The Food Babe Way: Break Free from the Hidden Toxins in Your Food and Lose Weight, Look Years Younger, and Get Healthy in Just 21 Days!

This was an excellent read. As has been previously stated, I've also read various unflattering comments about Mrs. Hari with regard to this book and her activism in general. Some say she's not a medical doctor, nutritional expert or scientist; so she's unqualified to write about food. I wholeheartedly disagree. After reading this cover to cover, I feel the book is very well written and presented in an understandable format. Mrs. Hari did a great job explaining how some corporate food giants routinely add antibiotics to livestock such as chicken and cattle, usually on company owned or company sponsored farms. This makes the livestock bulk up quicker so that it can be slaughtered sooner and shipped to market. Some in the restaurant industry adds MSG and other nasty chemicals to our food in order to preserve it, stabilize it, change its color, texture or consistency, add color or whatever other goal they have in mind to get the average Joe Schmo to eat their toxic concoctions. Monsanto manufactures and markets Roundup, a weed killer that's been around since 1970 (according to Wikipedia), and it's used on many farms around the world. With bulk supplies and different variations of pesticides being used on crops (no matter who manufactures them), you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand the possibility these chemicals can leech into and contaminate the very food we're eating or you're feeding your family. We now have genetically modified plants grown from seeds which have the unnatural ability to resist certain pests. Once crops are harvested and processed into commercially available food, it can have any number of additives contained within that ultimately entices us to eat whatever is placed in front of us, because it looks, smells or tastes good. Unfortunately the only way to rid ourselves of many of these contaminates is to grow our own food or purchase it from a local farmer, farmers market or a grocer such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Thrive Market or Sprouts to name a few. Many people don't have access to these specialty grocers because they're usually located in the more densely populated areas. Purchasing food that's grown naturally or raised to a higher standard usually means paying more for it, so many people choose not to buy it or can't afford it. The book gives excellent insight into what types of food to eat and what to avoid. There's a list of suggested places to shop in person or online to purchase meat, produce or even protein products. The book is footnoted and gives sources and references for the information contained within. The forward was written by Dr. Mark Hyman, MD. I don't mean to imply that this or any other book is perfect when it pertains to what I or anyone else chooses to eat, but this particular book interested me enough to read it and make my own decisions based on the information presented. For anyone who believes that science is infallible, medical professionals have all the answers or corporations and governments won't lie to us to achieve a particular goal, I feel they're doing themselves and possibly their loved ones a disservice. Like many politicians, science can be, and often is motivated by money. Medical practitioners tell us this year that a food product is good for us, but next year they tell us a different story. Medical professionals and scientists can ultimately be bought. All science is not necessarily bad, but it's impossible to tell the good from the not so good when the majority of us are not scientists; especially when we're just trying to pay the bills and raise our families. Thank goodness there are people like Vani Hari and many others like her, that do the legwork, blog and publicize the information to identify the jokers that would sell us anything as a means of enriching themselves. I know there are those who would argue that Mrs. Hari is also motivated by money because she promotes various products on her website. I would respond by saying we all need to earn a living. She has identified a niche that allows her to do just that, while also providing for her own family. Keep up the good work Vani.

