Book Review - "Eat Rich Live Long" by Ivor Cummins & Jeffry Gerber

#1

Hello Everyone
I’ve just bought “Eat Rich Live Long” by Ivor Cummins & Jeffry Gerber and I’m very pleased and simultaneously totally frustrated (please see my expletives, one * for one letter) with the content and the inconsistencies .
And so I thought I’d start a BOOK REVIEW thread.

There aren’t too many 'keto" books and the three I’ve seen leave a lot to be desired. I tend to think that the most constant advice comes from this forum and from the 2 Keto Dudes podcasts. This stuff is live, we’re not professionals, nor does the information have to be paid for - as in a book.

Within this forum we understand the internationalism within the keto community, the American and Australian founders to start with. There are specific threads for the UK, New Zealand and in Spanish: it’s fluid and flexible and we can ask about the nuances.

Now to the book “Eat Rich Live Long” my main initial gripe is the inconsistency.
Let me illustrate:
On page 101 there is information on supplements and their best food sources - and it is a complete muddle!!
Potassium:
avocados - 1000mg - is this one avocado and if so how big, or is it a box of avocados?
nuts - 100 to 300mg per ounce - now why mix milligrams and ounces?
dark leafy greens - 840mg per cup cooked - so now milligrams and cups.
And who the **** measures nice and hot cooked green vegetables? First hunger might stop this evaluation. The cabbage is hot and maybe there’s a small chance of a mild scald, but ***** ** how hard does one pack it in?. And worse of all it will GET COLD while it is being measured?
salmon - 800mg per fillet - how big is a fillet?
mushrooms - 100 to 200mg per cup - cooked or uncooked, button or horse, and again both milligrams and cups.
It’s all totally bonkers.
This is where my disappointment comes in - this book is written by an engineer who’s Irish - I would suppose he unifies his units when measuring things for engineering, and as a European he’s from the home of the metric system.
The inconsistencies lead to impracticality. Impracticalities probably lead to, “What the heck”, and giving up.
I suggest that all new “keto” books include a short chapter on basic measuring, how to use a metric scales, and how to evaluate nutritional information. This will empower the reader and free her/him from the tyranny of the current food system.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #2

The measurements make sense in America because nutrition info is always metric, but serving sizes are imperial. But a page on measurements in a book that deals with food isn’t a bad idea.

(Cranford Coulter) #3

This just means that America doesn’t make sense.

#4

Yeah, but making sense is so boring. :wink:

(Cranford Coulter) #5

I could use some boring about now.:unamused:

(Jane- Old Inky Crone) #6

As a lifelong American (of the mostly native variety) I concur!

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #7

I will not argue with this statement.

#8

I have a Type 2 diabetic guest staying for six weeks, he’s arriving this afternoon.
He want’s to lose weight, but I think he’s rather in favour of his Metformin… something about longevity… but I’ll get to the bottom of that later.
He’s also a fan of Tom Watson the British MP who lost tens of kilograms and ‘cured’ himself of type 2 diabetes: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/sep/12/tom-watson-lost-seven-stone-reversed-type-2-diabetes-interview
I am also very, very hopeless with money (I think dyscalculia is my ADHD comorbidity) and so I’m learning how to use spreadsheets.

OK. what has this to do with reviewing "Eat Rich Live Long?
Well part of my review is to use the recipe plans and to cost the diet… I already have a spreadsheet for every meal in April: it’s very pretty with green headers and pale green alternate rows.
I’ll also note changes to our weight, size, blood sugars, and blood ketones, and anything else that seems relevant.

So today I’m reading the recipes and making a shopping list I’m looking forward to eating through this plan with Victor (the guest), the mains seem very tasty. I will skip breakfast - hurrah for almost a year of mucky-keto and now only thinking of two meals a day (max).

I do wonder who the proof reader was though!
(This book cost me £21.99; $29.95US; $39.95CAN)
On page 178 there’s a recipe for “Crispy Boneless Chicken Wings with Buffalo Ranch Dip”.
My comments:

  • this is an international book… what is Buffalo Ranch Dip?
  • there is no recipe for said dip but suggestions on how to buy it or search and select a recipe from the internet - so no quick and easy way of reading the ingredients and knowing what it’s all about, how much work is involved, etc,
  • the weight of chicken is only in ounces - other recipes list both grams and ounces,
  • it seems all the recipes are for four people, yes it’s easy to halve the ingredients, but what about information about freezing?
  • the nutrition facts are per serving which is ok if you’re following the plan but I think this data should also be given per 100g so there is a standard baseline.
#9

And as for @Ruina’s comments about inconsistency in America. It’s here in Britain too, Tom Watson, in the link above calls our system ‘broken’.
Is it all misinformation to keep folks buying rubbish while wrapping it up in government food advice and pretty packaging with pictures of farm gates and spring-time?

#10

Yippee.
A chicken recipe that lists the weight in ounces and grams.
It’s “One-Pan Thai Coconut Chicken & Vegetable Bake” on page 198: seems yummy!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #11

And your point is? :grin::grin::rofl::rofl:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

To those trying to translate recipes from American to English, and vice versa:

Be very careful with dry and liquid measure quantities. The customary American and the Imperial teaspoons vary in size, as do the cups and liquid ounces. In fact, not only is the Imperial ounce a bit larger, the Imperial cup contains 10 ounces, wherease the American cup is only 8 American ounces. You might do better to translate everything into metric, and then into whatever your favorite system is. And good luck to anyone trying to figure out how many grams are in a cup of flour!

Don’t ask me how I learned all this!

(Cranford Coulter) #13

We’re halfway between imperial and metric. Life would be much simpler for us and the rest of the world if we just bit the bullet and joined the modern world and went totally metric.
I know, as soon as we finally do that, we’ll have to switch to the Japanese system, or whatever they use in China.:crazy_face:

(Alec) #14

How did you learn all this?

:joy::see_no_evil:

#15

United States/Liberia/Myanmar solidarity. We’ll go metric when we feel like it.

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #16

Metric.

They just used the ancient names for measures and adjusted them to fit the metric system. There is also a jin, which is half a kg. It is used for body weight and produce. (My scale is set to pounds as this is the measure I understand pre-coffee. I can always tell when a friend has hopped on the scale while in there because they come out rather shaken. A jin is enough off a pound to make my friends think they’ve suddenly gained a lot of weight, but close enough that they don’t instantly realize it is a different system of measurement.)

Except TV/computer screens. They are sold in inches.