The Plan Cookbook: More Than 150 Recipes for Vibrant Health and Weight Loss

Although I pre-ordered my cookbook so got it when it first became available shortly after Christmas, I've waited to review it until I'd had time to try a number of the recipes. I am SO not a cook, so this took a while. I can't say enough good about this cookbook. If I had one complaint about the book 'The Plan' it was the 'season to taste' in some of the recipes. Not being a cook, that often left me baffled. However I was fortunate enough to have online help (both from Lyn-Genet's team and from other Planners) so they helped me through that. I've been 'planning' since January 2014 and as of March 2014 I am prescription meds free! This is HUGE for me - I'd been trying for about 10 years to make lifestyle changes (losing weight, exercising, eating what I thought was healthy) but only after following 'The Plan' was I able to get off blood pressure meds! So of course I was anxious to have new recipes - but I'm retired and we travel quite a bit so its taken some time for me to experiment. The recipes are easy to follow (even for a non-cook like me), give me exact measurements LOL - another biggie, and every one I've tried has tasted great (and I can be a bit of a picky eater.) Some of my personal favorites are the crab cakes, the apple streusel, the apple pancakes, the almond grabbers and the Hearty Tomato Basil Soup. Yum - even my DH is eating these recipes (this from a guy who said I was eating 'rabbit food' when I first started 'The Plan'). LOVE this cookbook!

Being super skinny in my 30's and 20's, I was dismayed at my 30 lb weight gain in the 40's. At 49, I did a google search for "loosing weight at 50 for female" and found an article about an obese woman who lost 40+ pounds on Lyn-Genet's "The Plan". I bought The Plan, as well as The Plan Cookbook. The Plan worked wonders and then started to falter. I consulted with The Plan's health team, via telephone consult, and I was told about the Metabolism Plan. So far, lost 5 pounds in one week! The Plan Cookbook has delicious recipes, such as the crockpock chicken, which I was able to enjoy on the Metabolism Plan. Lyn-Genet is on to something revolutionary. No more struggling with calorie counts and nutrient deficient meals. I feel better than I have in years. I am no longer tired all the time, not having blood sugar spikes and dips, and I am less irritable with my kids! What a bonus. I never knew how lacking my nutrition was until I started eating Lyn-Genet's recipes. Now, I feel much more alive! I am nurturing my body with low reactive, nutritious foods.

Pre-ordered my copy of the cookbook which arrived shortly after Christmas. Since then I've tried numerous recipes from this book. Have yet to find one I haven't liked. The recipes use easy to find ingedrients with easy to follow instructions. Just as important, others in my family like what I've been preparing. I have read "The Plan", by Lyn-Genet Recitas as well. Sometimes when starting something new, you wonder if you need both. I for one, did need both. The book contains the details and specifics to The Plan. The Cookbook provides overview of the principles. As a lover of ebooks, I purchased the book as a Kindle version but wish I had purchased it in hardback since I did find myself frustrated trying to flip back and forth trying to locate references, recipes, instructions, etc.... Therefore, I did order the Cookbook as a hardback book. Did I say "Loving It". Thank you Lyn-Genet for putting into words what I had been suspecting about healthy foods.

I read and enjoyed the original book, "The Plan." This new book rehashes some information from the prior book, which is fine. It is more specific on some counts, such as including measurements for the spices in recipes (previous book referred a lot to "to taste"), doses for supplements. Also more recipes, as one would expect from a cookbook. Includes instructions for the 3-day cleanse, a little different than the 3-day cleanse in "The Plan." The new cleanse seemed fine to me, though the food prep seemed a little more time-consuming following the new instructions (and the original is already very time-consuming). I am not sure this book would be a great stand-alone book if you have not read the original "The Plan," but hard for me to comment on that since I have read the original. I picture, however, that this is better as a supplement/next step for those who have read and enjoyed the original. I chose 4-stars for that reason - seems that the book may not be totally useful on its own.

