The Earth Diet: Your Complete Guide to Living Using Earth's Natural Ingredients

by Liana Werner-Gray

Beauty queen Miss Earth Australia Liana Werner-Gray got a wake-up call at the age of 21, when she was diagnosed with a precancerous tumor in her throat. Realizing that health issues were holding her back, including in her entertainment career, she decided to change her lifestyle. Through juicing and using the whole-food recipes shared in this book, Liana healed herself in only three months.

This success inspired Liana to create the Earth Diet and make information on the incredible power of plant-based and natural food available to others. She has since used her recipes to help thousands of people with cancer, diabetes, acne, addictions, obesity, and more.

When you get the essential vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients your body needs, you can’t help but feel better. In this book, you’ll find more than 100 nutrient-dense, gluten-free recipes that provide proper nutrition, tips for shifting out of toxic habits, and lifestyle recipes for household and personal-care products to help you heal in all areas of your life. The Earth Diet is inclusive, with recipes for every person, ranging from raw vegans to meat eaters to those following a gluten-free diet. It also features specific guidelines for weight loss, boosting the immune system, increasing your energy, juice cleansing, and more. If you’re looking for great-tasting recipes to help you live your healthiest life ever, then this book is for you.

Genres: Cookbooks, Health, Food, Nonfiction, Diets, Cooking, Nutrition

533 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2014

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an arc copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

Disclaimer: I am not a vegan, or even a vegetarian. I do however enjoy whole, natural foods and vegetarian meals. Because of this, I often request these books to get new ideas and perspectives.

I don't even know where to start with this book.

Pros:
-Nice layout and pictures
-Nice tips for natural products (non-chemical deodorants, etc.)

Cons:
-First 75% of book is informational dump discussing the "Earth Diet" lifestyle and reasoning, which some might even call scare tactics
-The diet recommendations I wouldn't even consider healthy. A handful of nuts does not constitute a meal.
-This was categorized as a 'cookbook'. So...where are the recipes?

Maybe this just isn't my cup of tea, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, there is a lot of good information in here. And some great recipes as well. Why the three stars then you may be asking? It is the 'everything is poison' approach that I see very often in today's anti-fast food/Monsanto/GMO world. Now, I'm for being healthy and sustainable. I realize there are a lot of things in this world that are unhealthy. Probably some of the stuff we think is healthy now won't be in ten years. What I don't like is when I am slammed with information about how bad EVERYTHING is. That makes me want to give up and not even approach the diet information in this book. There are ways to get things across less harshly, and perhaps some people need that wake up, but for me, the doom and gloom doesn't fire me up. Luckily, I'm already living most of this lifestyle now, so I can separate out the pieces I want to incorporate and gloss over the rhetoric.

[Alla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel bad about giving this book such a bad review, but the truth of the matter is this is poorly written and repetitive drivel. I am all for wellness, nutrition, holistic healing, etc. I love exploring different people's points of view. Unfortunately, I just can't take this book seriously. This was a waste of time.

[Chris Torretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, to be honest I don't always read the author's notes at the beginning of a book. For some reason I started reading the beginning of this cookbook and felt like I totally understood where Liana Werner-Gray was coming from. Sadly, here in America we actually grow up learning how NOT to eat. For most families anyway. Mine was no different. I am not overweight but I've struggled with my fitness and feeling good since I was in my teens. Of course then I could eat anything I wanted, but as I get older I'm learning that definitely does not hold true anymore. The fact that Liana is able to tell her story straight and explain where she came from really set the stage for changing and hopefully NOT going where she has been. Seriously, that's scary!

I'm also very intrigued by the vegan lifestyle, although I live so far away from it. What I enjoyed is that she not only has vegan recipes but meat recipes as well! For people like me who are interested but maybe cannot go all the way to living the vegan lifestyle everyday, these recipes really were great. She also goes into exactly why organic and foods straight from the earth are really the healthiest for us. What I really liked was her tip at the beginning:

Eat raw with every cooked meal.

To me this seems like a very alluring, and easy to do, idea. Salad or raw herbs with soup were two of her recommendations but if you think about it, this can probably be done SO easily!

