The How Not to Diet Cookbook: Over 100 Recipes for Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss

by Michael Greger, Robin Robertson

From Michael Greger, M.D., FACLM, the author of the New York Times bestseller How Not to Die, comes a four-color, fully illustrated cookbook that shares the science of long-term weight-loss success.

Dr. Michael Greger founded the viral website Nutritionfacts.org with the aim to educate the public about what healthy eating looks like and connect them with a community through food-related podcasts, videos, and blogs. Since then, Nutritionfacts.org has grown and so has Dr. Greger's platform. How Not to Die and the How Not to Die Cookbook were instant hits, and now he's back with a new book about mindful dieting—how to eat well, lose, and keep unwanted weight off in a healthy, accessible way that's not so much a diet as it is a lifestyle.

Greger offers readers delicious yet healthy options that allow them to ditch the idea of "dieting" altogether. As outlined in his book How Not to Diet, Greger believes that identifying the twenty-one weight-loss accelerators in our bodies and incorporating new, cutting-edge medical discoveries are integral in putting an end to the all-consuming activity of counting calories and getting involved in expensive juice cleanses and Weight Watchers schemes.

How Not to Diet Cookbook is primed to be a revolutionary new addition to the cookbook industry: incredibly effective and designed for everyone looking to make changes to their dietary habits to improve their quality of life, weight loss notwithstanding.

Genres: Cookbooks, Health, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food, Reference, Nutrition

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Dr. Greger is a physician, New York Times Best-Selling author, and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and public health issues.

A graduate of the Cornell University School of Agriculture and the Tufts University School of Medicine, Dr. Greger is licensed as a general practitioner specializing in clinical nutrition. He is a founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He was honored with the ACLM Lifestyle Medicine Trailblazer Award in 2017 and became a diplomat of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine.

His books How Not to Die, The How Not to Die Cookbook, How Not to Diet, and How Not to Age became instant New York Times Best Sellers. One hundred percent of all proceeds Dr. Greger receives from his books and speaking engagements have always been and will always be donated to charity.

Dr. Greger has appeared in such documentaries as What the Health and You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment, and served as an advisor for The Game Changers. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and was an expert witness in defense of Oprah Winfrey in the infamous “meat defamation trial.” He often speaks at engagements across the United States and abroad, and has delivered presentations at TEDx, Google, The World Bank, and the Conference on World Affairs. He has been featured on countless media outlets to deliver life-saving nutrition research to the public. See more on our Press page.

Reviews

[midnightfaerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading How not to Diet, and to lose 200 lbs, I've decided to try a more plant based diet. It's been 55 days with no meat, eggs, and very little dairy. It's been a huge change for me. Being that I'm morbidly obese, I've allowed myself to eat anything I've wanted for years, so this is very difficult for me. I've lost over 30 lbs so far and cemented quite a few habits, such as regular exercise and no coke, the crack of my choice. But trying to find meals for me and my family that taste good, don't take hours to prepare, and don't have meat, eggs, or dairy in them, is difficult. I'm learning there's a whole new world of whole foods I've never known about and have even started a youtube channel, The Fat Vegan (the girl who loves steak), and I couldn't have done it without this cookbook. While I haven't tried every single recipe, I've tried quite a few and have even made my own hummus. Every single recipe I tried was delicious. Totally and completely different from anything I've ever tried before, and it's been quite a learning curve learning about new ingredients such as "nutritional yeast" and "tahini". For someone who is used to eating out several times a week, this book was a life saver. The only bad thing I can say about it, is if you're not ready to make a commitment to eating this way, the recipe's will be difficult to make, as you'll be needing things not already in your kitchen. If you're already a plant eater, or a whole foods guru, then none of these ingredients will be new to you, and you're in for a yummy treat. Highly recommended.

