Just wanted to say this book is excellent and truly one-of-a-kind. You’ve given us the best of both worlds here; most cookbooks have no nutritional “background info,” just the recipes themselves. On the flip side, most nutritional books have some great theory, but then don’t give you the necessary tools to develop a solid day-to-day eating routine. I would really suggest it for the “not so kitchen savy” guys and gals out there (like myself), as there are tons of practical tips on preparing food in general.
For those of you who follow JB’s work, this book is a must-have. No more excuses for not knowing good recipes or how to prepare certain foods, it’s all in here. Great work JB!
Another outstanding review for JB on my end; he did an incredible job on this. To say that I was very impressed was an understatement. I mean, honestly, the guy made chunk light tuna appetizing!
I took advantage of the special and got both the Gourmet Nutrition e-book and the NO Nonsense Nutrition DVD. Heck of a deal!
Gourmet Nutrition looks to be what I’ve been searching for since I began cooking(IF YOU CAN CALL IT THAT!).
Easy to prepare, great tasting, nutritious recipes. What else can you ask for? Ample amounts of protein, that’s what.
So many of those so called healthy recipes I find online are lacking in the muscle building protein department.
With Dr. JB co-authoring the book I knew each meal would contain a boat load of his favorite macronutrient, sugar…just kiddin. Everyone from t-nation knows of Berardi’s fondness of protein. And what do you know each meal has plenty of it.
The nutritional profile of each meal is laid out in a easy to read manner with fat broken down into monos and polys and even omega-3 and omega-6’s.
I’ll report back after I give a few of these recipes a whorl and see how they go down. And I haven’t even read Section 1 yet.
Well I finally have some free time and managed to put some recipes to the test… Great stuff!
I won’t bother about saying how good the rest of the recipes look like (this has been said before.) I want to focus on what I liked most about this book.
Firstly, I think the macronutrient combinations and breakdown are really what makes this book shine… Of course, that was probably the book’s main purpose, and they did one heck of a job with it.
I like the tips that you give JB in between recipes. I think ALL of them are pretty useful and are a nice complement.
A cool idea might be to implement an FAQ section in your future books. I think we can all learn from that, and it will save you a lot of similar emails asking the same question.
An even better idea might be to design a little section in your website for thos that have bought the book, and whenever you discover a new recipe you could post it up there. This will mean that the book will never be outdated, as the new recipes would take into account the latest research regarding food combinations etc. Also, it’ll stop anyone complaining from saying that there isn’t enough recipes in the book (although which retard would do that I don’t know)
Of course, the above are just minor enhancements to an already near perfect book.
It is quite interesting how you mention the use of butter instead of oil in order to cook food. That makes me think of something: How do you see these butters that claim to have no trans fat nor saturated fat? Are they just hype or could they be healthier alternatives to “normal butter”?
Well Dr. Berardi, I guess this book is just another success story to add to your long list. And for that we are grateful
(By the way, I’m the other “Dr. John” in the book)
Maybe I can add a little input:
Bradjm - Carb Countdown is a low carb, high protein dairy beverage by Hood that tastes great, particularly the lowfat chocolate. If you want to make the Reese’s oatmeal without it, you can try chocolate flavored protein powder and water. But you’ll have to use a great tasting powder, or your oats will taste like the inside of your gym bag. Low-carb Grow! would be an excellent choice.
Fragfaster - great ideas for the FAQ section, and website updates! If there is demand, perhaps we could devote an entire website to Gourmet Nutrition.
MizzouDawg - fellow Missourian here also To me, a good kitchen starts with the knives and pots/pans. So depending on what you’re using for cutting utensils, I would get a knife set next. You can get a decent set at places like Target for about $40, including a chef’s knife (broad blade), serrated knife, long slicing knife, and some paring knives, as well as a sharpener (crucial).
Just bought the book this morning – the recipes look really good. Also, in using the pdf format, i really appreciate how you can jump straight to what you want rather than having to use the scroll-and-hunt method.
I plan to print that sucker out and take it with me to Trader Joe’s this weekend so I can stock up and test drive some of these babies.
BTW, the organization is really superb, and the overall aesthetic impression of the book is very nicely done. Worth the $29.99.
Great book. The recipes are worth it’s weight in gold (if you printed it out like I did).
100 Recipes / 30$ = .30 per recipe.
The information in the book is invaluable and if you’re eating the same damn thing every day because you don’t know what to eat, pick this book up. I’m going to be doing some experimentation this weekend to make some of the recipes for my meals this week. I can’t wait to try some of this stuff.
Great book ,well put together the ratio’s are cool.
But can you guys really see yourself spending all this time making these recipes. If someone was making them for me that would be different. I saw the sample of the book, and I didnt think I wanted to spend 30-60 mins preparing one meal, plus spend all that extra money on spices and stuff.
I guess Im just not the gourmet, I think I prefer a bit more simple, I eat it for what it does for me, and not for how it taste…tasting good is nice but to me the time spent doing it is not worth it.
