The Low-Sugar Cookbook

this book is okay, but I need something more.

This cookbook was admittedly a rather large disappointment. With no photographs of any of the items, rather complicated recipes using non standard utensils and ingredients, nearly unformatted recipes, and a rather lackluster introduction (making claims with nothing to back then up), I can't see using this any further. There are so many excellent low sugar/health/diet focused cookbooks that give much more interesting recipes in a more pleasing format. This book just sucked the life and joy right out of food and cooking - it's almost saying that when you take sugar out of food, you are going to have a bland life.The book has a fairly generic introduction about the problems with sugar and the shift away from carbohydrates as the reason for obesity and health problems. Recipes are broken down by basic, breakfasts, light meals, snacks, dinners, desserts, cakes/bakes/breads. There are menu plans in the back as well as an index.Each recipe has a symbol (allergy or vegan), main heading in bold, quick (usually 1-3 sentences) introduction in italics, serving size, preparation time, a stack of unformatted ingredients, then step directions in paragraph form. There are no colors, images, font variations, callouts, or anything graphic to make the recipes easy to follow. The recipes aren't listed in the front index so you need to troll through the book to find something to make. Without pictures, that trolling is really annoyingSince this is a British author, a lot of the recipes do have a British/empire slant (What is masoor dahl?) that some may find appealing. But keep in mind that the ingredients are the British terminology and you'll have to go searching for things like garam masala, cardamon pods, rocket leaves, Little Gem lettuce, etc. Also of note are the odd utensils I've never seen in any kitchen - or even heard of in any cookbook.What it comes down to for me is that there are a LOT of great health conscious cookbooks out there. This adds very little to the genre, other than perhaps how to make a healthy crumpet. I haven't seen that in any of my other cookbooks.Reviewed from a digital copy supplied by the publisher.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book!This cookbook is best suited for super health-oriented foodies who like obscure ingredients and are looking to both lower their sugar intake, and eat healthier in general. This is not for novices, nor is it for people who eat average foods and are looking for ways to lower sugar in those recipes.For the life of me I can't figure out why there are no photos accompanying the recipes. Half of what makes me want to try a recipe - particularly one that has ingredients new to me, or looks complex, is seeing the end result. In this internet age, it's practically necessary, since I can find loads of recipes on blogs or youtube that walk me through, step-by-step, with photos displaying every single step. I personally have had the best results with those, since I have this amazing ability to screw up even the simplest recipe.Another big flaw in this cookbook is that it is not just about low sugar recipes, but about overall nutrition. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but it effectively requires that many people do a complete diet overhaul to be effective. These are not simply ordinary recipes with low sugar takes on them. These are recipes suited towards someone who frequents the specialty food, gluten free, and like sections in their market - assuming your market has such a section.Moreover, this cookbook is not accessible to novice cooks, to people who shop in ordinary grocery stores, or to anyone looking for quick recipes.I am not the world's greatest cook, but I am trying to be better. I troll the web looking for decent looking, but somewhat simple, recipes in an attempt to become a better cook and provide us with healthier meals. I have been somewhat successful in that endeavor, but being that I am such a novice, asking me to use specialty ingredients and specialty equipment is just not going to fly. This cookbook requires both, so if you don't live near a Whole Foods or other health food grocery, you're going to have a bad time.The book starts by providing an overview of why too much sugar is detrimental to one's diet and providing details about different types of sugars. The author never provides citations, however, and I feel like if you are going to provide these "facts," there should be citations supporting it so the reader doesn't have to go an do additional research to ascertain the accuracy of the statements. Then again, this is a cookbook, so maybe I am asking too much. Of note, however, is that while it mentions the link between sugar and obesity many times, not once does it mention the very basic rule that calories in versus calories out is the single biggest contributor to obesity. Sugar, of course, plays a role in that because heavily sugared products tend to be higher in calories. The point is, sugar, by itself, isn't terribly evil - it's consuming too much that is.As far as the recipes are concerned, I didn't find them terribly accessible. I'm an average person, with an average, probably terrible palate, and I have pretty average and basic kitchen cookware and utensils. The lack of photos only enhanced my wariness of these recipes because many ingredients didn't sound palatable to me.Some recipes called for cookware that I don't believe one would find in the average home. Call me strange, but I don't actually own one ramekin, much less multiples. I don't own "kitchen paper." I also don't own a milk bag or muslin-lined sieve, which is required to make the homemade, low-sugar almond milk that forms the basis for several recipes (it also requires letting almonds soak overnight, which leads me to my next complaint.I don't have the time or inclination to cook complex recipes, especially if it involves overnight prep work, which many of them did. Two of the breakfast recipes required overnight soaking as well.In fact, I had to actually look up what many of these ingredients were. This is written by a british author - while she provided the American conversions for measurements, and occasionally provided the American names for some ingredients, she was not consistent with it. There were many ingredients that I either wouldn't be able to buy locally, or wouldn't know where to look in the grocery store - unlike some recipe books which tell you where in the store to look for obscure ingredients, this one provides no such insight. This required that I actually look it up online, and then try to discern where I might find these at my local store, if, of course, they actually sell it. Of those that my local stores sell, they are all found in the specialty section, where all the gluten free and vegan food can be found. The rest are things I still don't know how to find.It includes: figs, dairy free yogurt, unsweetened coconut yogurt (not milk, yogurt), quinoa or millet flakes (I know quinoa is gaining popularity these days, but that doesn't make it common), hemp seeds, creme fraiche, passata, rocket leaves, tinned pulses (apparently pulses include lentils and beans), halloumi, petit pois (I remember enough French to know this refers to peas...just say peas), soba noodles, flageolet beans, cavolo nero, puy lentils, kaffir lime leaves, raw cacao nibs, ras el hanout, fromage frais, lucuma, star anise, wholemeal spelt flour.In addition, going back to novice cooks, it provided no guidance on how to prepare certain ingredients. It presupposed you already knew how to do that. I get that some of these techniques are probably very basic, but I am a total chef ignoramus. When you tell me I need to toast these nuts, you need to tell me how to do that. On the stove? The oven? In a pan? Do I add oil or spices to them? How long do I cook them? At what temperature?I did like that each recipe had a little "health benefit" factoid extolling the virtues of one or more ingredients.Ultimately, I shouldn't have to do web searches to figure out how to use a cookbook, nor should I have to decipher what half these ingredients are. That kinda defeats the purpose and lengthens the prep time for any of these recipes to the point where it's just not worth my time when I can go online and find thousands of free, accessible recipes to suit my needs.