Simply put, this book is simply wonderful - I went to the book store today just to buy a copy of this and am amazed by what I've read so far (quite a bit of it). The book is meticulously researched and is based on sound scientific principles. There is a preponderance of 1 star reviewers who have either only reviewed this one book, or who haven't been verified purchasers, or both. Should anybody trust such "reviewers"? My understanding is that some anti Food Babe blogs have been encouraging readers to submit BAD book reviews. This is different than Vani asking her blog subscribers to write "honest" book reviews. I would posit that most of the bogus bad reviews are from food industry insiders, scientists, and other shills who feel they must write terrible and fake reviews to prevent the average Joe from waking up and realizing that our food supply has been tainted by non-natural chemicals and non-natural engineering techniques. But why would these insiders be so scared, you may ask? I believe it is largely because they know the anti-GMO backlash is reaching a fever pitch, and it will only be a short matter of time before big food and big agra will have to concede and take these out of the food supply. It logically follows that many of these people will lose their consulting, lobbying and research jobs when the GMO market collapses - a collapse which is well on its way to coming to fruition. But doesn't Vani need to be a scientist, and should she scientifically prove that GMOs are harmful to humans? Absolutely not. Nor do I have to scientifically prove that bathing in gasoline is probably going to harm your health; it is sound common sense to say that you should not subject yourself to new foods which haven't been proven safe in LONG term studies. It is also reasonable to not eat petroleum derived preservatives like BHT, which, by the way, has been banned in many European countries. Furthermore, the burden should be on big food and big agra to scientifically PROVE that these foods are safe for long term consumption - not for consumers to PROVE that they DON'T CAUSE HARM (what an asinine concept). And by long term, I'm talking about volunteer human studies that last 20-30 years - not 3 month rat studies (perhaps 12 or 15 month Rat studies though). What good would a 3 month tobacco safety study prove? Not much - a person could smoke cigarettes for 30-40 years and sometimes not get cancer. Thalidamide, leaded-gasoline, leaded paint, asbestos, Agent Orange, PCBs, Tobacco, and NSAIDs were all "proven" to be safe by the scientific community for many years, despite much anecdotal evidence against that notion. It was only after countless people were damaged by these substances that the government finally did the right thing and either banned or made companies put labels on them. These same scientists that are criticizing Vani for her non-scientific background say that NOTHING is fundamentally different between GMO food production and traditional cross breeding, or that Vani doesn't understand scientific principles. Of course, this is spurious logic (and they know it), as genetic engineering has resulted in NON-PLANT genes being introduced into plants via genetic modification. This is unprecedented in all of human history, and it doesn't take a research scientist to understand that sometimes subtle changes can mean the difference between safety and disaster - which is why we need long term testing to make sure these products are safe. And when you take worm genes and splice those into corn, and the new plant generates BT to the point that the corn itself is registered as a pesticide, that is totally new territory. Does it REALLY take a science degree to question whether or not food that is registered as a PESTICIDE might not be safe for long term consumption? Are we really unreasonable in asking that these companies label foods which they spliced worm genes into? And if GMOs are so great, then why don't these companies flaunt it. Can't you just imagine "Corn Flakes - Powered by BT CORN. Now you can feed your children and kill insects with our new breakfast cereal!!". Come and get some... But I digress... Do you know who has decided that these foods are safe in the short term? The FDA relies on the "honor" system for these companies to test the safety of their own products, but what "honor" can we expect from companies like Kraft which were owned by Philip Morris (Altria) for 20 years (yes, they've been spun off now). Are these 1 star reviewers really so stupid to think that ANY company has morals? Do you really want to trust your long term health to PHILIP MORRIS? But no, see, we don't have science degrees, so we just can't understand how complex these processes are. And if we did have science degrees, then we could understand how 3 month safety studies by companies like Philip Morris should assure us that products are safe to eat. My advice is to read this book, ignore the haters, and train for a new career if you are a GMO research scientist.

