Everyday Detox by Megan Gilmore

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of food. It's probably not a surprise then to learn that I don't quite eat as healthy as I should. I lean towards creamy, cheesy, carb loaded dishes probably 95% of the time and I kind of hate dieting and exercise. Not a great combination.

While I do realize that getting healthy is a process - that there's no magic pill to make it all come together - Megan Gilmore's Everyday Detox: 100 Easy Recipes to Remove Toxins, Promote Gut Health, and Lose Weight Naturally does make it all seem a little more approachable and easy.

The book is built on the Gilmore's concept of food groupings - fresh fruit; starches; animal protein; nuts, seeds and dried fruit; and non starchy vegetables - and that by grouping foods in this way and eating within one group for each meal you're basically doing your body a favor, making it easier to digest and process the foods to your benefit. There are six groups total, the ones I've mentioned above and a neutral group. Neutrals can be eaten with any meal.

What I like about this book is the fact that it can be used as a starting off point: once you've got the categories down, you can start creating your own dishes and meals within Gilmore's guidelines. I also loved the fact that the recipes appealed to me - she uses cheese!!! - and that she includes menus as guides as well. So if you're craving Mexican, for example, she suggests pairing her Classic Guacamole, the Mexican Butternut Pilaf, and the Enchilada Stuffed Cabbage Rolls for a healthy Mexican fiesta.

I appreciated that Gilmore included recipes for making a lot of base recipes like your own coconut milk, almond milk, and tahini. I'm not quite motivated enough to go that far with the book, but I think anyone with a real desire to have a 100% hands on approach to their cooking will find this quite appealing. For my own purposes, I actually just relied on store bough versions of those items, paying special attention to the labels when selecting which one to buy.

What I didn't so much love about this book was the fact that you need special equipment for some of the recipes. You need a juicer and a high speed blender to create almost all of the "Liquid Nourishment" recipes, for example. I did manage to find a couple of cheats, though. Considering I didn't have a high speed blender that could reliably incorporate chia seeds, I was a bit pleased to stumble upon already ground chia seeds at my local grocery. This made the "Chocolate Chia Shake" doable even with my measly blender.

Another issue I had with the book was the "animal protein" grouping and what I realize now is a heavy leaning towards those proteins in pretty much all of my meals. While in theory the book sounds great and I honestly have no issue at all with going meat free on occasion, I did find that as time progressed I gravitated more and more to the animal protein recipes in lieu of others. Honestly, I missed meat on my pizza and the vegetarian "Italian 'Meatloaf' Muffins" weren't quite enough of a convincing substitute for my palate. (That recipe, by the way, was actually an "animal protein" dish that included both cheese and eggs, but still no meat in the meatballs themselves.)

Everyday Detox is kind of a mixed bag. It's definitely not going to appeal to everyone out there, but if you're motivated enough and willing to be experimental with your food while trying to adapt to an overall healthier approach to eating, I think you'll find some useful recipes and information in Gilmore's book.

Rating: 3/5

Per Blogging for Books requirements: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.