Superfoods by David Wolfe [Raw Food Book Review]
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Release date: April 28, 2009 by North Atlantic Books
David Wolfe Gives the Real Deal on Superfoods
“Superfoods are both a food and a medicine; they have elements of both. They are a class of the most potent, super-concentrated, and nutrient-rich foods on the planet—they have more bang for the buck than our usual foods.”- David Wolfe, author of Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future.
Raw food uber-guru and author David Wolfe has been preaching about the extraordinary benefits of “superfoods” for years. David is known as the primary person responsible for bringing the consciousness of raw cacao to the Western world. From there, he has branched out into many other superfoods and become one of the world’s leading proponents of consuming superfoods.
If you’ve been following David’s work for a while (through sites like TheBestDayEver.com or his books including the Sunfood Diet Success System and Eating for Beauty), you already know that David promotes and eats a diet that consists largely of superfoods. In fact, in a recent interview, David explained that 75% of his diet currently consists of superfoods!
Superfoods: Expensive Urine or Potent Health Tonic?
“In my own diet, I eat fruits and vegetables primarily for flavor, fiber, and bulk, not for deep levels of nutrition. When it comes to real nutrition, only superfoods can meet and exceed all requirements.” - David Wolfe, Superfoods
With his new book Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future, David aims to lay rest the claim that superfoods are only good for making expensive urine. There is no doubt that David is one of the top nutrition researchers in the world and has arguably had one of the largest impacts on raw foods and nutrition and has been living and researching this lifestyle (and creating it for that matter) for more than 15 years.
From his years of tireless research to find (what he calls) the best foods ever, David has gathered a plethora of science and research to back up his claims that superfoods are the real deal: a potent tonic, better-than-average food that provides superior benefits.
This book, Superfoods, is his culmination and outcome of that extensive work. And what a piece of work this book is! This book is massive, jam packed with information. And we mean information. Over 300 pages of information.
What Exactly is a Superfood?
“Superfoods comprise a specific set of edible, incredibly nutritious plants that are not entirely classifiable as foods nor are they entirely classifiable medicines (such as herbs).” - David Wolfe, Superfoods
David choose the subtitle of the book as “The Food and Medicine of the Future” with a clear intent in mind. Superfoods have a unique set of qualities that put them somewhere between a regular food, say spinach, and medicinal herbs, like say echinacea. David illustrates this point clearly when talking about one of his favorite superfoods: raw chocolate. “Like all superfoods, chocolate straddles the line between a food and a potent and beneficial medicine,” David spells out for the reader.
In the book, the point is clearly made that one of the key distinctions between a “superfood” and a “food” is that superfoods are more medicinal and supplemental than standard fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Because of their higher nutrition content and broad spectrum of health benefits, care must be taken when consuming them. You wouldn’t sit down to a large, salad-sized bowl of cacao beans, goji berries, maca, and incan berries sprinkled with a 1/2 cup of spirulina. That amount of nutrition would knock you out!
These foods are generally considered supplemental and are meant to be added into a normal, healthy raw food diet.
Superfoods need to be consumed with knowledge and consciousness. Think of them like you would an herb. You wouldn’t “eat” a whole bag of herbs. Instead, you “take” an herb at a particular dosage that’s right for you. You would learn about its properties, it’s contraindications, and a proper dosage for your specific maximum benefit. You’d learn when to take it and why. Some superfoods, as with some herbs, can be taken everyday. Others are best done in spurts of time with breaks in between, like maca.
From what we’ve read and seen around the “raw Internet”, a lot of people have trouble understanding this aspect of superfoods. For example, a lot of people who are against raw chocolate (cacao) claim that it’s too stimulating. Some of these same people have sat down and consumed two or three or more raw chocolate bars in one sitting. We have known some people to consume up to 20 pounds of cacao products a month. Then these same people get a headache and have other significant reactions and then claiming that raw chocolate is poison! Talk about stimulating!
Perhaps with David’s new book of condensed and accessible, well-organized superfood information and research, we won’t hear these stories anymore and people will take more care before they guzzle superfoods like they are pints of blueberries.
That being said, superfoods can act as “food”. As David mentions in the book, superfoods are still “foods” and can be consumed in greater quantities than medicinal herbs. We both have had large snacks of trail mix that include goji berries and cacao that have satisfied us for hours on end, but with just a small handful of trail mix. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the recommended dosage of goji berries is one handful a day, maximum. Anything beyond that can be too much.
What Superfoods Are Discussed In This Book?
Even though there are dozens of “superfoods” currently being touted and talked about in the marketplace, there are only ten superfoods that David gives detailed information on in this book. These ten are, for his own reasons, his favorites.
The ten superfoods thoroughly detailed in the book are:
Top Ten Superfoods:
- Goji berries
- Cacao
- Maca
- Bee Products (Honey, Bee Pollen, Royal Jelly, Propolis)
- Spirulina
- AFA Blue-Green Algae
- Marine Phytoplankton
- Aloe Vera
- Hempseed
- Coconuts
In addition to David’s top ten superfoods, he gives a detailed overview of another seven superfoods that he calls his “Honorable Mentions”.
Honorable Mentions Superfoods:
- Açaí
- Camu Camu Berry
- Chlorella
- Incan Berries
- Kelp
- Noni
- Yacon
These superfoods do not have as deep of detailed information for these Honorable Mentions as there are for the top ten, but you will definitely get the superfood download for these incredible foods as well.