Update as of 7/5 - I'm down over 100 lbs now and feel totally different. And it's not just because of the weight, it's because of the food. All my numbers (LDLs, blood sugar, etc.) are now completely fine and some almost too low. I'm about 95% plant based/vegan and splurge once in a while. Mostly on cheese and coke which are big weaknesses for me. Other than that, my life has changed a lot. I went down 3 sizes in clothes and don't like to wear anything. I don't feel comfortable in anything and everything fits weird. Skin is starting to hang, and that will only get worse. I look in the mirror and know I've changed but still see the fat me. If I don't look in the mirror, I feel amazing and have so much more energy. I walk 1-3 miles and bike 4-8 miles at a time whereas last year I couldn't walk 100 ft without being out of breath. Someone hacked my youtube channel and I just decided to end it because it was taking too much time and I already spend enough time in front of the computer. Life isn't perfect, I'm still getting used to this new body. And there are times when I go weeks without any changes and I feel like I'm failing. It's an ongoing struggle, but I'm pretty sure this is a permanent life change for me.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Greger is a national treasure!
Unsure on many of these recipes but love the way I feel since I’ve been following his Daily Dozen app.

Quick summary: Eat more vegetables especially greens, more fruit especially berries, more beans, some nuts and seeds and more whole grains. Life changing for me! I had a heart attack seven years ago and since following Dr Greger’s Counsel I’ve reduced my LDL to under 50, blood pressure is 110/70, I’ve lost 10 pounds and I feel so much better!

For more from Dr Greger read “How Not to Die” or go to nutrition facts.org

[Deanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent information at the front of the book. Beautiful pictures of each recipe. However, a great many of the recipes call for something unusual; escarole, green papaya, moong dal... It is frustrating to see an enticing recipe and get excited to make it, only to find that I can't get these special ingredients locally or only very expensively online. It is hard to rate the quality of the true recipes when I'm constantly having to figure out substitutions. Also, almost all of the savory recipes call for miso paste and nutritional yeast as a base. That gets tiresome - especially if your family is not fond of miso paste and nutritional yeast.

I'm not sure whose standards are being used to rate the difficulty level, but to me, peeling, cubing and roasting a sweet potato for 30 minutes (turning each piece halfway through) in addition to grating and/or chopping 5 other vegetables, then spending about 20 minutes standing at the stove cooking is not an "Easy" recipe. Plus, you need to make the multi-ingredient Umami sauce ahead of time.

This book is probably great for experienced vegan foodies who can get all the weird ingredients and for those who enjoy the craft of cooking, but for someone new to this lifestyle or for people who don't enjoy/have time for lengthy cooking processes, I think there are more user-friendly books out there.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading and loving How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease, How Not to Diet, and the How Not to Die Cookbook, I had to buy this one too.

The introduction starts with a summary of How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss, which is great refresher of the key points. If you don't enjoy in-depth scientific explanations and you're willing to take Dr. Greger's word for it, you can save yourself about 25 hours by skipping HNTDiet and just reading this. It teaches you easy lifestyle changes that benefit your health and boost weight loss, then gives you the tools to actually implement them in your cooking.

If you’re unfamiliar with whole food plant-based eating, this will have a lot of new terms & ingredients (apparently "groats" are the healthiest form of oats...who knew? lol). Don't let that intimidate you—many like grains, beans, greens are easily swapped, and plenty of the recipes stick to standard pantry staples. I love these cookbooks because I'm confident anything I make will be healthy and nutritionally balanced.

I've had issues with the instructions in The How Not to Die Cookbook: 100+ Recipes to Help Prevent and Reverse Disease. The treatment of certain ingredients and some cook times are confusingly off. An example: one recipe recommends first boiling cauliflower for 8", then roasting it in the oven while also steaming it in a pan full of water for 40". If you've ever cooked cauliflower, you know that's 3 different cooking methods for a cauliflower that only needed 1. I tested cutting the boiling time in half and not roasting for the full recommended time, and it still disintegrated.

The weird cooking directions don't bother me because I rarely follow them. I love these cookbooks for the nutrition, so I use the ingredient lists, adjust to our liking, and cook according to my best ability, even if that means not boiling or steaming the cauliflower before we roast it.

So many of these look delicious, I've flagged about half the recipes to test and will update my review with cooking-related notes sometime in the future.

