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I have very mixed thoughts on this book.

The Good:

-I'm definitely not going completely vegan or even vegetarian, but the book did convince me to eat LESS meat. And I'm going to attempt to significantly cut down on the amount of dairy in my diet (that whole section on rocket fuel freaked me the hell out). Before I'd even finished reading, I had purchased RiceDream instead of cow's milk and I purchased a cheese substitute for tacos this week. My husband and I both tried it and it was actually pretty good! I would never know it wasn't real cheese. I always heard fake vegan cheese was disgusting, so I was pleasantly surprised. That being said, I did also buy sour cream and Monteray Jack cheese for the enchiladas I made tonight. I don't plan to cut dairy out completely, but I am going to use vegan substitutes whenever I think it won't ruin the taste of the dish. (I'm not sure what to do about baking though. I already googled it and the consistency of RiceDream will not work for baking).
All in all, I'm excited to make these positives changes to my diet (and my husband's by extension, since I do all of the meal-planning and cooking). This book was very persuasive and made a great case against dairy.

-There was a lot of great information in here about which foods are healthy and WHY they are healthy. I did feel like a lot of the book was vegan manifesto, and for that reason, there's a lot in here that I think may not be entirely accurate. But the parts that were like "x-fruit has y-benefit and z-vitamins and minerals" seemed pretty solid. I learned a ton about nutrition from this book and I definitely wasn't expecting that.

-Lots of great info in here about the conflicts of interest that run rampant with the FDA USDA and other government regulatory agencies. I had heard a little before about how dairy came to be included in the federal school lunch program. It is pretty weird how we've all been gaslit into thinking milk is super healthy for us. It has some benefits, but also includes a TON of health risks.

-The tone of the book was kind of funny at times. There were points where it went a little too far into flippant snark, but most of the time the tone and little quips just made me chuckle.

Now, the Bad:

-The author contradicts herself several times. One example is how she ends the book with a bunch of squishy platitudes, telling readers to be nice and compliment people and be a ray of sunshine. Meanwhile she spent most of the book calling everyone reading "fatasses." There are other examples, but that was the one that stood out to me most prominently.

-Too many references to specific websites and food brands. This makes the book seem very dated. Yes, some of the vegan sources references and food brands are still around. But this book was written almost 2 decades ago. Surely, some of these brands have changed? Or there may be newer better options? I think giving general nutrition advice would have been more evergreen. Also like...I went to one of the vegan recipe websites they listed. I was most interested in vegan baking. Recipes LOADED with sugar. The book has a whole chapter about how sugar is the devil. This is why listing specific websites and brands is tricky. When they wrote the book in 2005, they had no way of knowing what those brands' operating practices would be in 2022. They do actually mention this in the book, saying that companies change their formulas and operating practices all the time. They say readers need to do their own research, because just in the time they spent writing the book, 2 of the companies they were going to include made changes and had to be removed from recommended brands. Well, cool for explaining that...but if in the MONTHS spent working on the book, 2 brands hit the dust, shouldn't that have been your clue that including specific brands was a bad idea?
They get half a point for introducing me to RiceDream though. Yum. And while I couldn't find Ezekiel bread at my grocery store, the whole gran gluten free alternative I found was freaking delicious. I'm never eating bleached soggy white bread again. I've been introduced to the wonders of whole grain bread with no preservatives and OH MY GOD. Now I know why some people love bread.

-I didn't care for the graphic depictions of animal cruelty. I skipped large portions of the book to avoid that. I know this is a vegan manifesto, but yeah...I don't have the stomach for it.

Okay, now the really bad...

They toss in a flippant line towards the end of the book: "Don't go anorexic on us." But that one sentence can't erase the plethora of thinspo and pro-ana behaviors recommended throughout the book.
They tell people to enjoy the "dizziness, nausea, and hunger, and know that your body is becoming clean." Not only is this terrifying advice, telling people to view DIZZINESS as something healthy, but it's another example of a contradiction. They say don't eat breakfast until you are hungry. Then say that you just need to deal with the dizziness and hunger. Umm....so? "Don't eat until you get hungry. We know all that hunger will suck, but it's good to be hungry."
If you eat when you're hungry, why would you be feeling hunger? Especially to the point of dizziness and nausea??
Also, they literally give pro-ana advice: Eat one piece of fruit slowly? That's classic anorexia behavior. That's the advice they give out over on pro-ana tumblr? They tell you to cut an apple up into pieces and eat one piece every few hours to trick yourself into feeling full. This book wasn't quite s egregious, but it's way too close for my comfort.

Then we have the toxic positivity bullshit. Seriously, they say if you have negative thoughts and emotions, you will give yourself breast and ovarian cancer. Fuck right the hell off with that.

Altogether, this is a harmful book that gives dangerous diet advice.
But I did actually learn a lot about nutrition and which foods to go to for specific vitamins and minerals.

For the love of god, do not follow those meal plans though...What in the world. The title needs to be changed to 'Starving Bitch' because I don't know how anyone could live on those tiny little plant portions. Then they try to say that if you eat their little baby meals and feel hungry or lightheaded that's just your body cleansing itself....Ick. That's some breatharian shit.
If you are dizzy, eat something! Don't let any "gurus" gaslight you into thinking your body sending out distress signals is a sign that everything is okay.

And please don't fast for 10 days. These crazy bitches could hospitalize someone with that bullshit advice.