We will leave it up to you to get a copy of the book and find out all the details about all the superfoods covered.
This Book is Informational As Well As Inspirational
“Superfoods will ease you into detoxification and the transition to more healthy foods—all without willpower!” - David Wolfe, Superfoods
For each superfood David discusses in this book, he provides the complete nutrient profile and description on why each superfood is part of his “top ten” list.
On the extremely useful end, each superfood listed has a section on how to use them followed by specific recipes so you can see how to best consume these powerful foods, with fun and joy!
The book is written so that it can be read straight through to give you a crash course in modern raw superfoods. It’s also organized as a reference guide, which allows you to go back through and pick out all the little details when you are looking for them later.
This is a great reference book. After all, how many times has a friend asked you what those weird little red raisins are that you’re eating, and once you exclaim your excitement that they are goji berries, they ask you why you eat goji berries. Immediately, your mind goes blank…”why are gojis good again?” This book will educate you and allow you to become a superfood expert…to help explain to others what that big smile is on your face.
Anyone who is ready to experiment with this class of foods can grab this book and get a complete overview of not only what a superfood is, but how one can effectively use them in their personal diet.
The Largest Appendix on Superfoods
The remaining sections in the book are helpful adjuncts to the rest of the book, but serve a different purpose.
A lot of the recipes include other special ingredients that you may not have heard of. Because of this, David offers a glossary that tells the reader what these ingredients are. Very useful for those not familiar with a diet consisting largely of superfoods. If you’ve never heard of tocotrienols, sacha jergon, MegaHydrate, the glossary has you covered.
Another extremely useful section is the first Appendix, where there is a break down of the entire nutritional profile for each superfood in the book. This is probably the first time anyone has offered such a complete summary of the nutritional breakdown of these foods in one easy to reference section. So when someone asks you what is darn good about raw cacao, you can just show them this page without having to memorize each and every little vitamin, mineral, and amino acid contained within these power-packed superfoods.
For those who need more proof than just a list of nutritional benefits and breakdowns, David gives a table that lists which scientific laboratory analysis was used to determine the nutritional components of each superfood, along with the specific results found.
Scientific texts and other book-related sources are also given.
After that is an entire appendix dedicated to each and every scientific study related to these superfoods, with information on each journal reference used and a quick summary of what was discovered in that research.
The information in this book is absolutely complete. Almost an entire 1/3 of the book is dedicated to backing up his claims. Anti-superfood proponents will now have a difficult time backing up their claims that superfoods aren’t legit in any way. This information leaves it up to the doubter to substantiate these claims for themselves or dig further into their own research to make their own conclusions.
The book is extremely well rounded, serving as a book you can read through, a guide, an inspirational text, a reference guide, or a scientific journal.
The only complaint we have about the book is the cover. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t really express the amazing information on the inside or the power of superfoods. Plus, the picture of David Wolfe isn’t his best…it’s, well, a little strange to say the least. What is going on with David Wolfe’s hands? The photo looks like a bizzare high school senior portrait. Great book, strange cover.
Don’t judge this book by it’s cover because it is truly the most comprehensive book on superfoods to date.
Superfoods: Amazing Foods or Expensive Products?
Others leaders and promoters in the raw food movement are not so sure about superfoods. These anti-superfood proponents claim that superfoods are not more special than blueberries and broccoli, that all of our nutrition can be obtained from fresh, whole, raw plant foods alone. Most of them would say that superfoods are nothing but expensive powders and exotics foods that empty your bank account and don’t give you much in return.
So….. who’s right?
Unfortunately, we can’t answer that question for you. You will need to ask yourself and your body to give you the lo-down on superfoods and if they work for you or if they are not right for you. Or which ones work for you and which ones do not. We do recommend that no matter what your current philosophy is on superfoods that no matter what, you will try them for yourself. That’s the only way you’ll know for sure if they work for you or not.
What does your body tell you about superfoods?
Do you feel better eating them than not eating them?
Only you can truly know that answer.
In the meantime, we hope this book can shed some light on the subject of superfoods for you. And this book may inspire you to give superfoods a try.
You’re Asking Us: Where Can I Get These Superfoods?
In the coming months we will be profiling lots of our favorite sources for superfoods. There is a lot of poor quality out there that we have experienced first hand, so we will do our best to guide you to what we have found to be of higher than average quality superfoods.
There is also a lot of buzz going around about superfoods now because of certain companies that are setting up business structures allowing individuals to sell superfoods on their behalf. Please don’t be turned off to superfoods because of these people who push them on you. Separate superfoods from the negative way some people want to sell them to you.
In the coming months, we’re going to help put a positive and helpful spin on superfoods and some of these companies. We’ve been very careful to be involved in any companies or suppliers until we can guarantee that they are of good quality and are of good heart.
We hope we have already gained your trust and respect from our now 2.5 years of raw food blogging, nearly 5 years of personal raw food experience, and our dedication to honesty and integrity in our posts. Since superfoods are here to stay and more and more people are getting into them, it will inevitably become more difficult and confusing to wade your way through the hubbub of poor quality and get to the real goods. We promise to continue to be a guidepost for you in this regard.
If you want to keep up on the latest information on the raw food movement, on superfoods, and the future of the raw food movement, Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future by David Wolfe is the book to read right now.
~ JS and Heidi
Raw Food Right Now
http://www.RawFoodRightNow.com
