Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Book Review: The Thrive Diet

I would recommend The Thrive Diet to two different kinds of people and two different kinds of people only:

1. Those who are hardcore athletes (i.e. voluntarily participate in extreme events like marathons and triathlons. Who are these people? I do not understand their belief system).
2. Those who are very health and nutrition conscience and are open-minded enough to try veganism.

I partly fit into one of these categories. Can you guess which?

The Thrive Diet is a thorough book. Its author, Brendan Brazier, is a top vegan Ironman. Intense stuff! He is all about fueling your body with simple, nutrition-dense foods like flax, nuts, veggies, fruit etc. You can’t argue with his thorough information about what foods you need, how much you need of them, and when you should consume them based on your workout (before, during, and after). He provides a 12 week diet plan and a bunch of different recipes. Of particular interest were his recipes for smoothies and energy bars. His smoothies often contain flax meal and hemp protein. One step ahead of you, Brendan! And his energy bars sound amazing, although I would need a food processor before trying any of them out. The food he consumes is not cheap, but I am sure the cost is well worth it.

Since I only fit partly into one of the above categories, I did not love this book as much as I hoped. I am not an athlete (unless watching Jon and Kate is being considered for the 2010 Olympics. Badump cha!) and I only dabble in veganism, so this wasn’t the book for me. I did learn about a few new foods I had never heard of before (chlorella sounds neato!) and would like to try some of his recipes. Overall, though, I found this book to be a bit too dry. I wish Brendan were more witty and charming. However, as a hardcore vegan Ironman with a multi-million dollar company under his belt, I imagine he doesn’t have the time or energy for wit!

2 comments:

  1. My library doesn't have this book anywhere in their system. :-( Boo.

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  2. You may want to try searching under the author's name. I think he has some more recent books in the same vein that your library may have?

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