Good Carb Cookbook Review:

Ever wondered why you're gaining weight even though you eat mostly dry toast, rice cakes and pretzels all day? Sandra Woodruff solves the mystery in The Good Carb Cookbook, with a clear and complete explanation of the Glycemic Index.

When we eat carbohydrates (grains, beans, fruits, vegetables), our bodies convert them to glucose to fuel our cells. The Glycemic Index measures how quickly a carbohydrate changes to glucose. Refined foods (like those rice cakes and pretzels) rush into the blood stream, earning a high "GI" score. Unrefined foods (like beans, veggies, brown rice) release their fuel slowly into the blood, and are considered "low GI."

Eat high GI foods, explains Woodruff, and you'll gain weight, overwork your pancreas (increasing the likelihood for Type-2 diabetes), and open yourself to a host of other ills from high blood pressure and heart disease to cancer. Choose low GI foods, and you'll lose weight without feeling deprived and incessantly hungry—plus you'll improve your health on many levels.

Woodruff's logical structure and clear style make this potentially complex information slide into the brain easily. (How easily? Even my father read this book, and he's never read a nutrition book before.) She assumes no prior nutritional knowledge, yet never condescends to her readers. There's lots of information on the market now about Glycemic Index, but Woodruff's treatment is the best of all.

Think beyond cookbook when you picture this book, as the recipes don't start until page 87. Sandra Woodruff lays her information out in three sensible parts:

Why Good Carbs are Important. Forty pages of general nutrition information and a thorough explanation of the Glycemic Index. Numerous tables and sidebars perfectly complement the text, providing details without bogging us down. Woodruff knew you'd never try the recipes if she didn't first convince you of why you should care.

Where to Start. General ideas for changing your diet at home and at restaurants. The restaurant section includes general tips plus specific ideas of good choices for eight different cuisines from French and Italian to Mexican and Thai.

Recipes. Even with all this ramp-up, there are still 220 recipes. Nine categories include breakfast, hors d'oeuvres, soups, salads, sandwiches, side dishes, pasta, entrees and desserts. If you're worried that good carbs will mean eating weird, unpalatable porridges, recipes like blueberry bread, tortellini soup and portobella pizza will reassure you. The recipes I've tried so far have all been easy to make and acclaimed by my family, though the desserts too often include CoolWhip. (This ingredient seems out of place among all the other "real foods" touted by Woodruff. I recommend Jane Brody's Good Food Book for the best selection of health-friendly desserts.

That tiny quibble about CoolWhip aside, I'm a big fan of The Good Carb Cookbook. I experimented with the GI concept after reading about it in another book—and was amazed to lose 25 pounds while enjoying all the good food I could eat. But it wasn't until much later, when I read Woodruff's book, that I fully understood why this basic dietary change to better carbs really works.

The Glycemic Index is widely accepted in Canada, in some European countries, and especially in Australia, where plans are underway to add a GI score to the Nutrition Facts on product labels. Here in the US, the concept is controversial and has in fact been rebuffed by the American Diabetic Association. All health professionals agree, however, that bulgur and brown rice are better for us than Pop-Tarts and Twinkies. So use Woodruff's good advice to clean up the carbs in your life. You have nothing to lose but that spare tire around your waist.

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Review © 2002 Cynthia Harriman.
All nutritional information on this website is as accurate as current research allows—though complex issues are often simplified to make important points clear. GoodFoodBooks.com humbly invites all professionals to email us with their ideas for improving the accuracy of our information while still leaving it clear enough to help normal people.