[Primrosebarks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow wow wow! Robin Robertson did it again! My favorite vegan cook (I have 4 of her cookbooks), I wondered what magic she could weave for vegan meals for weight loss. I am so, so glad to have finally received this new, adventurous cookbook.

Some of the recipes are the same as in How Not To Die Cookbook. For me, that was welcome news and I was happy to know that these delicious recipes fit within a lower calorie gastronomic lifestyle. (Yes, I love to cook. The kitchen is my happy place.) (I gave a loud cheer when tahini was still included in some of these menus. Humus without tahini simply isn't humus. Sorry, Plant Strong.)

Some of the recipes from How To Die have been restructured. For instance, chocolate oatmeal in How Not to Die Cookbook has been transformed into Chocolate-Covered Cherry Brol. A few other recipes have been presented untouched, and IMO deserve being presented once more. This is especially present in the "Kitchen Staples" section.

This is a cookbook worth adding to any cookbook library. (Yes, I have a library in my kitchen.) It is helpful to understand some of the claims being made in this book are explained in detail in Dr. Greger's How Not to Diet. Aside from that, this cookbook offers so many delicious foods it is well worth having. I am so grateful to find such a treasure.

I am reluctant to include this book as my final book to achieve my Goodreads Book Challenge for the nightmare known as 2020. I will never make such a heavy challenge (50 books!) again! But despite the crappy books I read to simply meet the challenge, I am so very proud and happy to recommend such a great book. So much great food, so many reasons to rethink our relationship with food and our health.

[Chantal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the recipes in this book are tastier than in ‘the how not to die cookbook’ and there are more recipes that appeal to my whole family, though I do like that cookbook as well. The only thing that lost this book a star (it almost lost it 2 stars) is that it is missing the ‘daily dozen food’ legend for each recipe. I don’t understand why they got rid of it. Is this not what this cookbook is all about? It was so helpful in the last book and made it very easy to follow Dr. Michael Greger’s suggestion. When this book arrived in the mail, it made me feel ripped off. I will keep the book and use the recipes, but I was really looking forward to an easy way of making sure I follow the daily dozen and 21 tweaks. I tried so many recipes I would have not tired in the last book because I was trying to find a dinner that would help me fill in my missing check marks for the day. It made meal planning so easy. I’m really upset by this. Probably more that I should be. But I am the kind of person who gets confused easily and over thinks things, so it was nice to have a book where I did not have to think to follow the plan. I really hope they fix this.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written book which lays out clearly one of the best ways to lose weight - a wholefood healthy diet.

In the first part of the book Michael uncovers why many people are so unhealthy and overweight or obese. Then he presents the answer - and shows that eating a wholefood diet means that if you choose good nutritious food you can eat more, not less. He introduces 21 weight loss accelerators & tweaks. to help you.

The tone of the book is one that sympathises and understands why you may be struggling with weight, (hint: it's not your fault, many of us live in an obesogenic environment; although we can become enlightened about the triggers and choose to change)..

If you have weight to lose and would like to eat a more plant-based and healthy diet, this would be a good book to read.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic plant-based cookbook. Managed to cook a few of the recipes over the holidays. The vegan scramble has already become a household staple. :)

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some recommendations are simply far too lofty to be realistic, such as:
3 cups of green tea between meals
90 mins moderately intense activity a day
Prediabetics and diabetics should start exercising 30 mins after the first bite of food
If tilting your bed to sleep upside down makes you dizzy upon waking, drink water 30 minutes before you get up.

In a world where being totally compliant to a 100% oil-free plant-based diet is inherently challenging, these recommendations make me question the author's ability to bridge scientific info to realistic action.

I do appreciate some of the recipes, however.

[Jo-Ann Houde · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. I'm a huge fan of Dr. Greger and his science-based advice on nutrition and healthy eating. After reading his previous "How Not to Die" and accompanying cookbook, we as a family incorporated lifestyle changes that have eliminated the meds my husband was taking for high triglycerides and has helped to keep his leukemia in remission.
This book shares more ideas on how to incorporate whole foods into a healthy lifestyle. While I may not follow the recipes exactly, I've taken away a lot of good ideas and new foods to try.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally got this from the library, but I’ll definitely be buying a copy!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with his philosophy that a whole foods plant-based diet is the only way to be healthy. Some good recipe ideas to help achieve that goal.