Although she does have a "do not" eat these are things we've pretty much all heard of before. And she makes it even easier by suggesting other foods to replace those foods she's taken out. Like instead of sugar add fruit to a smoothie, or honey. She has a juicing section that is also very intriguing. I have yet to get into the juicing idea but these recipes actually sound really good and easy. Even my husband would try the apple, cucumber, ginger juice! And that is saying something since he prefers his fruit in beer or pies! This chapter just made me want to go out and get a juicer. Easy and kind of fun! Especially if you have children!

Now, with all this talk of vegan and juicing you may be thinking this is not the book for you, well then you must read the chapter on main dishes with meat which has beef stir fry, lamb, and hamburgers! Anyone can get into the kitchen and make these. They all seem accessible and easy to do. The hamburgers have a lot of spices and if that's not enough, there are also chicken nuggets so even the kids will like these recipes.

I found this really healthy but also really compelling. We all want to eat better but it seems that we let time and life get in the way. There are recipes in here that will not sacrifice your time for great, healthy food.

What I loved most is that she understands that people like to eat dessert and she also planned for that and even adds in desserts you could eat daily! YUMM!!

In short: Want to live a healthier life but still enjoy the way your food tastes? This is the book for you!

[Dana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author of this book does begin with a disclaimer explaining that she is not a health professional and that her claims in the book are unfounded, yet she includes a long list of conditions that have been helped by her diet. The book has a nice layout and pretty photos. It advocates an organic whole foods, plant based diet, but also includes some meat recipes for those who chose to eat meat - she recommends organic only. She recommends beginning each day by drinking lemon water, juicing daily, avoiding processed foods and gluten and thinking positively. The recipes are ok, but rather bland. Some of her suggestions are rather unhealthy like her suggestion for weight loss of eating "mono meals" one day a week - which would be lemon water at waking, beet juice for breakfast, bananas - all you can eat - for snack, watermelon - all you can eat until you feel full for lunch, grapes as a snack and raw cauliflower for dinner. The book also includes recipes for homemade toothpaste and other skin and body care products and suggestions for a healthy lifestyle. I received this book free to review from Netgalley.

[Dirty Dayna · Rating 2 out of 5]

ARC provided via netgalley and the publisher for an honest review
Ugh 2 Diet Stars
This is your standard let me tell you how bad processed foods and white bread are the devil for 70% of the book. There are a few recipes that are new and sound great but the majority of this book is a rant. I have run into better healthy books than this one and I am quite upset about it. The cover is gorgeous. The blurb is great. Most of the recipes are tailored against the standard FAD diets of only grains and fruits. Which is not bad but I expected more interesting methods to be used honestly. I made two recipes that were healthy but boring and bland. I think I doused half of it in lemon juice for SOMETHING. I will keep this cookbook handy when I want to try another but so far I am striking out in flavors.

[Dawn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Earth Diet: Your Complete Guide to Living Using Earths Natural Ingredients by Liana Werner-Gray

224 Pages
Publisher: Hay House, Hay House Inc.
Release Date: October 28, 2014

Nonfiction, Cooking, Food, Wine

The book is divided into the following parts.

Part I: Why the Earth Diet?
Part II: The Earth Diet Recipes
Part III: The Earth Diet Guides

The author discusses how she developed the Earth Diet. By following this way of life, she was able to recover from a precancerous tumor. The book is full of recipes and health tips. There are links in the book to her website for more resources. If you want to change the way you eat and remove processed foods from your diet, this is a great beginning.

[Ashley Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing! Good reminder of why I try to eat healthy, and motivation to take things to the next level. Tons of great info if u are just starting this path. The recipes are amazing, I have loved everything I've tried! And I feel so healthy!

[Jason Hendley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing

I haven’t put this diet into action yet, but I’m very excited about doing so and feel like this book has taught me all I need to know to be successful.

[Kerri Mulhern · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think you all know by now, that I am a bit of a fan of all things Hay House, and its wonderful authors. They offer every possible resource for self-improvement, self-awareness, and spiritual growth.

Because I work from a home office, I am able to listen to Hay House Radio all day. When a new author, Liana Werner-Gray was added to the weekly lineup, I was immediately hooked. Her beautiful Australian accent, upbeat attitude, and honesty about how her junk food addiction and subsequent illness led to writing The Earth Diet, make her a delight to listen to. She provides fantastic tips and recipes for living a better lifestyle through healthy eating.

