Book Review

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Raw Food Detox
by Adam A. Graham
Alpha (Penguin), 2011, 317 pages, $22.00
ISBN: 978-1-61564-0-942

Most health-conscious people who embark on a raw food detox are not likely to be considered “idiots.” Au contraire! More often than not, they are thoughtful, well-read, and quite savvy about nutrition. It’s hard to believe then, that anyone who is proactive about detoxification might be self-deprecating enough to consider themselves a target audience for this book’s title. But I digress.

I wanted to challenge this book’s title to see if it could deliver what it promised: to successfully help uninformed readers “eat better, feel better, look better.”

And when we get past the title, this book has all the makings of a simple, easy-to-read guide that should help most readers who are new to the subject. The layout (bold print, newsprint pages, devoid of photos) makes it an accessible read if you are already willing and curious. It’s not, however, a book that is likely to grab those who prefer the more tactile and visual aspects of reading food books with rich production values.

The book is organized into five main sections that cover a range of discussions from toxicity and detoxification methods to strategies, menus and meal planning, recipes and nutrition, and maintenance. The information within each chapter is a bit scattered, but it pulls itself together by way of a useful summary at each chapter’s end.

The surprise came when I found myself suddenly distracted by Adam A. Graham’s recipes. This is where the book’s real value shines through. There are a lot of very useful raw recipes for people at any level of a raw food detox. Even the “consciously cooked” transition recipes have a legitimate place here for those readers who might benefit from gently easing into full-on detoxification.

Once the raw recipe section is discovered, it can be hard to return to the earlier chapters. (This might be reason enough to buy the book.) These mouth-watering recipes include Sesame Curry Soup, Eggless Egg Salad, Chia Chocolate Mousse, and Banana-Ginger Whip among others, plus smoothies and juices. Author Adam A. Graham has a strong sense of raw ingredients and is clearly comfortable when combining these in the kitchen.

Although the second half of this book outweighs the first, it also creates a necessary balance that should satisfy anyone who feels a little underinformed about choosing raw foods for detoxification.