[Faith Flaherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why I chose this book. First, the title attracted me, “The How Not to Diet Cookbook.” Second, the author, Dr. Michael Greger lists the daily ingredients he wants us to eat and he gets complaints that it’s too much food and not enough calories.

Isn’t that a dieter’s dream? Too much food/not enough calorie! What do you think? page xiv

Dr. Greger explains that any long-term eating plan must be nutritionally complete, containing all essential vitamins and minerals.
The healthiest diet is the most effective. A whole food, plant based diet is the single most effective weight loss intervention ever published. This was proven in a random control trial with no protein control, no calorie counting and no exercise component. (Although you’ll see he does list exercise on his daily list.)

After I finished the book, I realized that he doesn’t have any meat at all. Also, no eggs, nor milk. What he posits is probably true but it’s impractical for me. My husband has gout and can’t eat a lot of beans and greens. So take what I say, and what he proposes in mind when you plan your meals. A lot of things he mentions, I forgot or have forgotten. So this book got me back on track.

Not all calories are the same. Calories have different impacts on your body. 100 calories of chickpeas impacts you differently than 100 calories of chicken, depending on your bodies’ absorption, appetite, and microbiome. It’s not WHAT we eat but HOW and WHEN.

This is the whole plant food lifestyle. It’s got to be a way of life. It’s safe, inexpensive, and healthy.

BTW, Dr. Greger donates 100% of his profits to charity.

To decide how healthy a food is, he checks off how many attributes it has.

The more checkmarks a food gets, the healthier it is.

At each meal, Dr. Greger recommends to preload with water. Add apple cider vinegar to the water with your meal. Eat an apple before each meal, or a salad, or soup, or some other negative calorie food. The point is to fill yourself up before the meal, with good food.

Use what you can. I certainly am not going to go all plant-based meals. My husband can’t. Most of these recipes use chia seeds. Some others use flaxseed and miso paste. I don’t know what those are so certainly I’m not buying, nor using them.

This book reminded me of the apple vinegar in the water trick. Eat soup and salad first. He has a salt substitute that uses yeast, so I added yeast and cumin to my own salt-free seasoning.

What do you think of plant based meals? These recipes look good. I made the sweet potato fries and used the recommended seasoning. They were delicious. I bet the other food is too.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now we are using the How not to Die cookbook along with this one. Ample receipes now to mix and match and learn a new way of eating. The food is flavorful and varied. The recipes are easy to follow and take time to prepare, putting thought into what you shall eat today. I am new to this whole food way of eating and these cookbooks are a wonderful guide. Thank you.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This converted me to a plant based diet!

[WarmerSommerregen · Rating 2 out of 5]

