Book Review: The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet + Cookbook by Joe Cross

joe-cross-reboot

The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet Lose Weight, Get Healthy and Feel Amazing by Joe Cross
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Genre: Food & Drink, Health
ISBN: 978-1626340817
Source: Received From Publisher
Add it to Goodreads

Since his documentary, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, was released in 2010 and became a worldwide sensation, Joe Cross has become a tireless advocate for the power of juicing. The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet brings us of the plan that allowed him to overcome obesity, poor health, and bad habits, and presents success stories from others whose lives he’s touched.

Joe—who managed to lose one hundred pounds and discontinue all his medication by following his own plan—walks you through his life before juicing, sharing his self-defeating attitude toward food and fitness, and brings you along on his journey from obesity and disease to fitness, a clean bill of health, and the clarity of physical wellness.

In addition to sharing Joe’s inspirational story, The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet gives readers all the tools they need to embark on their own journey to health and wellness, including inspiration and encouragement, recipes, and diet plans.

***

After watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead shortly after the documentary made its way to Netflix, I was hit with a reality check and have been following Joe Cross ever since. Finally though, I was able to sit down and read his books, leading into reading his latest book, Juice It to Lose It. First up? The Reboot With Joe along with his follow cookbook.

In The Reboot With Joe, readers get a breakdown of what it means to really prepare and plan for a reboot, the importance of community and support during the reboot, and the significance that confidence in yourself can have in motivating you to keep going. I’ve read and heard all of this before but it’s always great to see again and again. An affirmation of sorts.

Throughout the book, Joe talks about incorporating more healthy foods while reducing your junk foods as you transition into a healthier lifestyle. Key word: transition. Going cold turkey is not recommended. It can be done that way but for long term success, it’s best for most people to slowly eliminate the bad and gradually increase the good. For me, I slowly eliminated the bad and was not shy at all about packing on the good and that worked for me. Find out what works for you.

This is important because when you get to the point where you find out what works for you, you get past all of those silly excuses that Joe mentions like not knowing how to chop or slice fruits & vegetables (learn, it’s really not that hard), traveling (new flash: planning ahead of time is a thing that you can do and if you have a smartphone there is NO excuse. Get the GateGuru app for one). “In hindsight,” Joe says in the book, “The only thing I was exercising was denial!”

Can people retrain their systems to prefer the foods that are naturally healthier for them and leave behind what I call “Toxic hunger”–cravings for and addictions to unhealthy foods? I know for a fact that they can. – Joe Cross

Once you’ve accepted that you are the problem, the one standing in your own way and you start taking steps to course correct, make sure you don’t get caught up in a diet trap. Because this is not a diet. It’s a lifestyle.

I love that Joe mentions that people often put so much focus on calorie counting that they don’t ever stop to think and focus on the actual nutrients as well as ingredients that they can’t even pronounce which are unnecessary that they are putting into their body.

Making a transition to healthy eating can literally reverse the progress of chronic diseases, can prevent heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and strokes; and can dramatically extend lifespan and healthy life expectancy.

Many years ago, I did calorie count for the first few months of my transition into a healthier lifestyle (as I was heading towards obesity if I didn’t get it together) but that’s all I needed to understand calories and food and see what my body needs each day. A few months of counting. No more. Once I got a handle on that, I knew that it was not the end all so I refused to stay stuck in the calorie counting mindset which can turn into its own addiction/prison. Educate yourself on calorie counting. Do it if you want but it’s actually (gasp!) not necessary for everyone. The important part here is that at some point in your journey you start listening to your body, start understanding what your body needs and wants and giving your body all that it needs and occasionally what it wants and regularly exercising. So after a few months of counting, educating myself, learning to listen to my body, and finding a rhythm with my exercise routine, I stopped counting and then took a look underneath the surface to really examine what exactly I was putting into my body. That’s about the time I discovered Joe’s documentary. It came at the perfect time!

I think this book is perfect for that person on the beginning of their journey as they transition into a healthier lifestyle. While I can’t say that I came out of this book learning much that I didn’t already know before, since I have been on this journey for awhile now, I can say that the one thing that I did pick up was color coding. For example, if I’m out of strawberries, I can just use another red fruit as a replacement. A pretty obvious fix but sometimes it’s what starting us right in the face that’s the thing we don’t see. So I’ll definitely be incorporating that into the days when I start to run on low certain things.

Throughout the book there are success stories shared, outlines of reboots whether 3 days, 5 days, 15 days, or 30 days, there’s a reboot for you. With shopping lists set up for you and more than a handful of recipes to get you going. There’s a produce preparation guide, shopping and storage tips, a section on the types of juicers, a resources list and basically the questions you had that caused you to stall answered here so now the ball is in your court and you know how to take a shot, so now it’s time to take it.

The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet Lose Weight, Get Healthy and Feel Amazing is a solid introduction to rebooting your system and starting your healthy lifestyle. If you’re serious about rebooting and want to juice or are just curious about the juicing process, get this book.

joe-cross-reboot-cookbook

The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet Cookbook Juice, Smoothie, and Plant-based Recipes Inspired by the Hit Documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead by Joe Cross
Release Date: August 26, 2014
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Genre: Food & Drink, Health
ISBN: 978-1626341371
Source: Received From Publisher
Add it to Goodreads

The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet Cookbook, the sequel to The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet, provides readers with more plant-powered recipes that they can use with the Reboot Juice Diet plans or any time for a healthy meal along with juicing and cooking information and inspiration.

“Before I started juicing, I was overweight and taking medication to treat an autoimmune disease. By drinking only fresh vegetable and fruit juices while making my film, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, I lost the weight, got of the medication and began to feel better than ever! To keep healthy and happy today, I drink lots of juice and eat a balanced diet centered around fruits and vegetables. My recipes will help you feel great, too!”

***

The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet Cookbook is the companion title to Joe’s first book and this released around the time of the release of Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead 2 which was jut as transparent, compelling and life saving as the first film.

The cookbook has an exciting amount of recipes, many of which have symbols beside them that indicate if they are quick to make with a low amount of ingredients, a great post workout drink, especially helpful if you have a certain health condition, etc…

Also before the recipes, there’s a preparation guide for the fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices you can add to your drink, skin and pulp talk, a shopping game plan, A-Z produce prep for cooking veggies, rebooting with thyroid conditions and diabetes, the benefits of coconut water, etc…

As for the recipes? It starts off with juices, then moves onto smoothies and since I’m more of a smoothie maker than juicer, this was great to see as I don’t recall having seen any smoothie recipes in the first book. Next are salads, then soups, sides, and finally, main dishes.

I did try the “Fire Engine Red” which is 1 cup of pomegranate seeds (or 1/4 cup of pomegranate juice), 2 tablespoons of goji berries (yay! my new fave!), 1/2 small beet, and 1.5 cups of coconut water. I’m currently trying to figure out in what capacity do I like beets in my drinks and so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. Also, I’ve come to the realization that no matter how many times I try, I just cannot drink coconut water by itself but in smoothies/juices is wonderful. So. This was good, I just need to leave this particular recipe in the fridge longer to make it more cold. I love really cold drinks so while this was fine, I know that it could have been even more refreshing with a bit more chill to it.

So, would I recommend the cookbook – even though I’ve only made one recipe from it? Yes, I would. I may have only made one recipe so far but looking at some recipes, I know I’ve made variations of some of them and have nothing but good things to say so if you get The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet, go ahead and get the Cookbook too!

The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet and The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet Cookbook by Joe Cross are available today.