VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good

I've been following this type of lifestyle since last year and I've lost nearly 100 pounds so far. I didn't have to wait on this book because Bittman has openly shared his VB6 lifestyle for a few years, and I've read every article and blog post with interest. I couldn't wait to get hold of his new book and I ordered the Kindle version at midnight when it was released.VB6 is informative and inspiring. It provides the basis for a very liveable lifestyle that has the potential to turn your life around, just as it did mine. The book includes a 28 day menu plan to get you started, complete with a variety of delicious recipes. Weekly wildcards let you bend away from plants if you are in a pinch or social situation that requires it.The recipes range from simple to complex, but none require special skills or hard to find ingredients. The recipes include more nutrition info than most other healthy cookbook provides. They include calories, cholesterol, fat, sat fats, protein, carbs, sodium, fiber, trans fats, and sugar.I've lived a plant strong lifestyle, but not 100% plants, for the last decade. I still ate cheese and other dairy products. I ate seafood a few times a year. I also ate a lot of junk. Processed foods, too many grains, and way too much sugar. Definitely not enough vegetables. I battled my weight and felt terrible.I strongly dislike labels such as vegan and vegetarian. Labels give some people reason to judge others and their dietary choices, which is really just silly. They also evoke guilt and confusion when someone struggles to conform. This is NOT a book about being vegan. VB6 is not about perfection or 100% adherence to a specific plan. It's about making better choices that we can live with.If you've read Food Matters, another book by Bittman, then you are already familiar with the concept behind this lifestyle. Both books go into detail about how consuming excessive animal products can potentially damage not only our health, but also our environment. Either book, in my opinion, should be read by everyone who is concerned about their health and/or the planet. The statistics in the book are both shocking and depressing. However, the lifestyle changes suggested also offer hope and new possibilities.Aside from doing my part for the environment, VB6 has allowed me to make dramatic changes with my health. As I mentioned earlier, I've lost a lot of weight with this lifestyle. I still have a way to go before I reach my goal, but I have no doubt that I'll make it. Why? Because this is easy. It's the easiest thing I've ever done, and I'm 51 years old.The first principle of the VB6 philosophy is to eat fruit and vegetables in abundance. I eat a LOT of vegetables and fruits every day. Bittman suggests that as we eat more fruits and veggies, we will naturally shift away from animal products and junk. I found that to be true in my case. I even snack on spinach, which is something I would have never done a few years ago. I eat large amounts of green veggies, and I always eat the rainbow.I initially spent a lot of time planning my meals and prepping veggies. This became easier with time and experience. I have also learned to like a lot of foods that I never enjoyed before. Bittman suggests trying new vegetables, and lets us know we may not like everything we try. That's ok. We'll still end up expanding our menu as our tastes change. It's been well worth the extra effort to adapt to this lifestyle.Every meal is filling and delicious. I slip away from a pure plant diet at dinner when I add wild caught fish or other seafood to my meal. I really love seafood and missed it when I tried to conform to a more strict veg diet. If I really want a little cheese or other dairy then I'll eat it. Guilt free. I eat what I want to eat. The difference is that I no longer want the foods I used to eat. I crave healthy food! I cook from scratch and don't buy packaged, processed foods anymore. I avoid or limit added sugar. I can't even remember the last time I ate a potato chip. My favorite snack or dessert now is fresh fruit. With VB6 I could eat a little of those things with dinner if I wanted them, but I honestly no longer want them anymore.Bittman points out that weight is only one component of our health. My fasting blood glucose levels used to average between 100 and 120 before I changed my lifestyle. Now they average in the 70s! My energy level is unbelievable and I never get tired. My skin even looks better. I exercise every day and I have the energy to stick with it.I no longer have to struggle to explain my dietary lifestyle to people. No, I'm not vegan. I'm not even vegetarian. It's so much easier to just say I follow a VB6 lifestyle. Maybe that's a label I can live with.