Great book. Originally I had no plans to read it. I followed "The Food Babe" on Facebook. I liked what she wrote and posted but I didn't think I would learn anything new as I've read countless books on nutrition. And then one day I was reading Facebook and I saw a post from someone calling themselves "The Science Babe." It was clear that she had it in for "The Food Babe." But why? She seemed to insinuate that the "Food Babe" had no idea what she was talking about and everything she said was exaggerated. That didn't really seem to be the case to me based her Facebook posts. So I decided to take another look at the book. I went to Amazon and started reading the reviews. I was surprised to see a lot of reviews that were bashing her in a way that makes me suspect. Usually when someone attacks someone by name calling without actually debating the issues or refuting things put forth, there is another agenda at work. So, I decided to buy and read the book. First, it's a great book. Nice and easy to read and you'll like "the Food Babe" as a person. I'm not really thrilled about people who refer to themselves as "babe" but her explanation of how she came up with the name, and why, worked for me and I got over my initial reaction. The book is mostly common nutrition nuggets backed by the Food Babe's explanations and research. There was really nothing too surprising or shocking about her material; I agree with it all; eat healthy, read labels, learn and know the tricks that food marketers use, etc. So, why the extreme, mean spirited attacks, against someone who lives their life researching the food we eat, has had success changing her life and wants to share the information? Who would go out of their way to attack her? Who would be the type of person that would even bother? Well, I won't answer that for you, but I do have my own answer. I would say, just read the book and make up your own mind. Decide for yourself if the "Food Babe" is qualified and sources her material correctly. The only critique I would offer is that "The Food Babe Way," which is kind of her way of living a healthy lifestyle might be a little difficult to follow the way it is set up. She gives you a new habit to acquire, each day. At first it seems pretty easy, but as the days roll along, it gets a little more difficult. I almost think it would be better to add one new habit (or break a habit) once per WEEK. To some this might seem kind of wimpy but for people that have to make a major change it might be a little easier for you to accomplish. Other than that, great advice, easy to read and entertaining. It's well worth the money.

Before I give my book review, I want to make one observation about all those one-star reviews: None of those reviewers have actually read the book. How do I know this? I filtered the one star reviews with verified purchases and came up with ZERO purchases. ZERO! How can they honestly review a book that they haven’t even purchased or read? In my opinion, their “book reviews” are not genuine and should be completely disregarded. That said, here’s my review: I purchased The Food Babe Way this morning on my Kindle, and spent the majority of my day reading it cover to cover. You’ll want to get out your highlighter and notebook because each page of this book is chock-full of well-researched, verifiable health information. No filler or fluff here, this is one hefty read for those who are serious about living a nutritionally clean lifestyle. Her introduction on how she became the “accidental activist” and champion of an open and transparent labeling system is fascinating and informative, especially as it pertains to the food industry’s reluctance to divulge nutritional information to the public. She then teaches you how to read ingredient labels effectively, how to identify the fifteen major toxins that are sickening you, and why you should avoid them. This section alone is a goldmine of useful information and will significantly improve your health through detoxification. But there’s so much more than just label-reading here. Her 21 day system to developing healthy living habits is the core of this book. Each day she introduces you to one new healthy habit with actionable baby-steps, adding a new habit each day until your body is acclimated to it’s new healthy lifestyle. Each daily concept is meticulously explained and planned out for you, checklists and all. No guesswork or ambiguity here. After 21 days, she says that you should start seeing results as you slim to your ideal weight, feeling both healthy and youthful. This is where you have to take action and work the plan she has laid out for you. The remainder of the book helps you do just that, with tons of detailed recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with drinks and sweets included. These meals all sound hearty and delicious. Overall, I believe Vani has developed a solid system that is workable and intuitive. If you want to take charge of your health, this book will help you make informed decisions about the foods you are eating.

