Book Review: A Plant-Based Life
Author: Micaela Cook Karlsen
Publisher: Amacom, New York
Book Publication: 2016
For those wanting to lose weight while enjoying healthy and delicious meals, A Plant-Based Life: Your Complete Guide to Great Food, Radiant Health, Boundless Energy, and a Better Body. is for you. It shows readers how to go about making dietary changes without provoking self denials or cravings, and gives a framework which combines plenty of motivation for adopting plant-based eating with a practical plan.
What attracted me to Karlsen’s book was the foreword by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, co-author of The China Study, a book which I had read twice because I couldn’t believe what I was reading the first time around. That book describes how Dr. Campbell’s team studied the nutritional needs of humans over a 50-year period, and found that vegetarians live the longest and healthiest lives. Karlsen’s book shows people how to navigate the transition from a meat-based to plant-based diet while resisting the powerful forces of institutions which advocate unhealthy eating. Part One of Karlsen’s book contains recommended steps for attaining radiant health. Part Two shows readers how to keep up the momentum to achieve ongoing success. Included are suggestions for daily meals along with snacks, appetizers, sauces, soups, salads, dressings, and more.
My overall view is that many American doctors have read The China Study and are passing along its findings to patients. However, Canadian doctors are largely ignoring it, so their patients are being given the same old poor dietary advice. Thus, it’s up to each of us as individuals to take responsibility for our own health, and this book teaches us how this can be done. Just keep in mind that humans evolved from primates, and primates are herbivores.
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