LifeFood Recipe Book: Living on Life Force [Paperback]

This being one of the more niche books of the raw/living foods genre, it was not until I had been at least two years into it had I bothered to pick it up.

I was pleasently surprised when I leafed through this gem. The recipes in here are out of this world. There are many little tidbits of information which are thrown in just for your information.

So, the beginning of the book is a preperation for your kitchen, what to have in the way of equipment and condiments that are frequently used. When that is out of the way, they jump right into the principles of what Lifefood actually is and some more information on why to choose Lifefood.

The recipe portion is quite expansive and inventive. I applaude Annie for her intuitive recipes and the massive abundance of flavour they bring to every meal. By far my favorite recipes have to be the "Sweet Thai Tomato Soup", which by the way I recommend with extra cayenne pepper, and the Teriyaki Pate, which is just fantastic on some sheets of nori with extra greens and cucumber or rolled up in a collard leaf.

The desserts are out of this world. Recipes like the "Phat Black Sorbet", which consists of dark cherries and other delictables, are just incredible and really make this book stand out.

The Lifefood fasts they outline are good and provide a solid platform for anyone to begin their experiences of purging, cleansing and fasting with. They are nutritional fasts, meaning you dont go hungry but are still giving your digestive system a rest.

The Lifefood fasts typically consist of a two week protocol where you consume only liquids (blended soups, smoothies, juices, sorbets, liquid salads and Lifefood beverages like Electrolyte Lemonade) for a period of two weeks while you do a couple liver Flushes and a couple Gallbladder flushes.

My personal experience with the Gallbladder flushes in incredible. I am so glad that I have done them. My digestion has improved immensely and my metabolism has gone up. I have already done two and am going to start the third one soon.

The other major cleanse this book outlines is a parasite flush. This regimine is an easy one that almost everyone should consider and consult their alternative healthcare practitioner (like a Licensed Accupunctureist, a Naturopath or a Chiropractor) with. I highly suggest it and have noticed great improvement since starting it.

Overall I believe that Annie Padden Jubb and David Jubb have done a wonderful job on this book. Their knowledge of recipe synergy, knowledge of colloidal physiology and overall understanding of esoteric herbalism makes me give this book a five star rating.

If you wish to get all you can out of this book, make sure you pick up David Jubb's other books "Secrets to an Alkaline Body" and "Jubb's Cell Rejuvenation - Colloidal Biology: A Symbiosis".

This may be one of the most important books you add to your library when it comes to overall understanding of your recipe choices and your health.

Sat Nam

This book, along with the Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine book by Cousens, have become my bibles for raw food preparation. The best thing in the book is the smoothie. If you don't use any other recipe in the book, I would recommend you use this one. It has stopped me from craving unnatural foods, which is something I thought could never happen. This alone is worth the price of the book. In my opinion, the Rainbow Green book is better researched and more scientific, but still the Jubbs have done a great job in presenting a picture of why we need to eat raw and how to go about preparing the foods. I have doubts about the constant low temperatures they recommend for drying foods, and some of the recipes are very involved. Rainbow Green and the manufacturer for Excalibur both recommend at least starting with a higher temperature and then finishing with a lower one, and they say enzyme activity in the foods are not lost. I have tried both ways and am better satisfied with the higher temps first, both in texture of the foods and the reduced amount of time needed to prepare it. Still, I wouldn't be without this book. It's a treasure. The Judds are certainly to be commended for all their research and hard work in preparing this book.

I own an earlier edition of this book and I have not seen the new one. The recipes I have made are delicious and well balanced. The life-food kitchen part of the book tells about the tools and essential ingredients you will need (juicer, blender, miso, unpasteurized soy sauce, unrefined oils, etc.)The information presented is remarkably informative but not organized in an intuitive manner. Nevertheless this book got me drinking alkalized water and doing a number of other offbeat things which have generally benefitted my health. The book makes many claims about what makes certain foods and practices (such as long, austere cleanses) beneficial yet has no bibliography, so all the information must be assumed to have come from the observations of the authors. I recommend anyone looking at making a radical dietary transformation read Paul Pitchford's "Healing With Whole Foods" before doing so.