The reason I gave this book 5 stars is because I feel for the average American who is not yet a health guru, this book is very beneficial to opening their eyes to what they are really consuming. This country runs on greed, the all american dollar, and because of that, it's people are becoming sicker and dying. Vani is working hard to help make changes in this country, changes that happened a long time ago in other countries. What this book should do is outrage Americans for the fact that other countries have banned ingredients that are not yet banned in the USA. Vani continues to bring awareness and challenge corporate companies on changing their product ingredients to reflect the same product in Europe and other countries. She has opened my eyes to not just blindly follow and trust a product because it is labeled organic but to also ensure it's listed as GMO free. If we look around this country, there are far more people who just don't know vs. those that do and I think this book is a great start to even taking baby steps to help improve your health and the health of your family. What I've taken from this book and her website is knowledge and power to make my own informed choices of where I spend my dollars, what companies I want to support that care about our health. I have 2 boys that will very soon be adults so my choices are based not only them but my future grandchildren. I didn't purchase this book looking for some fad diet, I purchased it to understand better the ingredient list on labels because I am newer to the health journey and want to do my part in keeping my family healthy. How you spend your dollars is what helps make the change and we all have the power to make the change happen! I appreciate that Vani has shared her personal story not only in her book but also on her website with pictures to prove it. Sadly, I know far too many people with similar health issues and my hope is that everyone open their eyes to what may be causing their issues. What I truly like about her is that she shares endless recipes on her website for free. I just made 2 different ice creams yesterday for my family of boys who all love ice cream and even the non healthy food eaters approved. I also appreciate that she shares pictures and links to products she approves of. My wish would be that a Food Babe Approved label be created to help us along our healthy lifestyle journey- haha. I highly recommend following her on Facebook and checking out her website, she has helped me to make changes in my household and for that, I am grateful!

Love her or hate her, The Food Babe has a dedicated following which can only help us to stop the crap being sold as food here in the U.S. I have read The Food Babe blog here and there over the years so much of the information in this book, I knew already but the book is a nice review and I intend to pass the book along to my supervisor who runs the school lunch program for six schools in my rural/suburban area. I work in the front lines of what people in America should be paying attention to, but are ignoring. Hidden behind the advertising campaigns of the hungry children of America, is a hidden agenda. Absolutely, there are many hungry children here in America. Some don't get enough food, even more are eating the wrong foods. Why does WIC encourage fake foods for nursing moms and children? Why does food stamps allow fake foods? Why, oh why, with t is our government importing cans and cans of fruits and vegetables from China to be served in our schools?? I know this first hand, because I open those cans!!! The healthy food for schools movement was started over 15 years ago by a group of doctors who were becoming concerned with the growing health problems of children. Michelle Obama tried to do something good with this movement. I do have to give her credit for the awareness that the first lady has brought to children about the importance of fruits and vegetables. However, what the first lady didn't see coming was how the food companies saw yet another way to prey on the public and line their pockets. Did you know that the big companies have already designed a line of products complaint with the new school food rules? Maybe some of you parents need to go to your school and check out the list of ingredients in those snacks. Did you know that there is more soy and corn in these so-called "healthy" foods then ever before?? But let's not pick on the school lunch programs. How about parents who sent their kids to school with microwavable dinners, lunch-ables, oreo cookies and yogurt in colors not found in nature? I am a former market farmer who grew and sold plants and produce for over twenty years. I fought for labeling of local products. The big grocery stores like my local Wegmans, claimed that it was too expensive to label produce with place of origin, and indeed, if they had to do it, so did all the farmers at the farmers market and road side market stands. OK, I thought a card board sign with "grown without chemicals in New York" would do. No, Wegmans wanted little sticker labels with codes on each tomato, ear of corn or potato! Don't think for a minute that the U.S. Deptartment of Agriculture gives a cow patty crap about the American small farmer. I have been threatened with jail because I refused to fill out a farm survey. Last summer I had a call from the Dept. Of Agriculture telling me that I can't sell my perennials (lilies and hostas) at a road side stand without a $100 licence. BUT I CAN SELL MY UNREGULATED PRODUCE at a food stand for no fee??!! Indeed, I quit selling at the largest farmers market we have here in Syracuse, NY because the manager of the market, which was built with tax-payer funds to be a farmers market, told me that he "didn't give a _______if I was a farmer or not, whomever pays the most for a spot wins." I started reading the Food Babe blog because I was having my own issues with food. After growing up in a house where my siblings and I were sometimes hungry, I developed a complicated relationship with food. I decided to go vegetarian (or flexitarian, rarely meat, mostly fish, turkey and chicken). I ate bland cereal with skim milk for breakfast, I ate lean turkey on a whole wheat bagel for lunch and micro-waved a frozen veggie burger for dinner. I read labels, I studied ingredients, I dismissed ingredients whose names I couldn't pronounce as needed preservatives. I cooked from what I thought was scratch, out of a box. This "healthy" diet gave me type II diabetes. My Dr. sent me to a diabetes coach, who encouraged me to eat as close to natural foods as I could get. No processed foods, no pre-packaged foods, labeled organic or not and no more of those frozen veggie burgers. I now get my meat from a grass-fed farm, I grow my own food again, I buy from local farmers what I can't grow. I don't cook out of a box anymore. I don't use the word organic, as that label is so misleading, but I have learned to read a label and how to cook (a little)! People often say that eating the healthy way or the Food Babe way is expensive. but is it, really? People ask me what my grocery budget is, I can't quite say because I rarely go to the grocery. I often go months without doing any grocery shopping as we eat from our freezer in the cold months and our garden in the warmer months. To me, the less time I spend at the grocery, the less I am going to spend. Don't say a city dweller can't do this either, there are plenty of farmers markets for city dwellers to take advantage of. Yes, i would encourage anyone who is new to the Food Babe to read this book. Not new to the Food Babe? Buy the book anyway and pass it on.

