I was pleased and surprised to get a message from Christopher
Crennen asking me if I would read and review his book, Get Healthy: An easy way to eat satisfying, high-fiber meals
and stay motivated. I was thrilled both to be asked and because of the
subject involved.
Crennen has written a jam-packed resource for whole-food
plant-based living.
He begins by rightly warning anyone with medical
conditions to seek their doctor’s advice before changing their diet (7). Then he explains that diets fail due to unhealthy
food, lack of motivation, and complicated recipes (9). From here, he launces into his work in
earnest.
The first chapter looks at the standard American diet and
why it is failing us – high bad fat, processed foods, and lack of fiber being
major culprits.
In the second chapter, he presents many doctors and
organizations that argue the best diet is one that is high is fiber and
whole-food plant-based.
In the third chapter, he considers the problem of
motivation. He brings forth the
necessity of repetition, presents good books, several audio books, videos, and
authors one can immerse oneself in. (This
is what I mean by jam-packed – Crennen listed dozens of good and helpful books,
authors, audio, video, and web resources.
This is extremely useful for a person venturing into what may be uncharted
waters of nutritional health.)
The fourth chapter considers other forms of
motivation: such as a food journal,
medical checkups, hypnosis and aversion therapy, coffee and tea, the TOPS club,
and dietbet.com. Different things will
motivate different people – the point is to get someone to want to work at
being healthy. (Interestingly, as I read
this book, I had been looking into motivational recourses like the last one in
this list.)
He then recommends the National Weight Control Registry
as another means of motivation. In this
information, one finds that eating breakfast, eating an unvaried diet, exercise.
Watching less TV and weighing oneself frequently assist in losing weight and
maintaining healthy eating habits (46-48).
In the fifth chapter, the reader is introduced to the
practice, books, audio books, DVDs, and web sites of Dr. Michael Greger, Dr.
Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Dean Ornish, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn. All of whom are major players in the whole-foods
plant-based lifestyle. This chapter
directs you to an enormous wealth of information to guide you.
In the sixth chapter, the author talks about kitchen
equipment and includes pictures, so there will be no confusion.
In the seventh, he does the same for food staples.
In the eighth, he gives the reader four simple “bowl” recipes
which can be modified to preference but give a great guide for how to eat breakfast,
lunch, and dinner in this fashion.
In the final chapter, the reader is introduced to fasting
and exercise. Both of which should be
under a doctor’s supervision. The author
helpfully refers the reader to introductory videos on YouTube to get started.
The book ends with an encouraging postscript.
This is a great book to introduce someone to the subject
and show that you care. The only thing
he might update for a future addition is that there are several places where he
says that this person says or this organization says, and there is no reference. Putting a reference in for all his referred
comments would be a boon to the book.
I
am thankful to Christopher Crennen for allowing me to have, review, and read a
copy of this book. As I said, it is
jam-packed with all the places to start to understand healthy whole-food plant-based
eating. This is the way I am more-and-more
eating and living, and it is making a difference for me. I applaud the work that went into this book
and the author’s care for his readers.
[This review appears on my blog, my
YouTube channel, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
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