In diesem Kochbuch stellt Dr. Michael Greger zu seinem Werk "How Not to Diet"-Buch passende Rezepte vor. Dabei sollen die über 100 Gerichte gesund und lecker sein sowie glücklich machen. Bei den pflanzenbasierten Gerichten soll man keine Kalorien zählen und auch nicht Hunger leiden müssen, dafür aber gesund abnehemen oder eben sein gesundes Gewicht halten. Da ich viel Gutes von den bisher erschienen Werken des Autors gehört habe, war ich auf dieses Kochbuch sehr neugierig. Die Gestaltung des Buches ist sehr hochwertig: Zu fast jedem Rezept gibt es Fotografien, das Buch ist übersichtlich gestaltet und Tabellen unterstützen schnelles Erkennen richtiger Garzeiten, usw. Zu Beginn des Buches findet sich ein sehr kurzer Abriss der Grundannahmen des Autors; für ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis ist natürlich das zuvor erschienene Buch unabdingbar. Nichtsdestotrotz erhält man einen guten Einblick in die Überlegungen, die hinter der vorgestellten Ernährungsweise stehen. Im Anschluss folgt der Rezeptteil, welcher in "Suppen", "Salate", "Pasta", "Gemüse-Hauptgerichte", "Bohnen", "Getreide", "Frühstück", "Obst", sowie "Grundrezepte" gegliedert ist. Generell sind die Rezepte abwechslungsreich gestaltet. Beim ersten Überfliegen der Rezepte fielen mir bereits Zutaten auf, die sich normalerweise nicht in meiner Küche befinden. Nährhefe beispielsweise findet in den vorgestellten Rezepten sehr oft Verwendung und das gemahlene Mehl aus blauem Mais für die Süßkartoffelspalten (S.143) habe ich noch immer nirgendwo entdecken können. Was ebenso auffällt sind die Portionsgrößen. Dass Kalorienzählen überflüssig wird, wenn die Hauptmahlzeit für eine Person aus etwa einer viertel bis halben Süßkartoffel oder einer Hand voll Beeren besteht, liegt auf der Hand. Sättigen konnten mich etwa zwei bis drei Portionen, allerdings nicht langanhaltend. Glücklich - wie auf dem Klappentext versprochen wird - hat mich das Essen hingegen nicht gemacht. Zudem sollte die Zubereitungszeit nicht unterschätzt werden. Häufig stand sie für mich in keinem Verhältnis zu den am Ende entstandenen Gerichten. Der Verzicht auf Salz und Öl war für mich ungewohnt und auch nicht gänzlich schlüssig. Beide Zutaten zu reduzieren, leuchtet mir ein; ich bin jedoch davon überzeugt, dass es in einer ausgewogenen Ernährung auch Fette braucht. Insgesamt ist das Buch also sehr schön gestaltet. Manche Rezepte waren ungewöhnlcih, aber angenehm gewürzt, weswegen ich beispielsweise in Zukunft Miso-Paste als Gewürz für unterschiedliche Gerichte beibehalten werde. Der Großteil der Rezepte konnte mich allerdings wenig bis gar nicht überzeugen.

[Jasmijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Michael Greger is helemaal klaar met hypediëten en misinformatie, die veel voorkomen. In ‘Hoe overleef je diëten’ maak je kennis met zijn plantaardige, onbewerkte dieet, inmiddels bewezen het meest effectieve dieet om af te vallen.
Michael Greger is tevens auteur van de bestseller ‘Hoe overleef je’. In ‘Hoe overleef je diëten’ laat hij 100 recepten zien. Ook wijdt hij uit over dit dieet en de wetenschap achter gezond afvallen.

Het idee van diëten laten varen, maar een leefstijlverandering ondergaan. Michael Greger ziet liever lange termijn veranderingen en niet een dieet waarbij je later nadat je gestopt bent weer aankomt. Ik denk ook dat de Engelse titel van dit boek ‘How not to diet’ een andere lading dekt dan de vertaalde titel, zelf vind ik die écht passender. Hij heeft ook een herkenbaar punt, crashdiëten zien we zoveel en is eigenlijk niet goed voor je. Ook heeft het op lange termijn helemaal geen effect.

Het boek begint met uitleg, onderbouwing en tips. Dit is vrij uitgebreid en voelt deels herkenbaar en enthousiasmeert. Er is een heel stuk over dagelijkse dosering, wat hierin voor zou moeten komen en hoe deze aan te passen. Goed om naar te kijken vóór het plannen van de weekboodschappen.
De recepten in dit boek geven mij een heel fijn en natuurlijk gevoel. Ik probeerde er een aantal en ben erg tevreden. Wel is het best een omschakeling. Sommige producten had ik nog nooit gebruikt, zoals bijvoorbeeld miso pasta (die verdwijnt nu niet meer uit de keuken). Ook leerde ik hoe belangrijk een keukenmachine is… Die had ik niet en ik heb eigenlijk vrij veel grote apparaten niet.