So far, so good. I am threw a lot of the book and I really love that Vani has made her 21 day habit changes pretty easy. I was really curious what your changes would be and unlike other fad diets that (in my opinion) tell you to do things that are unrealistic to incorporate into an EXTREMLY busy Mom, wife, student, workers life like don't eat bread and excercise 6 days a week for 2 hours a day, Vani does a great job of making little changes that I can actually do. So far I am drinking the lemon water, green smoothie, got my shower filter this morning,and choosing my dairy wisely! Really happy I got this book, it is full of a ton of wonderful information. From the little that I have gathered the "haters" for Vani say she uses too many opinions and scare tactics. I guess you could look at it that way... But I personally do not feel she uses scare tactics. It IS scary to think about what is in our food and it IS scary to think that if we don't change our habits that it could lead to cancer or diabetes or any other disease. It IS scary to know that if I try to lose weight and feel like I'm killing myself and sacrificing, I may not have that opportunity thanks to processed foods and Vani just tells us about it. She gives us her opinions along with research and I really appreciate your hard work, Vani, I don't have the time to do all the research you do and I would have continued blindly eating all of the things that contain chemicals that could be killing me if not for your hard work. I know that not everything you say is 100% scientific, but based on your experiences and the conclusive studies on animals, I feel you have enough information to form an educated opinion and draw conclusions and talk about it. Its a catch 22 though... for those people out there that want to say "well prove it", the only way to ACTUALLY do that is to test the chemicals on Humans but that would be "unethical" right? If chemicals like pesticides were say tested on pregnant women to find a correlation between foods consumed that had sprayed with pesticides during pregnancy and Autism/ADHD, #1 who would sign up for that and #2 what company would want to be associated with the pesticide. NOBODY? So instead, our food is sprayed with pesticides and chemicals are allowed to just be added WITHOUT proof and whatever happens, happens because if there is no test than any adverse side effect could just be speculation i guess... Sorry for my rant... Bottom line Vani, you really are doing a great job, this is a good and easy read, I look forward to the changes that the Food Babe Army makes happen.