Recently on Instagram, I commented on a Hay House UK post that she was pictured in. I mentioned how much I loved her show. She replied back, which was a wonderful surprise! We chatted a bit and I mentioned my struggle with sugar addiction. She suggested I call into her show, which I did the following week.

Along with some fantastic advice on replacing refined sugar with healthy alternatives, she sent me a copy of The Earth Diet and some yummy, healthy, chocolate samples from Raw Chocolate Man.

Liana's book is FANTASTIC! It is not just a cookbook. It includes her story of curing herself of a tumor at 21 years old, caused by unhealthy eating. Her mom also used The Earth Diet to heal advanced breast cancer. She provides vegetarian, vegan and meat eater recipes. She also provides recipes for baths, toothpaste, teeth whitener, deodorant, air freshener, household cleaners and more.

First, I made her three ingredient Raw Chocolate Balls to curb my sugar addiction. They are healthy, super easy to make, and delicious! For organic, healthy ingredients, I shopped at Vitacost.com. Their prices are already up to 50% off, and I was able to get an extra 10% off with her special coupon code: earthdiet (and yes, it will still work if you want to shop too!). The items arrived quickly and shipping is free on purchases over $49.

I've made my own organic almond milk too. It's another super easy recipe with only two ingredients, is very healthy and tastes great. You can make it with or without the almond skin. My first attempt was with the skin and it tastes fine, just not as smooth as without. Cows milk, honestly, has been grossing me out lately with what's in it and how the cows are treated. The almond milk that I've found in the supermarket is loaded with sugar and other ingredients. Making it myself is easy and healthier. I've used the milk by itself and also in Liana's shake and smoothie recipes.

I've also tried the Fat Blaster Juice and Green Juice. It's the first time I ever used a juicer and it was fun! I was surprised how much juice I could get out of a single orange! She has a bunch of juice recipes, and I plan to try them all. There are also lots of recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, desserts and more.

I highly recommend this book because there is so much goodness packed into it, and the recipes are delicious and easy to make. Liana lists so many of the unhealthy foods and products in our environment, and provides easy ways to replace them. Choosing real products from this beautiful Earth is the way to go, and Liana and The Earth Diet show us the way!

Kerri Mulhern

[Lili · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review.

This book is alright, I am very much so a fan of the 'what we eat affects our health as a whole' idea, this being made clear to me with my gluten intolerance and how affected I am if I even get a smidgen of gluten into my system. There are a lot of things about this diet (really a lifestyle plan) that I like; it encourages personalization, it is not crazy hard to follow, and it makes some reasonable claims. Of course with every fancy diet there will be things I am not a fan of; some of the claims are a bit extreme and while they might work (I am willing to believe) I would like a little more proof behind it, saying only eat fish that has been wild caught rather than farmed is awful, the oceans are so overfished that farming is much better for the environment.

I follow a diet very similar to this one already, so it was nothing new to me, sadly I still have Fibromyalgia among other things, but a healthy diet has shown an improvement in my condition. I am also a huge fan of 'self healing' thinking positive thoughts can do a lot for both mental and physical well being.

The section on creating your own body care products was very useful, I particularly liked the homemade sunscreen and plan on trying it. I am super sun sensitive so it will be a good test as to whether or not it works! Who am I kidding, I plan on using most of the skin care recipes because my skin is insanely problematic.

And now onto the part I was most excited for, food! In the preparation section there is a handy guide to what various foods do (detox, anti-inflammatory, digestive health, and such) that I found quite useful. I also found the 'stock your pantry' with section very informative, having nutritional value, use, and which recipes include them was a bit brilliant. The recipes are very clear, some with pictures and some without. I can safely say that all the recipes look delicious, I did not see a single one that I would not want to make for myself.

So all in all, I liked this book. It has some flaws, but not enough to make me not want to use it as a cookbook and possibly a guidebook to a more earth friendly lifestyle.

[Chrissy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a HUGE sucker for these books geared towards a natural/whole/vegan/raw diet and lifestyle, so THE EARTH DIET definitely appealed to me as a guidebook for creating a holistically healthy life. While I do think that THE EARTH DIET is primarily intended to be a book of recipes, I actually found that my favorite sections were those before and after the actual recipe section. I loved the focus on natural diet selections and the concept of solving general health ailments through a modification of food choices.

