When Eating a Vegetariain Diet Is Not Enough, Go Beyond Broccoli

The purpose this book review is to share with you that a strict vegetarian diet does not work for everyone. Some people do better eating animal products.

Even though I write mostly about eating a vegan or plant-based diet on this blog, I understand that everything is not for every body.

Susan Schenck, author of Beyond Broccoli and the Live Food Factor, sent me her most recent book, Beyond Broccoli. I have to admit, I was not thrilled about reading Beyond Broccoli.

There are many things that Susan shares in Beyond Broccoli that I did not know. Beyond Broccoli has inspired me to take a closer look at my diet and possibly make a few changes.

Although I cannot get down with eating raw meat, I may look into cod liver oil.  Beyond Broccoli was very eye-opening and helped me in many ways. Thank you, Susan for sending me your book to read and review.

 What’s in Beyond Broccoli?

Beyond Broccoli has a total of 247 pages. It is easy to read and understand. The book is divided into 5 parts with a total of  28 chapters.  The price of this book is $19.77 US.  Here is some information that caught my attention:

•  Chapter 1: How a Vegan Diet Compromised My Health – “Even after the B12 tests, I refused to eat meat for a year. I resisted as I was disgusted by the idea of eating meat after 6 years without it.” Susan had began to lose her memory, was bloated, began developing bags under her eyes and had other issues that were compromising her health. Once she started eating meat, taking fish oils and other things, her health improved very quickly.
•  Chapter 5: Vegetarians No More: People Who Went Back to Eating Meat – Kevin Gianni, a fellow You Tuber, is no longer a vegan. I had no idea that he was not a vegan.  Kevin had digestive issues and low cholesterol.  As a result, Kevin added pregnenolone (a hormone) and krill oils as well as dairy. Making these few changes helped Kevin tremendously.
•  Chapter 8: Our Shrinking Brains – “Dr. Barry Sears calls the alarmingly low levels of DHA in breast milk “the greatest public health disaster of the past century” and claims we run the risk of regressing as a species.”
•  Chapter 10: Metabolic Types: Why We Can’t All “Go Veg” – “Low-fat diets tend to be high in carbs because protein in nature usually comes bound with fats. Since you go low on fats and proteins you eat high carbs by default.”
•  Chapter 15: A Closer Look at Plant as Protein Sources – “Flaxseeds can be toxic if more than a few tablespoons are eaten in one day.”
•  Chapter 18: Dairy and Eggs – “Egg yolk is rich in vitamin B12, selenium, and DHA (if the chicken was fed a diet rich in omega -3s).”
•  Chapter 23: Diet: It’s All About Balance! – If we overindulge in any type of food there will be consequences, “This is why we need to eat in balance from a variety of foods.”
•  Chapter 26: If You Still Aspire to Remain Vegan or Vegetarian – “If you wish to remain vegan, read some nutrition books and studies outside the vegetarian/vegan arena, which tends to be biased.”

 A Few Take Home Points

1.  If you are struggling with eating a vegetarian diet, are experiencing deficiencies and not feeling well, you may need to re-evaluate your diet and come to terms that a vegetarian diet is not for you.
2.  If you are a stickler for eating a low-fat diet, then it could be doing more harm than good. Why? Because cholesterol and saturated fats are necessary for health. There is a section in the book (page 85) where Susan shares that low cholesterol serum levels can cause a person to suffer from depression, suicide, violence or homicide.
3.  Low levels of DHA shrinks the brain and can also cause you to be an unhappy person. Susan says the people who eat sea food are the happiest people in the world. Well, I don’t know about that, but I do understand why.
4.  The vegetarian diet is high in carbs and there are some metabolic types that cannot tolerate carbs. It is important to know your metabolic type because it helps you know the types of foods that work best for you.

 Conclusion

It was very hard for me to make it through this book, because I got stuck on the evolution chapter.

Even though I’ve studied evolution, I do not believe in evolution, so it was a big challenge for me to continue reading this book.

Once I got past the evolution section it was smooth sailing. Granted there were a few things that I did not agree with, but, I made it through the book. I learned a lot of new information.

Susan shares how she eats raw meat. I was really grossed out especially when she shared the part about eating raw liver.  I’m glad she shared how she prepares the meat to kill parasites and whatnot.

I think a few recipes in this book would have been very helpful for those who do not mind eating raw meat and other raw animal foods.

My goal is to stay a vegan or vegetarian, but I got a little discouraged many times as I continued reading this book.  I am glad that Susan included chapter 26 (If you still aspire to remain vegan or vegetarian), because I was beginning to conclude that a vegan or vegetarian diet would do more harm than good.

Overall, I think this is an excellent book, well researched and full of helpful information and tips. I enjoyed Susan’s writing style and voice in this book.

If you are a person who does not do well on a vegetarian diet and are trying to find balance, you may consider reading Beyond Broccoli.

Learn more about Beyond Broccoli on Amazon.com.

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