***Update*** I emailed the author and she said this book is not for colitis sufferers. This is a fairly incomplete supplement to The Plan. I bought this first because of IBS, not knowing what I was really getting into. It outlines the 3 day cleanse but not the rest of the 20 day diet. The 20 day part is not clearly described in this book but when you buy the companion books they describe what you’re eating for the whole 20 days, which is basically whole flaxseed, broccoli, zucchini, and carrots with no salt. It’s tough. The recipes really don’t taste all that great. She swears the cleanse will cure you of your desires for salt but they don’t (I didn’t eat that much salt before but going to zero salt with all these veggies is not easy). My sugar cravings are definitely way down but as soon as the cleanse was over I started eating recipes in this book I gained back about .5 lbs/day until I gained back 5 of the 7 lbs I originally lost. It wasn’t until I got the workbook that I realized this is a 20 day cleanse and not a 3 day cleanse with a slow reintroduction to foods that don’t inflame. The reintroduction is a long and painful process that still involves lots of flaxseed, broccoli, zucchini and carrots with a few bites of other foods occasionally thrown in to “test” how you react to them. Unless you live in a controlled environment with 2 hours to cook every day, no kids, and no friends to have dinner with its pretty tough to follow. Also this is not a colitis/ IBS diet and many of the foods are on the no go list for IBS (pear, apple, mango, watermelon are staples here). I did lose a lot of bloat but gained it all back without really identifying what my trigger foods were.

Exactly as ordered. I love the thought behind this book and have attempted to follow the diet. I have no doubt that if you can follow the plan you will see positive results. Unfortunately I have more excuses than I did dedication in applying myself to this. Some very unusual items that I would need to locate in specialty markets as they are not normally included in my diet. Again this is lack on my part for dedication, but I don’t think this plan is for me. I do need to add that I was quickly able to identify foods that would cause inflammation in my body and the indicator was there on the scale every morning. With dedication and good recordkeeping you could quickly identify culprits for information that are unique to you. Good luck!

If you want to find out what foods cause inflammation in your body and consequently weight gain this is the plan for you. You start with a few days of detox to get your body to a baseline and then you start adding foods one at a time to see how your body reacts to them. I lost 15 pounds in 2 months. I love dairy and ate it regularly and discovered it caused most of my weight gain so I eliminated it from my diet (insert sad face here). I like the scientific approach the author takes and that by the end of the plan you will have a diet plan that works specifically for you. Knowing what your body processes in an efficient manner allows you to balance your diet and maintain your weight. If I eat pizza one night I will go back to the first 2 detox days and the weight I gained will come right off. This diet will have you eating healthy, feeling better, loosing weight and not feeling hungry. You will need a "weight watchers" type scale, organic food and willingness to cook all of your food. Other than the carrot soup I use the suggested foods but prepare everything with Italian flavors since I'm Italian. So if you are willing to cook, follow the directions with accuracy, spend the money on some organic foods this diet is for you. If you don't like to cook or are on a tight budget I am not sure this is the right approach for you.

This is a supplementary cookbook that goes with The Metabolism Plan book. TMP book explains everything behind when and what to eat so this book won't really help until you understand the author's information. I have been extremely successful on TMP and have lost weight, slept better, recovered quickly from bad eating days, had brighter looking eyes and skin, and the list goes on. She has a web site and a facebook page that are free and very helpful, too. I'm not a member of her paid portion of her web site, but she has still responded to the few questions I had when I first started. If you decide to do this, please do it justice by reading TMP and then following the 20 day plan. Last tip: use Sundays or a day of the week that is open for you to prepare more complicated items ahead of time like the soups. The soups are large batch so I would suggest freezing them in portions to make your life easier. I use ball jars and freeze once the soup has cooled.

This book changed my life. The Plan gave me a protocol to discover foods that my body was reacting to and those reactions were causing weight issues, brain fog, exhaustion, memory loss etc. etc. Within 10 days of following the protocols my mind started to clear, and in 3 months I had my life back and 30 pounds gone. It is my go to health enhancement book, I follow the protocols every couple of years to get on top of changes, in case I have new food sensitivities. I have gifted this book to many friends.

Highly recommended

The Plan has been a literal lifesaver, and this cookbook just helps it along. The recipes are straightforward & customisable. I will forever be grateful to Lyn Genet Recitas.

My wife and I have struggled for years with weight creep. This book and its companions have done what all the others have not! We are now in to our second month and we have both lost 13+ lbs. The food is good and it is not a diet it is a relearning about your body and how the foods we have been accustomed to eating are affecting us. I cannot say enough good things about the PLAN.

Bought this in a flush of enthusiasm for The Plan. I have made one of the recipes in it which all of us enjoy. But quite a few of the recipes contain ingredients that are American and made be difficult to obtain here.