Those who know me will know how much I love reading, any kind of reading whether it is magazines, newspapers, novels or, of course, cookery books.  There is always a pile of cookery books next to my bed and a virtual pile waiting to be read on my kindle. So I’ve decided to put this passion of mine to good use and start reviewing some cookery books here on my blog, mainly to do with healthy cooking and techniques but maybe other types that I like as well (the odd cake now and then never hurt anyone!)

My first review is of Reboot with Joe, Juice Diet by Joe Cross published by Greenleaf Book Group.

The publishers sent me an electronic copy of the book which I must say right at the beginning made it really hard to read, going backwards and forwards between the theories to the recipes etc, and there were no pictures…?? I don’t like cookery books with no pictures in them, the glory of the food, the fresh ingredients, the view of his journey is all lost without some beautiful photos.  So that was a big shame.

The book is written in a very professional kind of medical way and it tells the story of Joe Cross, subject of the 2010 film documentary “Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead”.

“Joe is an advocate for the power of juicing and in his book he brings up the plan that allowed him to overcome obesity and his poor health.”

The first four chapters in the book contain lots of information and non-stop encouragements – as much as I love knowledge I found it too long and it stretched on and on for too many chapters.

Having said that you can tell how passionate Joe is about his subject which I admire him for and it encouraged me to read the book from beginning to end.  I also tried his 5 day juicing plan and lost 2 kg in the process!

So if you are not interested in reading about Joe’s life then I suggest you go straight to Chapter 5 which is where the different plans start and where you will find all the info and shopping list for each plan:

3-day quick start

5 day, 10 day, 15 day classic reboot

15 day 5-5-5 reboot

The recipes are really simple to follow: wash, cut and juice. There are some soup and salads recipes for those who need to chew some food and can’t live on juices alone. There is also a juicing guide that takes you step by step from preparation to juicing and storing.

There are more chapters after that: essential, after reboot, conclusion… which again I found to be too long.

As I mentioned before I took it on and did the 5 day plan.  I must say I did enjoy the juices but I was starving!  As juicing takes the fibre away from the fruit and vegetables there isn’t much substance to fill you up. I also didn’t like that Joe uses lots of fruit and mainly starchy vegetables in his recipes, which are full of sugar… I would have preferred to use a blender to retain the fibre and to use some healthier vegetables like green leaves, herbs, healthy fats (like avocado) and spices (like turmeric).

To summarise: yes, include juices and smoothies as part of your healthy diet as there is no doubt you will get more vitamins and minerals from the fruit and vegetables that way (as you need such a large amount of them to make one juice/smoothie).

I give the book 3 stars out of 5 stars for the effort and the personal story, but as you can get much healthier and more interesting juices and smoothie recipes in other books and on the internet I wouldn’t recommend buying this one…

Happy Juicing if you give it a go…

Karin xx