De recepten zijn duidelijk, er zitten mooie en realistische foto’s bij en de ingrediënten zijn uiteindelijk prima te verkrijgen. Wel koos ik soms een andere variant. Er wordt bijvoorbeeld gevraagd om boullionblokjes zonder zout of bonen met een bepaald keurmerk. De desbetreffende bonen kon ik niet vinden dus ik heb hier bijvoorbeeld normale genomen. Ook had ik een geschatte tijd prettig gevonden van voorbereiding/bereiding. Natuurlijk is dit niet nodig, maar dit loopt best een beetje uiteen. Al is het meeste niet zo veel werk, dat is prettig anders vind ik het persoonlijk lastig volhouden. Achterin staan nog kooktijden en referenties, deze waren heel prettig en ook hier staan goede tips in.

Voor wie wil afvallen, vegan of natuurlijker wil eten zou ik dit boek zeker aanraden. Hou je gewoon van koken, ook dan zou ik het boek een poging geven. Er staan waarschijnlijk zat interessante nieuwe dingen in waar je anders niet op was gekomen. Ik zal hier zeker meer uit maken en dingen uit meenemen.

[Jasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der Autor Dr. Greger ist vor allem durch sein Buch "How not to die" bekannt geworden. Darin klärt er auf, wie Ernährung helfen kann, Krankheiten vorzubeugen und erklärt, mit welchen Lebensmitteln und Zubereitungsarten man seinem Körper etwas Gutes tut. Nicht minder erfolgreich war sein Nachfolgewerk "How not to diet", in dem er beschreibt, wie man mit einer gesunden Ernährung Gewicht verlieren kann. Ich habe beide Bücher sehr interessiert gelesen und mir vor allem aus "How not to die" sehr viel mitgenommen. Sein Rezeptbuch setzt nun die theoretischen Konzepte in die Küchenpraxis um. Ich finde, das ist sehr gelungen.

In der Einleitung wird noch einmal kurz grundlegend geschildert, wie ein Gewichtsverlust auf gesunde Art und Weise erreicht werden kann. Knapp und handlich fasst Dr. Greger dabei einige Tipps und Tricks zusammen. Danach folgen auch schon die Rezepte. Da er viel Kohl, Hülsenfrüchte und Gemüse verwendet, trifft er mit seinen Rezepten genau meinen Geschmack. Wenn man allerdings kein großer Fan von Bohnen oder Linsen ist, fallen schon einige Gerichte weg. Auf die Nährstoffe bezogen fällt mir auf, dass die Rezepte sehr eiweiß- und ballaststoffkonzentriert sind, aber oft fehlen ein wenig die Kohlenhydrate und gerade Fett sind in den wenigsten Rezepten zu finden. Das finde ich sehr schade, da gesunde Fette einen wichtigen Teil der Ernährung ausmachen! Manchmal hätte ein Schuss Olivenöl , ein paar Nüsse oder ein Esslöffel Nussmuß die Rezepte bestimmt noch abgerundet.

Mir persönlich sagen die Rezepte sehr zu, da sie genau meinen Geschmack treffen. Ich finde sie auch sehr ausgewogen, da es sowohl sommerliche Salate, wie kräfte Aufläufe und wärmende Suppen gibt. Einzig bei den Desserts hätte ich mir ein bisschen mehr Variation gewünscht. Beeren mit Balsamico-Dressing kann ich auch ohne Anleitung zubereiten.

Abgesehen davon bin ich wirklich begeistert! Ich habe schon einige Rezepte ausprobiert und bis auf eines haben mir alle sehr gut geschmeckt und werden auch in Zukunft wieder von mir gekocht werden. Im Großen und Ganzen ist es somit ein gelungenes Kochbuch mit kleinen Mankos, die man durch eigene Spontanität und Varition der Rezepte aber ausgleichen kann. Deshalb vergebe ich 4 Sterne.