However, I do think the author tended to speak too often in extremes, insisting that *every* health concern could be solved through nutritional modification -- something that *sounds* amazing, but likely proves to be overly idealistic in its real life application. I adored the bright colors and photographs, although the intensity of the graphics did make THE EARTH DIET a difficult project for my e-reader. I could definitely see myself owning the physical copy, though, as an aesthetic addition.

I'm not sure the final section, focused on very short term cleanses and diets intended to correct specific issues (for example skin issues or excess weight), was particularly helpful. And, the recipes themselves were mostly things I have seen before in other, similar books.

More than anything else, it was the color and easy to read presentation that would make THE EARTH DIET stand apart from the rest.

I appreciate the publisher providing me an e-book copy of THE EARTH DIET for the purposes of providing an honest review.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have to have an open mind if topics such as this book are not your norm. I've read other reviews on the book and many people I know would bash this book without even reading it. I definitely don't agree with everything in this book. The author is telling us what worked for her and her mother and I have no doubt that it was good! No cookbook or book for that matter is the "right" book. Everyone is different so that being said- I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was well organized and while I thought it was going to be a cookbook that part didn't really come until the end.

What you put into your body is important and I found it true that she also said the things that your skin soaks up are just as important. Perfumes and lotions and scents all soak into your skin so do you really want some of those things in your system? There is also a wonderful section of recipes for personal care products such as toothpaste and even mascara! I also loved the recipes that didn't have dairy or gluten, as my body can't digest them so good. Liana Werner-Gray also writes about how growing your own produce is always the best or getting things from the local market which I completely agree. Many of the topics I had read about before and were nothing new to me but I did get some good info from this book.






Five stars!




"Thanks to Hay House Publishers for sending me a copy for free in exchange for an honest review."

[Rita Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book did not disappoint! I have spent years reading and going on every diet there is. Nothing has ever worked for very long and all of the information out there frankly confuses the heck out of me. Liana’s principles and approach could not be easier or make more sense, and this book is truly a guide to a sustainable way of living. This is not some fad diet that is going to work for a while. This is a lifestyle change that will stick with you forever. The recipes are simple yet very fulfilling and can easily be adapted for your tastes or allergies. All in all The Earth Diet has made me change the way I look at food which is a good thing.

[Bri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a good recipe book for someone already familiar with the benefits of healthy food.

I liked this book for the recipes for not just food, but also for household cleaning and hygiene products. As said in the other reviews, there is a lot of mention of how chemicals are bad. All of her information is good, but sometimes repetitive. And yes, there are unhealthy chemicals in almost all mainstream products and food, so she isn't exaggerating, but it can be a bit daunting for people who are not familiar with the information already.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful photographs make this book attractive.

I enjoyed the content, but seemed to offer no amazing revelations that I hadn't already read in numberous other similar volumes.

Some of the charts were really helpful showing the most densly nutirious nuts, fruits and veggies.

It is a good reminder of eating closer to the earth instead of from a processing plant. This book would be great for someone just sticking their toe into the water of eating healthier.

I received an electronic version of this book from NetGallery in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gentle and simple entry-level book for those looking to clean up their diet. Easy to understand and follow with encouraging tips like "Just do the best you can and keep taking more steps to choose a healthier lifestyle."
There aren't a lot of recipes here, only half the book. Chapters include raw vegan foods, cooked vegan foods as well as meat eater main dishes.
Not a lot of science here. The reader is expected to take on faith that the health tips she provides are actually worth the effort.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I typically skip around and never finish these types of books - I mean, really, you buy it for the recipes - but this is a great read. I saw Werner-Gray speak in Denver and she was great. When she finished speaking I ran and grabbed a copy of this awesome book and read it on the plane home. I love the non-judgmental way of the way she talks and writes. I am not vegetarian or vegan but I love many of these meals and am getting cleaner and cleaner in my eating because of this wonderful book.

[S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review coming as soon as possible.

[Randy Frazee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real Living

This book is essential for anyone seeking an alternative to the modern day junk we've become accustomed to. There's healing and immunity to be had within these pages!