The Bottom Line
Pros
- Delicious, creative recipes that most people will love.
- Easy to follow directions that work.
- Good resource for those needing to follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.
- Excellent recipes to serve to guests.
- Advice on the basic do's and don'ts of the diet with tips on stocking your pantry.
Cons
- Some recipes require expensive or uncommon, gourmet ingredients.
Description
- 150 recipes that work with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.
- Preface to the book provides an overview of the diet.
- Recipes include everything from soups to desserts. With special chapters for beverages, breakfast and kids.
Guide Review - Eat Well Feel Well by Kendall Conrad
Cookbooks very often show up on my doorstep for review when I don't expect them. "Eat Well Feel Well" falls into that category, and I almost dismissed it because it's a book for people following a specific diet called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). This diet is for people with digestive conditions like celiac disease, IBS, Crohn's and other conditions. As you can see, not great party topics.
Fortunately I looked through the book before passing it along to someone with one of these conditions. Upon opening the book I realized the recipes looked great and I had to give them a try. I'm so glad I did because I now plan to keep this book for myself.
The recipes are an eclectic, creative mix of different cuisines, filled with flavor, and many are very simple to put together. They follow the SCD diet which focuses on vegetables, meats, nuts, fish, eggs, and low sugars. There's a lovely testimony by the author regarding how this diet helped cure her daughter's digestive issues. But, this isn't a health site, so I'm not going to focus on that.
As I said, the book is worth keeping because the recipes are delicious. They range from the simple such as Sauteed Fillet of Sole with Lemon, Butter, and Capers, to the highly aromatic Moroccan Chicken Stew with Cashews, Saffron, and Currants, to the decadent Pecan Waffles with Sauteed Bananas and Cinnamon Honey.
Although I don't follow the SCD diet, I know people with the conditions that require it, as I'm sure many of this site's readers do. At least now I have a resource to turn to when I entertain them. And in between those times, I'll be using this book anyway.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