I guess if people already cook like this, it would’nt be much of an adjustment. For me I would have to quit my job to cook half these meals.
I will stick with grilled chicken with lemon pepper, protein shakes, and oatmeal and fruits and vegetables.
I’ll let people who bought the book do most of the talking with respect to your point but I wanted to chime in with my 2 cents.
50 CONVENIENT MEALS - At least 1/2 of the meals (50 in total) take 15 minutes or less to prepare. Probably no longer than what you’re currently doing. Sure, you may have to take a few more minutes when shopping in order to break your pre-established system in order to include the new food purchases, spices, etc but in the end, John Williams and I spend less time on food prep than most people and certainly no more than the tuna and egg white crowd.
INSTEAD OF CHEAT MEALS - While most of the time we’re eating pretty basic meals, I still eat 7x per day for a total of around 50 meals per week. Even if I eat chicken, tuna, salmon, etc for 90% of them, I do want something “different” 10% of the time. Instead of having “cheat meals” when I want this variety (like pizza, wings, etc - which can actually degrade physique quality over time), I choose meals from this 100 recipe selection. They become my “cheat meals” and my physique stays great year-round and my need for something different is satisfied.
VARIETY ISNT UNDISCIPLINED - Many dismiss this need for variety as some form of weak discipline but I protest - Ive been training for a lot of years, stay under 8% fat year-round, have won top bodybuilding titles, and have stuck through school all the way to a PhD - I think it’s fair to say I can comment a bit on discipline. To this end, I believe that it’s not “undisciplined” to eat with a wide variety. Rather, it allows you to enjoy the lifting lifestyle AND enjoy some of the pleasures that others get from food.
VARIETY AND NUTRITION - Finally, don’t forget that we built this book around a diversity of healthy recipes. This diversity introduces a wide variety of micronutrients and phytonutrients that the same dietary plan eaten day in and day out cannot provide. Dare I suggest the “variety” from #3 above is actually a healthier way to go?
Doc, don’t defend meal preparation. It is as big a part of being healthy as going to the gym. People that complain about the time it takes to prepare their food are likely the ones that don’t think twice about blowing four hours at a bar or at college party or looking at porn. It’s part of the deal and you have made my commitment easier. Thank you!
Gourmet Nutrition is EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT. Can’t say enough good things about it…
[quote]fragfeaster777 wrote:
Hey guys
Just got an email saying that the Recipe Book is out.
Woohoo!!
Does anyone know if they’ll be offering a discount for T-Nation? Or maybe its best to wait until Tailer Nutrition comes out and they might offer both books at a discounted rate?
I’ve been trying to search the site, and probably my question has been answered before (apologies if that’s the case… I just couldn’t find any conclusive info) but firstly. what do you think of the butter/margarines that claim to have “0g trans fat and 0g sat. fat”? I have been looking around and found things like Olivio, which use olive oil (note they do claim 0.5g trans fat)… are these better for cooking and/or consuming than normal butter? Or is there a catch?
Gourmet Nutrition is amazing, a great compendium of the way to eat. I have been pouring through it and have improved my eating habits and am already putting on new muscle and getting leaner. Really impressed, I am recommended to all of my friends. THanks Dr. Berardi
[quote]dylan5150 wrote:
Doc, don’t defend meal preparation. It is as big a part of being healthy as going to the gym. People that complain about the time it takes to prepare their food are likely the ones that don’t think twice about blowing four hours at a bar or at college party or looking at porn. It’s part of the deal and you have made my commitment easier. Thank you![/quote]
I agree to some extent that complaining about time is a cop-out. But, to those new to this, I find that I can help them more with a logical justification that appeals to their reason and their desire to change rather than a hard-liner, ball-busting approach.
And in the end, my vocation is to help as many people with their health and body composition as possible. And I’m willing to do what it takes to accomplish this goal - I don’t mind justifying a healthy lifestyle once in a while to accomplish this goal.
I’ve been trying to search the site, and probably my question has been answered before (apologies if that’s the case… I just couldn’t find any conclusive info) but firstly. what do you think of the butter/margarines that claim to have “0g trans fat and 0g sat. fat”? I have been looking around and found things like Olivio, which use olive oil (note they do claim 0.5g trans fat)… are these better for cooking and/or consuming than normal butter? Or is there a catch?
Thanks
Idrees[/quote]
Butter and margarine are 2 different things. Butter isn’t something to worry about as long as it’s part of a balance fat intake.
Most margerines are full of hydrogenated trans fats.
I pick butter every time - cooking with it is cool too since it’s much more stable than any oils.
To me, a good kitchen starts with the knives and pots/pans. So depending on what you’re using for cutting utensils, I would get a knife set next. You can get a decent set at places like Target for about $40, including a chef’s knife (broad blade), serrated knife, long slicing knife, and some paring knives, as well as a sharpener (crucial).