12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food
by Victoria Boutenko
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Book Reviews of 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food
Book Review: Be sure to get the updated and revised version!
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't get me wrong. The first version is not bad, but the second version ROCKS...!
I have read probably 2 or 3 dozen books on raw foods and this is definitely one of my favorites. I "gobbled up" this book!
Book Review: A helpful first step into going raw.
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this book as a second option, not being able to get hold of the Boutenko's first book 'Raw Family', either here or Stateside.
It is a really interesting read and one has to applaud the tenacity and determination of the family to go raw, when they had so little support and knowledge. For example, Mum got rid of her pots and pans and covered the top of the oven with a large chopping board. Not many people would make such an immediate and final decision.
I am a bit concerned that an example of an average day's food intake in the book seems pretty sparse; especially so having read now other books on the subject that include a fantastic array of dishes and ingredients. However, this book is a good general 'introduction' to going raw, and I recommend it.
Book Review: Powerful Personal Story Backed by Science
Summary: 5 Stars
I read the earlier edition of this book over two years ago, along with all the previous Raw Family publications. Victoria's characteristic Russian warmth and passion always come through, and I so appreciate the love and dedication she brings to her readers. Starting with Green for Life, though, she now also offers scientific evidence, studies and research to support her stories, suggestions and claims. If Green for Life impressed me, the revised and expanded edition of 12 Steps to Raw Foods blew me away!
This book is so thorough that even a skeptic would find it difficult to argue. Victoria includes 12 pages of footnotes and a one and a half page bibliography. As her chapter on clarity explains, one need not turn away from intuition to listen to experts; however, it's also nice when spiritual nudges, personal experience and science converge.
In addition to the scientific and psychological references, Victoria has clearly grown as a teacher during the past seven years. She has become a teacher of teachers, and this shift works to empower her readers. Throughout the text, she reminds us that we each have gifts to share and encourages us to find our purpose. Perhaps the most refreshing thing about this book is Victoria's reminder that the "main goal" is not to become a raw foodist. Rather, a raw food diet provides energy that we can use to propel dreams into reality. By assuming that each reader can go on to teach raw food "cooking" classes or encourage others on their spiritual path, Victoria also reframes the way new raw fooders view themselves. Instead of perpetual students grasping for answers, Victoria treats her readers as future teachers who will have valuable insights and experiences to share.
Although I eat a high-raw vegan diet, I am not myself a 100% raw fooder. I would still recommend this book to anyone who wants to lose weight or who finds him/herself obsessing about food, body image, or health issues. Reading 12 Steps to Raw Foods goes beyond just trying to change one's diet. Victoria asks us to look at our relationship to food, to ourselves and to the entire world, but she does so in such a humble, graceful way. This is a book whose wisdom unfolds over the course of time, and thus a book that offers rewards in each rereading. Victoria ends by asking, "How many people can you influence in your lifetime directly and indirectly? Eventually, I think, the whole planet. Is it worth a try?"
After spending any time with Victoria through lectures or her books, the answer bubbles forth as an emphatic, "Yes!"
Book Review: Overwhelmed with warmth and gratitude
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished reading the revised 12 Steps. Although I read voraciously, I rarely finish a book feeling so overwhelmed with warmth and gratitude. I sat motionless, hugging the book to my chest, as I was reflecting on its message for a good twenty minutes. As a writer I share one quality with Victoria: I approach my subjects from a very personal perspective. If I ever doubted that is the best way to reach people, I know after reading this book that it is the only way.
Book Review: A fantastic new edition!! Review by Raw Network of Washington
Summary: 5 Stars
Review by Susan Albrecht
Victoria Boutenko believes that our bodies are designed to be healthy, that our bodies are perfect, and that sickness is not normal. For Victoria, absolute health is having enough energy to manifest dreams. Yet many people simply do not have enough energy to do so, or engage in a mental and physical struggle of ups and downs which make it difficult to remain joyful and fulfilled. For Victoria, the health and joyfulness that is our natural birthright can be found in nutrition. Standing in the way of optimal nutrition is a dependency on cooked foods and a corresponding belief that it is simply too difficult or not possible to change eating habits in a significant way.
The dependence on cooked food and the steps that can help one successfully end the dependency are outlined in Victoria's book, 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food. The newly revised and updated second edition is now twice as large, containing about 80% new information and more detailed insights into the burning question of why humans should eat raw, about human dependency on cooked food, and how to people can end this dependency. This is a book for people interested in changing their dietary habits, for those completely new to raw, and for raw fooders interested in learning more about Victoria's research into the diet of the first humans, which focuses on the "gatherer" aspect of the hunter-gatherer paradigm of early to recent human lifestyle and nutritional needs. While we all learn in grade school about the hunter culture, not many of us learn about the gatherer lifestyle that was central to ALL people, not just Native Americans. It is exciting to learn that the "first bread" was little more than crushed seeds of grasses mixed with water and "baked" on stones heated by the sun. Clearly, for thousands of years, humans ate their "bread" raw.
Central to the new edition is Victoria's other research into the power of greens. Victoria and her family had been raw for nearly ten years when they began to feel they had reached a plateau in their levels of health, noticing symptoms of less than perfect health. Yet it was when her children started to complain of increased teeth sensitivity that Victoria knew something was not right with her family's nutrition--such symptoms Victoria recognized as an indicator that her family's complete nutritional needs were not being met. This realization resulted in a three year quest to learn and collect data on all human foods. What she found is that the one food group that matches all essential minerals and vitamins recommended by the USDA, including protein, are greens! Convinced that greens are the most important food, Victoria was stumped at how to incorporate an optimal quantity into her diet (even Victoria was not able to consume more than several cups of shredded greens at a sitting). After many experiments, she discovered that blending greens in a high-speed blender with sweet fruit and water resulted in a wonderful concoction that is not too sweet and not too bitter. These "Green Smoothies" as she called them, are "freshness" in a complete package.
The new edition of 12 Steps to Raw Foods also contains more detailed information on the "twelve steps" of how one can end his or her dependency on cooked foods, the ten benefits of green smoothies, and the physical, emotional, biological, and spiritual aspects of how and why we feed our inner hunger. This is a book that will appeal to anyone with an interest in healthy living, and is a "must read" for those seeking to better understand the relationship between nutrition and optimal health. Victoria demonstrates this relationship in an informal yet practical way, offering numerous tips and strategies. Planting a seed to help and inspire others can be as simple as preparing raw food for a friend or family member. While you never know if or when that seed may germinate, you are the most positive example of joyful living. As an ambassador of the living foods raw lifestyle, you have the potential to influence others simply by attaining your own optimal level of health. And this, Victoria makes clear, is worth a try.