[minimalbooklover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich habe schon die Bücher How Not to Die und How Not to Diet von Michael Greger gelesen und ich habe mich umso mehr auf das neue Buch von ihm gefreut. In dem Kochbuch erklärt er nochmal kurz am Anfang des Buches, wie man durch eine gesunde Ernährung Gewicht verliehren kann. Hier fasst er knapp die ganzen Tipps von ihm zusammen, was mir besonders gefallem hat, weil bestimmt nicht jeder seine vorherigen Bücher gelesen hat. Nach der Einführung fangen auch direkt die Rezepte an. Zuerst gibt es einige Suppen Rezepte, dannach folgen Salate, Pasta und Gemüse Hauptgerichte, Bohnen, Getreide, Frühstück, Obst und Grundrezepte. Zuletzt gibt es auch Garzeitentabellen für Hülsenfrüchte und Getreide.
Die Aufteilung der Rezepte ist sehr übersichtlich und die Gestaltung ist einfach nur wunderschön. Ich brauche immer Bilder in Rezeptbüchern und hier gab es fast zu jedem Rezept ein Bild. Diese waren auch noch richtige Eyecatcher.
Er benutzt sehr viele Hülsenfrüchte, Gemüse und Kohl in seinen Rezepten, wenn ihr diese Zutaten nicht mögt, dann ist das Buch vielleicht nichts für euch. Ich habe schon einige Rezpte ausprobiert und war wirklich fast von jedem Rezept begeistert, auch wenn ich zuerst etwas skeptisch war bei ein paar Rezepten. Die Zutaten sind jedoch nicht immer ganz einfach zu bekommen, wie zB grob gemahlenes Mehl aus blauen Mais...Ich habe zuvor noch nie etwas vom blauen Mais gehört und es auch nicht in meinem Supermarkt gefunden. Einige Rezepte sind leider auch etwas zeitaufwendig.
Geschmacklich waren die Rezpte, die ich bis jetzt ausprobiert habe genau nach meinen Geschmack.
Ich kann euch das Rezeptbuch nur empfehlen und bin selber auch schon auf die restlichen Rezepte gespannt. Ich gebe dem Kochbuch 5 Sterne und habe wirklich nichts zu bemängeln.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book! Dr. Greger provides such great advice as well as providing us with evidence-based information on the best way to eat a plant based diet. He tells us that his grandmother's end stage heart disease was cured after following a similar plan. She went on to live an additional 31 years after changing her eating habits, despite having had many heart surgeries and being told she did not have long to live.

You just have to look at the pictures for each recipe and you will be itching to get started in your kitchen preparing healthy meals to improve your health and lose weight effortlessly. I went through the book in great detail, and even though there are some items in the recipes that are a little difficult to come by; I did find them on Amazon. The recipes made my mouth water and I have decided to start at the beginning and work my way through all of them because they all look so yummy! This is not a diet, in my opinion! This book will be a part of my household for many years to come.

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is basically a plant based diet cookbook. Eating plant based can cure diabetes and heart disease. Dr. Michael Gregor knows about this subject and has written other books about it. He gives lists that are easy to follow showing you what to eat, when to eat it and how much to eat. It's a check mark system so you don't feel like you didn't do well if you don't eat everything....you just check off what you did eat that's on the list and can feel like you're doing it. The more check marks the better you're doing. It's a diet that will improve your health in many ways ....plus you can lose weight too....so plus plus. The recipes, unfortunately, looked a bit complicated and time heavy for me. The recipes are creative....using a lot of the same ingredients in different combinations. They do sound tasty but I don't see myself trying them. I thought the introduction was the most worthwhile part of the book.

[Azamat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Суть книги: все зло от красного мяса, поэтому ешьте овощи. В целом я согласен. Начало книги немного об этом: про болезни и откуда они берутся, и о том, как вам помогут овощи. А потом уже 100 рецептов.

Самое главное — блюда на фотках красивые, так что вы захотите их приготовить просто потому, что они вкусно выглядят. Пользоваться рецептами тоже вполне удобно. Есть категории вроде завтрак и т.д. Отмечена сложность приготовления и все рецепты имеют короткие описания, что вместе с фото скорее плюс.

Но состав некоторых блюд заставляет меня понервничать. У меня нет столько всего под рукой. Например: миндальное молоко, финиковый сироп, какао-порошок, сушеный инжир, годжи, барбарис, финиковый сахар, ягоды, семена чиа, стручок ванили, мисо-паста — такие ингредиенты встречались почти в каждом рецепте.

