| American Kenpo My Journey Learning American Kenpo Symply Too Good To Be True, American Version – A Book Review Symply Too Good To Be True – American Version is a book written by Annette Sym from Australia. This book is a diet cookbook written by someone who was overweight and had to learn on her own how to cook healthy recipes in order to lose weight. Not only has Annette Sym lost weight, but she has kept it off for years by following her own healthy recipes. What makes this book different is that it is written by someone who is not a dietitian, physician, or other credentialed individual, but someone who was overweight and spent much time learning how to live and eat healthy on her own. Luckily for the people of Australia, she has shared her insight and recipes through a collection of books that have made her the number one cookbook author in that country. Now, for the benefit of Americans, she has written a version of her cookbooks that includes ingredients found here in the United States. Although the book is mostly a cookbook, she also includes tips and guides in this version on how to eat and live healthy. Much like other cookbooks, the recipes are categorized by types of meals and major ingredients, such as snacks, salads, soups, beef, poultry, seafood, etc. Each recipe includes a list of ingredients and directions on how to prepare and cook the recipe. Because her recipes are designed to be healthy and promote weight loss, each recipe includes details including as fat content, carbs, protein, and more. As an added bonus each recipe rates the recipes glycemic index, which can help people with diabetes choose recipes more adequate to their nutritional needs. As meals that have a low glycemic index are beneficial to weight loss, this cookbook provides a great way to stay within dieting parameters. What I like about this cookbook is that the recipes cover a wide range of tastes. The variety of the recipes makes for a great way to avoid boredom with your dieting while giving you delicious food that is healthy as well. I do not feel guilty choosing a recipe from this cookbook because I’m shown the details of exactly what it is I am consuming. Entrees such as Indian Butter Chicken and Ratatouille make for a fun and delicious meal without doubting it’s weight loss and health benefits. The directions are concise making it easy for anyone to make something that they will enjoy and remember. Because this author is from Australia, some work had to be done to convert her recipes to include ingredients found here in US supermarkets. As such, a few of the ingredients may take a bit of looking to find or a bit of creative translation and substitution to accommodate the recipes. However, with a little common sense and maybe some help from the more cooking adept, this bit of frustration can easily be remedied. As brands and names for recipe ingredients can differ greatly across continents, as was the challenge of this cookbook, so too can it across regions of the US. However, like I said, it has not been much of a problem for me, an amateur at cooking, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem for others as well. So far, I have been able to make what recipes I have cooked turn out to look mostly like the images in the book. As far as the taste, it has been nothing but a delicious surprise. If these recipes are good for me, I could eat like this for years to come. Not only have I enjoyed eating what this book teaches, so has my wife and others. Just knowing I can pop open this book, take a picture of the ingredients, run to the supermarket, and come home to make something healthy and extremely delicious is a relief. Everything I have made has been fairly quick and easy to prepare, inexpensive, and satisfying beyond my expectations. I would highly recommend this cookbook to anyone trying to lose weight or live a healthier life. Thank you Annette Sym! UPDATE: 1/20/10 Ok, so you’ve read my review of this book. Well, I’m even more excited about this book after making one recipe. The recipe was a pizza. Ok, big deal. Well, here’s the kicker. The glycemic rating was too low so it made the recipe not only ideal for diabetics, but for those wishing to lose weight as well. Guess what the crust is? Chicken breast! Yup, that’s right, chicken breast flattened with a meat mallet. Never beyond my wildest dreams would I have thought to use a chicken breast for a pizza crust! Kudos to Annette for this idea. When you place the ingredients on the flattened chicken breast, the chicken breast becomes tough enough to emulate a regular pizza crust. However, instead of eating a crust full of carbs, you are eating a crust full of protein and low in fat and carbs. Yet another reason to embrace Annette’s cook books. She’s lived it, she knows what to do. Very surprised. YOU CAN READ THE ONLINE REVIEW HERE: http://americankenpo.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/symply-too-good-to-be-true-american-version-a-book-review/  Yet another reason to embrace Annette's cookbook...Chicken Pizziola |