"You Are What You Eat" Cookbook: Over 150 Healthy and Delicious Recipes

"Amazon do not make clear that this is simply the "paperback" version of a previously published book of recipes.

If you already have bought the "You Are What You Eat" Cookbook: Over 150 Healthy and Delicious Recipes already then you will already have this book. It has been republished with a different cover, which makes one think it is 150 new recipes, but it is not.

Other than that I would recommend this book as it offers some fresh ideas towards eating healthily.

While Gillian may know a thing or two about nutrition, I don't think she is a very good cookery writer. The quantities to "serve four" are always way too much, and I always considerably reduce the amounts.
"
~ Written on 2007-04-13

"A word of warning before you start taking Gillian McKeith too seriously.

I can't comment on how her recipes taste - but try reading a few reviews of her other books.

If you're looking for dietary advice you need a dietician. Nutrionist is a made up word - anybody can call themselves a nutrionist (and a lot of nobodies do).

Gillian McKeith is no longer allowed to call herself "Dr" after a recent ruling by the ASA. She has no medical qualifications, just a PhD from a non-accredited US college (you can get one for yourself for around [..]).

Yes somewhere at the heart of what she says in this book is sensible dietary advice - eat fruit & veg. not burgers and ready meals. Like most diet books this is just a faddish way of dressing this up with some nonsense pseudoscientific explanations of why it might work.

She insists it is better to eat food raw because we need the enzymes. These are destroyed in your stomach and broken down before you absorb them. However there are few more vitamins in uncooked veg. than in cooked. But why can't she say that instrad of making up nonsense?

She believes eating green vegetables will oxygenate your blood because of the chlorophyll. Even if the chlorophyll could get into you blood you'd have to shine a light up your bum for this to work! If it did work it would also be making glucose in your blood (oxygen is just a by-product as far as plants are concerned) which would be a real problem if you're diabetic.

She believes yeast will make you ill because you'll absorb it into your blood where it'll ferment. That really is nonsense, yeast is a living organism and can't possibly enter you blood unless you inject it.

This woman doesn't deserve your money.

If you really want to know what's going on read The Truth About Food or watch the BBC series instead of McKeith's nonsense."
~ Written on 2007-04-04

"I love Dr. Gillian's cookbook. I have her other book (Dr. Gillian McKeith's Ultimate Health Plan) which is the most helpful book for people wanting to get healthy.

She is very thorough in explaining the recipes, and they're delicious, so healthy, and easy to prepare.

If you're serious about improving your health while having things that taste delicious at the same time, this book is for you!
"
~ Written on 2007-03-30

"After watching Gillian McKeith's tv programme I saw the book as some kind of lifeline. I'm a size 10 but have a bloated stomach and love handles 24/7. I'm spotty, lethargic and every day I wake up feeling like I've had no sleep. I couldn't wait to get the book through the post.

The book unfortunately lasted half a day before I gave up. I started my first day with the Quinoa porridge. For a start I had to boil the mixture to death not simmer like she stated as after 15 minutes I still had a pan of water. It was like eating a bowl of cous-cous but without as much flavour!!! I managed to force down a palm sized amount before throwing the rest away. What the cinnamon is meant to do I've no idea - you couldn't taste it above the bird seed! Consequently I was hungry.

Snack time was celery with humous dip - absolutely disgusting. Way too bitter. I've never been so happy to see a stick of celery which I ate whilst throwing away the dip. Hungry again.

Lunch was courgette and asparagus soup - this was mildly acceptable only because I bought a ready made veg stock to go with it as opposed to making Gillian's stock which no doubt would of been rancid like everything else.

Another snack was pear perfection smoothie. It was gorgeous but only after I'd added a load of milk to it!!!! - not just for taste but to try and soften the pear up which was sat in the smoothie maker not even wanting to be mashed up. It obviously knew it was about to be made into a Gillian recipe!!!

By the end of all that I was done. Alot of people would say that I hadn't given it enough of a chance and I agree to a certain extent. But to be honest I'm not about to go out and waste any more money on it. I'm just thankful that I bought the ingredients as I went along and didn't stock up on a week's worth. My four year old daughter also had to eat meals virtually by herself whilst I was stood for ages in the kitchen trying to salvage any goodness from the ingredients. There has to be other meal plans out there that enable you to feel healthier and lose weight without eating these concoctions. This woman doesn't seem to know how to cook. If she eats these recipes herself (I have my doubts) then she quite obviously doesn't enjoy food. It must just be a neccesity.

I wouldn't waste my money on this book. I've started doing an exercise dvd once a day and this in itself has been making feel better and my stomach is not looking as bloated. I'm also cutting out obvious junk such as chocolate and crisps. The only idea I've kept from the book is to make smoothies more often.

Really disappointing :("
~ Written on 2007-03-23

"I first started following Gillian's nutritional guidelines around 2 years ago when I was about 10 stones overweight... and at the age of only 23.

I had tried and tried and absolutely tried every diet I had heard of since the age of 12 but I never managed to stick to any for more than about 2 months. The "forbidden" foods, the food weighing, the points and sins counting, how far into ketosis am i?!? They all got too much to bear, were too hard to stick to and with too little in terms of results.

Gillian McKeith's diet is the only diet I have been able to stick to. I haven't stuck to it every day for 2 years, I have found that I am able to take a week or 2 off for Christmas, birthdays and holidays (even though Gillian would frown at me!), and I am still able to immediately get back on the wagon straight after.

Now I know there is controversy over some of Gillian's claims and her qualifictions/background - but I still think the explanation of what different foods do to you is better than any slimming class I ever went to! I feel like I not only understand why I shouldn't eat certain foods, but I feel I thoroughly understand the benefits of why I MUST eat certain foods.

The diet involves little to no weighing, no points or sins counting, no calorie or fat counting (yes, you did read that right), instead Gillian advises what foods to combine together and the reasons for this, and also which foods you can eat - and there's a long list of great foods - and you can pretty much eat them to your heart's content!

This book contains an excellent selection of recipes - they may seem really scary (and unappetizing!) at first but if you have a good look through you'll find some that you like the sound of. The recipes should only be used as a guide; feel free to adapt them in line with Gillian's principles and the sky is the limit. Today I had a banana, mango and passion fruit smoothie for breakfast, made her Lemon & Cinammon Rice Pudding (a delicious treat for the weekend) and for dinner I made her lovely Aubergine and Chickpea Tagine with quinoa and rocket - I have tweaked this recipe by adding more tomatoes, spinach, aduki beans and mung beans to make a heartier meal.

To date I have lost almost 7 stones in weight and I thank Gillian for her guidance. I no longer have acne, my dry skin has been replaced by a great complexion, I have strong shiny hair and nails, I haven't had a headache in 2 years!! I sleep so much better, I no longer snore, and my attitude is about 1000 times more positive than it used to be. I can enjoy all the great things a 25 year old should be enjoying (minus the junk food and alcohol - it's a small sacrifice, believe me!!)"
~ Written on 2007-01-27