Here is a fact… Vani has pitted herself against a multi billion dollar commercial food industry. She couldn't make money fast enough even if she had a printing press in her basement if these folks decide to go after her with their armies of lawyers. Why haven't they? It should be pretty easy to discredit her. But it really isn't, is it? Which is why most of the bad reviews are not book reviews, but vitriolic blasts against Vani Hari. Where is the scientist that will get in front of a bag of potato chips or a can of soda and unequivocally state that these foods are healthy and pose no harm to humans. Unless they are working for the company, unlikely to find someone that do that. All Vani is really doing is pointing out the obvious- telling you what is in the ingredient statement of the foods you are eating, which all food manufacturer's are required by law to print on their packaging anyway. And she certainly didn't fabricate the research that found links between some of these ingredients and cancer. What do the Europeans and Asian countries know that we don't? Why do these companies have different formulations for the US than the rest of world? And why would a company like Kraft agree to change their ingredient formulation for Mac and Cheese (U.S. version) on the basis of the claims of a supposed "crackpot". That is not a cheap thing to do. Those decisions are made at a very high level and not taken lightly. This is hardly junk science. And by the way, Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. Oz are medical doctors. Still not good enough? Don't even get into all the stories, supported by proof of people who have reversed illness and healed themselves just because they stopped consuming processed foods. This is only the beginning of what promises to be a sea change in the way we eat and what we consider to be food. I recommend this book highly. I could care less if she makes money selling books or endorsing products that she believes to be healthy. She didn't make this stuff up, and she doesn't claim to be a scientist or doctor, she's just reporting it. Vani is not the first person to champion this cause. Credible MD's, scientists, and researchers have been blowing this horn for years, at best ignored and at worst vilified as crackpots. But Vani does a damn good job making sense of it for the rest of us. The right information at the right time. Don't just read the book- read the labels on everything before you put it in your mouth. Look those ingredients up. Then ask yourself if it's actually healthy for you.

Vani is clearly getting to people, one way or another. More 1 star ratings than 5 star.... hmmmm, something seems amiss. Are those 1 star raters from the big food corporations and chemical companies? I can't help but wonder. Do we really need to be scientists to understand how to eat well and to know whether or not to believe Vani? I don't think so. She is just trying to open our eyes and to help us use our common sense. It doesn't make sense to have more than 15 ingredients in a food that we are unable to pronounce. We've been fed so much nonsense by the FDA and other so called experts, that many of us are ready to listen to "the little guy" who has good old plain reason that comes with knowledge from an educated background. Vani doesn't have to be a scientist to have knowledge. How many courses in nutrition have scientists taken in their schooling? The same goes for doctors. Where exactly does their expertise in nutrition come from? Wasn't it the "experts" that told us to eat low-fat in the nineties, which only meant that we ended up consuming more sugar than ever before. The scientific experts are the ones who have led us into this unhealthy mess of obesity, increased levels of diabetes and cancer, etc. in the first place. How much more sickness is there since chemicals have been added to our foods? Our grandparents weren't sick like we are today. This is what makes us stop and think and ask: what is going on and what can we do about it? I loved the book and am thankful for Vani sharing what she has learned and for not being afraid to stand up to the corporate bullies. Vani is a naturally beautiful woman, but most of her glow comes from what she feeds her body. There are a lot of pretty people out there, but they don't all have that healthy glow. All I want for me and my family is to eat well, and therefore feel well. We have noticed such a difference since following Vani's advice. Since eating wholesome, chemical free foods, my twice a day migraines have disappeared without the use of medication! How can I ignore evidence like that! I respect the big corporations who have been called out by Vani, but who are trying to make positive change rather than choosing to attack her. There is no reason to bully someone who has a different point of view on a topic. Don't buy the book if you think she is crazy, but don't make fun of those of us who after doing our own research, choose to respect and follow Vani's advice. We are not blindly following her, but we are also not blindly following the "experts" anymore either. I am thankful that I did spend the money on the book and we will use it as a reference tool on our path to good health. Thank you Vani!

Very good book open my eyes how we foolish eat poison food thank God

This is a book which achieves its aim of exposing the hidden ingredients in what we eat. The author does not profess to be a scientist BUT she is a brave and motivated campaigner to improve not only eating habits, but persuade the big brands to ensure at the very least ingredients are transparent, if not improved. Interesting and motivating.

This is a fantastic book. So much information in a very accessible and casual tone. I've learned so much about the toxins that are added to our food. I'm both shocked and empowered. Thank you, Food Babe!

Van's bravery and determination will change lives of many who would be otherwise sick and uninformed...a great read!