareness to eating healthier. You start from where you are and progress at your pace to eating more raw. Easy to incorporate the lifestyle with a lot of good recipes to keep you interested.

I have been really disappointed by the scarcity of recipes offered and also by the fact that most of them mix the sweet with the salty. Natalia Rose is absolutely right when she insists on following a diet based on natural, organic foods, which are more easily transformed and eliminated than unhealthy processed foods and artificial additives. She is also heartily in favour of natural breastfeeding. Another good point is the fact that she strongly recommends transitioning from cooked meals to cooked and raw ones and finally, if desired, to a 100% raw diet. But for the price I expected a much larger choice of recipes. If you live in a big US city, it's okay, you will find all the ingredients she mentions, otherwise, they're not so handy. Also, in her daily life, she mostly eats fruits and vegetables, invariably coupled with 2 glasses of wine (Wait, are we talking of the average big American glasses?) and a lot of cocoa/dark chocolate/coconut flesh. So it is clear that she needs alcohol daily in order to boost her energy to keep pace with her day-to-day life! So to me this is not a book worth the price. She also makes a lot of occult and/or overt publicity to many products she likes produced by big names, as for ex. Francis Ford Coppola's wines. I think this cross-marketing technique has assured her a lot of notoriety and the many good reviews, which perhaps she does not deserve to the full.

I am so glad I bought this book. Earlier this week, I started on a raw food diet - around 80% - possibly a bit higher. I just jumped right, but I realised I had to educate myself on the fundamentals. So, I have been looking all over the web and reading so many articles - which were great, but not necessarily covering the fundamentals. This book covers the fundamentals which basically explains the purpose of the raw food diet and what one is looking to achieve. I see weight loss in a different way now, AND can now monitor how I incorporate raw foods into my life better. Also, it does encourage a gradual introduction, which I actually agree with. Without this guidance, I did feel the first few raw days my body not quite knowing what hit it, and it was seriously adjusting gears the first 3 days. So, yeah, a gradual intro might have been a smoother option. Mind you, I'm a pretty healthy eater already, so it wasn't a total shock to my system. I highly recommend the raw food diet overall, and this book is a great intro to starting off. As I said, I jumped in with both feet and now on the fifth day, feel fantastic. Already (prior to this book) my food cravings are gone, bowel movement is amazing, energy level stable, and I feel good. With this book now, I have a better understanding on how to proceed. Highly recommend it for a game plan.

es un libro que ni siquiera he terminado de leer ya que me esperaba que fuera un libro sobre alimentación cruda y es una cosa bastante rara sobre una dieta que se inventa la autora... la verdad que no tengo de decoración en casa porque sirve para poco mas...