The Low-Sugar Cookbook

But I'm giving it 3 stars because who am I to say what is good and what isn't? I just know that the book came, I read the recipes; put it into the box for Goodwill. But others might like it.

this book is okay, but I need something more.

This is a British cookbook. It begins by explaining why a low sugar diet is healthy and what adverse health conditions a high sugar diet may cause. The book contains a variety of low sugar recipes and while I like that the author did make the amounts of ingredients user friendly for American cooks - the measurements are given in ml, oz, teaspoons and cups, many of the ingredients are British ingredients that are not translated into American terms and many may not be available in the US. The author did give some American terms such as courgettes/zucchini and prawns/shrimp, but other ingrdients are not explained such as passata(sieved tomatoes) - I thought that might be tomato paste, but tomato paste is also listed in the ingredients so perhaps it is tomato sauce?, and English mustard powder, undyed smoked haddock fillets, bio yogurt, groundnut oil, rocket, halloumi, flageolet beans,choi sum, petis pois, tinned cherry tomatoes, little Gem lettuce, and others. Some ingredients are not described in terms that an American cook would recognize - there is chilli (the British spelling - there are lots of those), crushed dried chillies, red chilli, red pepper and yellow pepper, but those are not descriptive enough for me to know what they are. Are the red and yellow peppers bell peppers? What about the chillis? Are they jalapenos, poblano, ancho - what kind of chilli are they referring to? In addition, some of the other ingredients are rather gourmet and will be difficult to find. There are no photographs of the recipes, although in the kindle format - and I have a paperwhite - that is not an issue, in paper copies of cookbooks, I prefer a photograph of each recipe. Therefore, it is really difficult for me to judge whether this is actually a good cookbook or not. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.

The Low-Sugar Cookbook does a great job of explaininghow the impact of sugar in its many forms is dangerous to health. Beyond that excellent and in depth explanation, the author offers healthy low-sugar alternatives and extensive recipes to support a transition to a healthier relationship with sugar in one's diet. The recipes are really interesting and tasty. The book is well researched and organized and provides a great path for transitioning away from the average sugar-laden diet.

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.

This book gives as per the title. Good addition to your library if you want no added sugar in your diet.

Was excited to get this but, age hasn't helped. It's an old published book, despite the enticing cover photo that was it! No other photos in the entire book to show what the recipes should look like. I lost the will to live! If you want an older goid quality easy read with photos try the Cranks original cookery book, so much better. If other reviewers had mentioned there were no photos I wouldn't have bought it. Another one for the charity shop!

Good book designed for the UK market too and not driven by a particular diet. Some good common sense tips in there and also sheds some light on the hidden sugars in many different foods. Very enlightening and hopefully will help us reduce our sugar intake.

informative and useful book for anyone wanting to reduce their sugar intake, whilst providing interesting recipes with minimum sugar content