I need to start this review with an introduction. I am not going to share my name but I am a dietitian by BSc, with two registrations in two different countries, I have a MSc in applied biology and a PhD in nutrition, as well as scientific publications, clinical trial and other type of research experience, as well as clinical practice experience in health and disease alike. I have also suffered from an ED. When I talk about nutrition, digestion and EDs in this review, I know what I am talking about and I have nothing to gain from it. By choice, I am not even a dietitian anymore so I am not client-fishing on GR either.
The recipe part (most of the content after the first third of the book)
When I first read that Gisele, a person I admire a lot both for her physical appearance but also character, wrote a recipe book, I have to admit I was alarmed. I had already read her autobiography and expected this recipe book to contain the classic "chicken breast with greens" and "egg white bread" sort of recipes we see from fitness influencers and the like. In a way, the recipes were exactly that, but in another point of view they were not. I can't say that I found any recipe unhealthy in terms of ingredients. In fact, I would probably try many of them and right this moment you can probably find most if not all the ingredients mentioned in the book lying in my cupboards and fridge. In total, I would add more legumes and I would not terrorize people about gluten unless they have a sensitivity or celiac, but the recipes contain great meals and snacks (and no, the smoothies described are not meals, despite it being mentioned multiple times!). I also love the no-waste approach and that pre-cooking and freezing are presented as options (something which I have been a preacher of to all my clients as a RD).
I have to say that some of the recipes seem boring and at points they get repetitive. There are four "different" recipes on how to roast sweet potatoes which are basically potatoes, oil, salt and/or paprika in the oven or air fryer. We didn't need it printed four times. That is the same recipe, and it is hardly a recipe to begin with. If you just moved out of your parents' home and are cooking for the first time, this book is a treasure. If you are experienced in cooking, it probably cannot serve you more than inspo material when your mind is stuck. When you see the picture, you pretty much already see what's in the food more or less, especially after having read the introduction.
Honesty taking a hit
Something I noticed is little white lies here and there to make this cookbook more appealing.
In her autobiography Gisele mentions drinking lots of smoothies but with basically celery and any fruit available at home due to seasonality and stuff like that. Pretty chilled approach. In this book it is implied that there is art and precision to smoothie ingredients.
I also follow a lot of Gisele fanclub social media accounts because it makes my day to see her beauty. I know from posts published there that Gisele hired food bloggers for this book. I assume to write parts of it and give her recipes. Some of the recipes came with a personal statement, others with a more generic. Others did not have anything special written along the ingredients and how to. I am pretty sure Gisele had never eaten some of these recipes before the book was in the making.
When broths are described, Gisele says that her skin does not come from skincare (even though she has influenced for Laneige not that long ago) but from eating collagen-rich broths. So, yes, collagen supplementation in the diet has shown positive skin effects but also Gisele is very clearly doing botox and fillers, has most likely done a blepharoplasty and I will assume as a rich model who can even deduct taxes off of skin therapies because of her occupation is doing pretty much every skin maintenance therapy there is out there and has access to the best facilities. If you expect a cup of bone broth a week will make you a glowing, glass-skinned vampire, you will be disappointed.
In the autobiography, Gisele mentions loving herbs and herbal remedies because of her Grandma. Brady has referred to her a witch, with all her spells and herbs. However specifics were not mentioned. Now, with the herb company sponsorship, we see very currently trendy things, such as ashwagandha, which is not Brazilian at all, and to this day (I looked at Google trends!) hasn't even received more than 53 searches per day with one exception of 100 searches in 2009 (which is too round and sus). Brazilians seem to hardly know it. Although… Gisele's grandmother was German. Well, same in Germany though. How peculiar, don't you think?
Selling something not regularly consumed is not a big surprise for any celebrity who is also an influencer but I do like my ads declared, to be honest.
Nutritional advice, why? Who needed it?
When I read her autobiography, I was not surprised Gisele mentioned her nutrition. Since food affects many aspects of our lives (from health to social gatherings), it felt only natural to have a bit about food in an autobiography of a model, a profession in which people often diet as well. I did get some orthorexia vibes, but it made me feel respect that she did not go into great details about her diet apart from mentioning the things that she thought were bad for her and what she felt saved her psyche and body. We all have different builds. Gisele is a very tall woman with a respectable muscle mass and a very active lifestyle which a includes physically demanding occupation requiring certain measurements. It would be crazy to think many people would have the same requirements or needs as the author after all. In this book however, Gisele does play a nutritionist role, which I did not like at all. Nutritional advice creeps in the text (mostly in the introduction) and I did not appreciate most of it.
While someone can know best what works for their body, they cannot know what works for others, let alone sell it as the ultimate truth that will work for everyone. Furthermore, Gisele, a highly accomplished person in her field sacrificed her education for her career. In both books she is repeating unfiltered information she received mainly from chefs but also from her favorite osteopath (who btw are not considered doctors in Europe for very serious reasons). I am sorry but there is no authority on any nutritional information shared, and so much of it is straight up wrong. For some stuff, it’s just funny that anyone would believe them. Other things however are even dangerous. I am very sorry but no, we 're not all experts in nutrition just because we cook and eat. We all have hearts too, but we 're not cardiologists. That's just how it works.
For what it's worth, I honestly believe Gisele believes and lives by what she says in this book, but I do not agree with much of it (I will elaborate below).
A recipe book does not need nutritional advice behind it. A philosophy? Maybe. A ***small*** introduction on how it came to be written? Sure. Advice can ever only be personalized and evidence-based.