То есть все выглядит так, что к каждому рецепту надо готовиться, потому что такое разнообразие продуктов надо: а) найти, б) купить, в) хранить. В остальном книга хорошая.

[Margaret Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 - The main premise of this book aside (eat a plant-based diet rich in fiber + some other tricks like preloading water before a meal), this is a bad cookbook. Anyone who knows anything about cooking could tell just by browsing the recipes that these are not flavorful, satisfying, low maintenance, appetizing dishes. Who in their right mind would enjoy a bowl of flavored millet? It’s a nutritious grain, yes, but there is a reason why most experienced cooks mix it in with other grains. I tried the millet upma recipe (as a fan of regular upma), and it was like eating a bowl of cuminy punishment. I’m sure Persian black-eyed peas and greens, Szechuan tempeh and broccoli, and all the other recipes in this book are healthy; but the ingredient lists are long, the directions often complicated, and the end products uninspiring. My advice: after reading How Not to Die or How Not to Diet, grab a well-regarded vegan cookbook and make some higher fiber, higher protein meals from that.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating 3.5 Stars

The How Not to Diet Cookbook is divided into 9 chapters:
- Soups
- Salads
- Pasta
- Mainly Vegetables
- Beans
- Grains
- Breakfast
- Fruit
- Kitchen Staples

The introduction suggests foods you should eat every day. Some appear odd such as incorporating vinegar with each meal or sensible such as drink water before each meal or having some ground ginger, nigella seeds, garlic powder each day.

The recipes themselves are in both metric and imperial measurements. It lets you know how many portions it is going to make and what level of difficulty it is to create. It does not contain the nutritional information alongside the recipes which surprised me.

Overall it's an interesting book of recipes to follow if you like meat-free eating.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

[Miss Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice photos. not sure how he decides to rank things as easy though -- the sheer number of ingredients in each recipe had me mentally classifying them all as at least moderate effort 'make this specifically when i've cleared some weekend time to try something new' kind of deals

anyways prob not making any of these right now but should i be in the mood for vegan meals in the future i'll know where to go!

(sidenote: i have no opinion on the weight loss plausibility as i'm not gonna lie, i sort of mentally filtered it all out. the recipes are certainly all healthy and plant-based though so i expect they would help if you're in the market for that)

3 stars

[Jill]

Skimmed. This diet and recipes are too extreme for me. They may be healthy, but I don’t think they would be sustainable for me. I feel good about the changes I’ve made and the way I’m eating with the Omada program. It seems more sustainable for me.
As I looked up this book to add it to Goodreads, I realized that there is a how not to diet book. That made sense, as there were several assumptions made about prior knowledge of the whole, not diet concept. I’m glad I just read the summaries in this book. I was also wondering how a cookbook could be an audiobook, but the actual book is the audiobook.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of extremely healthy recipes and the ones I have tried so far were really delicious. In some ways the cookbook took me out of my comfort zone trying some new ingredients and flavors I have never tried before, but it has been a good experience trying new things and expanding my repertoire of healthy recipes that I enjoy.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction refers to the book "How Not to Diet" and assumes the reader has read that book as well. It could have used a little more explanation with some of the concepts. The recipes are much more diverse than the usual vegan, oil-free recipes, and rely on international concepts and flavors, which are nice. I really want nutrition info!

[Bonnie B · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMG! Has anyone listened to the audio version? I'm not very far in but i don't know if i can continue solely for how the author speaks...it is SOO distracting I can't even focus on what he is saying !! To the author: You are not reading a mythical novel! You are pointing out health facts and discoveries! So disappointed because I feel there might be a lot of good info in this book.

[Sadie Patton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Michael Greger’s second cookbook is also really good! In the introduction, he talks about the corrupted weight-loss industry and how a sustainable and healthy lifestyle (rather than a “diet”) would be much better for society. The recipes are similar to the ones in the other book, but are still good!