I was very hesitant to give Mark Bittman's VB6 only three stars. I have closely followed Bittman's writing in the New York Times for several years. I own two of his cookbooks, How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and use both constantly.But perhaps that is the problem. For anyone that follows Bittman or other similar food writers, there is really nothing new in this book other than collecting all of his recent ideas in one place. I actually read about Bittman's "VB6" diet over a year ago in one of his Times articles and adopted it for myself despite not having it explained in a book. I wasn't very overweight, but like Bittman I lost about 15 pounds quickly and, as he notes, noticed that as I ate healthier during the day, it changed my eating habits overall and I continued to eat healthy food at night as my cravings for highly processed junk foods subsided.An obvious benefit for the VB6 diet is its simplicity, but unfortunately this also leads to not having much to add in the actual book. The "diet" is just what the title says: eat vegan before 6 pm, and then you can eat anything you want for dinner so long as you try to avoid processed food and treats. Really, that's it. The majority of this book is devoted to explaining why such a diet works, and why you should avoid processed foods. Although this information is great for beginners or people with no real knowledge of nutritional science, most of this information is pretty basic to most people. If you want to know the details, I think you can gain a lot more from watching Robert Lustig's "Sugar: the Bitter Truth" video on YouTube or even reading Bittman's own columns about Lustig, without buying a book.The other major portion of this book is the recipes. Again, while I love Bittman's recipes, I have his other cookbooks and wasn't really needing more recipes by him.Again, I love the content of this book, and my three stars is not a reflection on the VB6 diet theory or Bittman's writing. By way of analogy, I guess I would say it's like buying a "greatest hits" album from a band you really like: those albums aren't meant for the fans, they are meant for people who don't know that band's music. If you're a fan of Bittman or others like him (e.g., Pollan), you don't need this book. Likewise, if you're looking for a new "diet," just read the title of this book and you're good to go, perhaps with also reading some of Bittman's recent columns on the Times website.I would only recommend this book to someone who needs to learn the basics and needs some good recipes to succeed. If that's you, I can wholeheartedly say that this book will explain why you need to change your diet and why this one will work. A vegan diet can be dangerous if you aren't well informed and work hard to make sure you get the proper nutrients. If you try to be vegan by eating only potato chips, you'll obviously be in trouble! Luckily, although VB6 isn't a true vegan diet, Bittman explains everything you need to know in this book. Additionally, the best feature of the VB6 diet is that it is entirely doable. Although some sacrifices have to be made, you can spend the rest of your life eating this way. If you're skeptical, I suggest you give it a try: as I mentioned above, you'll notice your cravings for junk food go away once you switch to better food. I used to drink multiple sodas a day but now they are too sickeningly sweet to handle more than a couple sips. Also, I didn't only lose weight, I also felt more alert and calm after switching to a VB6 diet, and some random aches and pains went away. If you are new to the "flexitarian" approach to eating set forth by Bittman, you will be a convert by the end of this book.

Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is my go-to guide for traditional recipes, so when I wanted to loose weight after having my second baby, I turned to VB6. I haven't read many diet books, but a big advantage of this one is that it is written by a chef and foodie. My two favourite things about this book are 1) The recipes make delicious food and 2) even when cooking light, Bittman refuses to skimp on the olive oil. (Who wants vegetables roasted in cooking spray? Not me!)I gave this book four stars instead of five for two reasons: 1) As other reviewers have said, the nutritional background provided for the diet is a bit long, and not that well put together - remember, he's a chef and food reviewer, not a nutritionist. 2) If you actually followed the 28-day plan, you would be cooking for hours upon hours a day.

This book is brilliant. I Especially like the recipes at the back. The hummus and stewed fruit recipe are very good. I am enjoying eating more plant based foods and tend to eat less diary and fish now. Has definitely made a difference to my weight and health. My skin also looks better! Definitely worth a try!

I tried this but overall wasn't impressed. Didn't lose any weight but did feel healthier. Not enough recipes.

Great inspiring book!

Very pleased with delivery and product