The false medicine
I wrote this in the autobiography review and I will write it here too. It's a hill I 'll gladly die on. Gisele has been scammed. She's been sold so much false medical advice and has been manipulated so much that it hurts me to read it. She 's a nice person and does not deserve it. You cannot convince me that a person whose diet heavily relies on vegetables and fruits needs vitamin C shots. For reference, a single tomato contains your daily recommended intake of vit C. I wonder how much those shots cost! Same question for the K2 and D3 shots. Gisele lives in Miami. There is sun there on most days and even with sunscreen, a very active person is likely to expose their skin for 15' a day when the SPF wears out, which should be enough.
Cranberry does nothing for UTIs unfortunately, that has been disproven, as great as it would have been. A spray of Echinacea is unlikely to be enough to save you from a cold sore and will not do much if you have a viral infection (maybe in a capsule form it would do more since it has antiviral effects). Fruits are not "digested better" on their own than in combination with vegetables either. Fruits and vegetables have different ratios of fibre/sugars but they are essentially not that different or don't interact in ways that would be prohibitive for combinatory consumption. Gisele also avoids certain foods as inflammatory. Well, tomatoes and peppers are not inflammatory... Salt is though and with that she seems to not have an issue at all (as long as it's expensive). The 5-day smoothie "detoxing" cleanse was not a surprise by the time it appeared as well, adding to the long list of common misinformation sold by holistic/homeopath/osteopath/nutrition gurus and the like, disproven many many times by every respectable dietitian and doctor in the world. My favourite of all time? The adrenal burnout which is not really a thing unless you have Addison's disease, which is much worse than the symptoms she described.
Gisele's whole false medicine trip is so complicated. A woman with troubled diet due to being a model and living alone since childhood starts having symptoms of unmistakable depression and anxiety for which she goes to multiple doctors and dislikes their assessment. She refused to take depression and anxiety meds because her grandma had a herbal remedy for everything. A doctor sold her a tale about adrenal """burn-out""" (in medical terms would be failure, which if true would be different way worse than described). Doc prescribed classic and generic avoidances (no smoking, no coffee, no alcohol) as well as some extreme ones (later in the book it is said that Gisele was only allowed to consume green vegetables!!!) and threatened with life if no compliance. Said doc says refined sugars and carbs cause inflammation (refines sugars are literally the same sugars you find in fruits...). Gisele presents migraines at start of therapy which hypothesizes are from withdrawal but eating only leafy greens and perhaps entering ketosis if she went carb free can actually cause that so doc appears to BS her again. At 3-months doc says Gisele is magically cured and apparent placebo makes her depression disappear! Osteopath prescribed a 100% NOT evidenced based and not personalized diet which is extremely restrictive and fear-mongering. The diet leads to ED-coded thoughts (e.g., "Popcorn • I think my doctor let me have popcorn just to be nice!" because popcorn is unhealthy??????). Reiki and equinox cleanses, as well as divine messages to do yoga (very much popular at the time despite the contrary statement from the author) follow. Herbal remedies reportedly are used before resorting to any over-the-counter meds but Gisele has also done multiple cosmetic surgeries and injectibles. Do I even need to comment on how contradictive these are?
ED
To begin with the most simple indication of ED thinking, I don't know who needs to hear this but nut bars are not desserts and you do not need a special occasion to consume them.
"In the process of learning about nutrition and making changes for my health, I tried many diets. But diets were rigid, and I wanted choice and flexibility—something that would work for my lifestyle, tastes, and body. To find a solution that was sustainable, I realized that I needed something bigger than a simple fix: an attitude change. Instead of thinking about what food I needed to stop eating, I started to reframe eating three times a day as an opportunity to choose wholesome, healthy foods that made my body feel as good as possible."
This is an unintended statement of having a life-long ED that changes forms. This is what ED looks like. It's not a body type and not a number on a scale sometimes. It is also all of the above. I know it looks innocent enough but I can't help seeing the patterns. Diet is an issue and food causes fear, we move to full avoidance since everything is scary and then to partial avoidance based on anxieties, seeking symptoms and responses, heavily influenced by external information (which often is scary af on its own anyway). If Gisele was my patient I would refer her for investigation and potential diagnosis and I am kinda worried she may be transferring her fear-labels of each food to her kids although the recipes did have e.g. added sugar for the children version which is a good sign.
I am unable to shake the feeling that this book can be used as an ED guide with low-cal diets and meal replacement ideas and that alone does not cause happy feelings. This should have just been a recipe book...
One of the very few statements that felt like a somewhat healthy mindset on food was the below and still restriction is apparent.
The serving sizes for these recipes are moderate. Brazilian culture does not encourage overeating, especially when compared to the supersizing of nearly everything served in the United States. After eating, I don’t want to feel overly full, lethargic, or bloated. I have had to learn how to gauge my fullness and satisfaction. Just because I like the taste of something, that doesn’t mean I should eat it without limit or without concern for my body’s wants or needs. Smaller portions and prioritizing the most nutrient-dense options give me the taste of everything I love but don’t result in overindulging.
On top of the hints of portion restriction, Gisele mentions she likes truffle potatoes, baguettes with butter, croissants in France and pasta in Italy. So it's not that she genuinely dislikes these foods and only has them rarely. It becomes clear she's really scared of them. Would she be the same person if she didn't live in the US? Would she be the same person if she had never met the osteopath who filled her with fears and hopes alike?