Are you seeing the Trim Healthy Mama brand everywhere, with people losing tons of weight? And wondering about trying out whether this plan might work for you?
I have been a part of the Trim Healthy Mama community for a while, and can tell you a lot of the ins and outs of it, and I did write a post on the basics of the plan which you can read here.
I also have also bought all three of their cookbooks, and would like to share my experiences and recommendations for them with you, including which I think is best for a beginner.
Below I have provided a few links for free (favorites) recipes that you can try out before you buy either book.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission if you make a purchase using my links. This review will be completely my opinion. I have also provided an additional resource mentioned at the bottom that you may find helpful.
Also, you should consult your doctor before starting any diet modification, this is a summary of my experience with the plan and recipes, your experience may vary. You can read my full disclaimers here.
You can read about why I started Trim Healthy Mama here and my summary of the basics of the program here.
Trim Healthy Mama Books – General Info
Generally, the first book by the ladies of Trim Healthy Mama (THM) is just called the ‘THM Cookbook’. (And that’s how I’ll refer to it.)
The second book is ‘Trim Healthy Table‘ (THT).
Now, there are actually other books. The newest book is Trim Healthy Future and it features the sisters’ niece Rashida. I’m not sure exactly the story with that other than they want her to be part of the future of THM. It was on sale in a Black Friday sale in 2020, but is not currently for sale on their regular website. I did snag it and once I have used a few times it I will do a review of it.
Back to the THM history.
The Trim Healthy Mama (first ever) book it is a super long (600+ pages) introduction to the THM plan.
It does have some of recipes, as well as frequently asked questions, but is very long and a lot of information that is probably overkill.
If you want a more succinct book specifically about just the plan itself, though, I would go with the Trim Healthy Mama Plan book.
It is much shorter, less expensive, and gives you the basics of what you need to know. It does not, however, have recipes.
However, it is not the book I would recommend for you to start with.
Which is Better? ‘Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook’ or ‘Trim Healthy Table’?
In general, my answer will probably always be ‘Trim Healthy Table’, especially if you’re just starting out.
I will explain, but first, let me say, I have both and I really like recipes from both.
When I’m making dinner recipes, these are pretty much exclusively what I use to cook.
And the recipes turn out pretty doggone good. I’m usually quite surprised. (It makes me look like a decent cook, haha.)
Even my husband likes most of them — he has a past of being picky with his food, but actually will eat spinach in some of these dishes and say the meal was good. #winning
I can tell when he doesn’t really like something, plus he doesn’t usually mince words too much. But most of these, he does like.
For instance, one of his favorite lines is that spinach tastes like dirt. But he likes this soup (and it is one of my faves, and soooooo incredibly quick & easy.) (Found in Trim Healthy Table, page 149).
And I made this Lazy Lasagna (also with spinach) (Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook, page 140) for my in-laws once, and they made it for other family members with picky kids who were nervous about the spinach, and even they said they couldn’t taste it and would eat it again!
(Psst: If you make the lazy lasagna, people have said you can just do one layer of each section, instead of two layers as stated in the recipe, as it is a bit of a misnomer being called “lazy”– it’s a bit of work. People also say they just dump it in the pan all together, however, it’d be more like a casserole and less like a lasagna in that form.)
I’m all for getting veggies in any way we can!
Also, I should mention that both books have an ample amount of healthy, sugar-alternative drinks, desserts, and crackers/breads you can attempt to make. I haven’t made a ton, but have made a few condiments and they’re good.
They’re probably better if you’re fully on the THM train, as they have healthier ingredients, but it’s not worth me making most of them as 1. they are a bit of work sometimes, and 2. they would go bad before our little family or two would use them up.
Frankly, I wish there were more Lunch and Dinner entrees and sides to the cookbook, as a few of the entrees and casseroles seem very similar to each other with a few modifications.
One example of this is there’s two recipes for broccoli and cheese soup, one’s classified as a slimming type soup, but still. Two recipes, one that each sister (the authors) prefers. Kinda feels like filler at that point.
However, I still can manage to have a decent rotation of recipes, meats and sides, casseroles, soups, and then some stand-by recipes (non-THM) that I enjoy and cook frequently.
Difference Between the ‘THM Cookbook’ and ‘Trim Healthy Table’
So, the ‘Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook’ and ‘Trim Healthy Mama plan’ were pretty good companions to have together before ‘Trim Healthy Table’ (the more recent of the three) came along.
As I said, I do like the ‘THM Cookbook’ recipes a lot.
But, there are a few things that Trim Healthy Table has that I really appreciate, and I think it is the most helpful for those starting out.
Why I Would Recommend You Start with ‘Trim Healthy Table’ More Than ‘Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook’
I recommend both books if you can get them both.
But I always like to dip my toes in, so assuming you do, too, I recommend that you get [you probably have guessed by now] ‘Trim Healthy Table‘ first.
*To begin with, ‘Trim Healthy Table’ has 45 pages of the basics of the THM plan.
It explains the E and S meals, Fuel Pulls, Crossovers, and what they mean, as well as which ingredients THM uses or doesn’t and why. (You can go to this post for a short explanation of some basics.)
‘THM Cookbook’ has a little about the ingredients, but doesn’t explain the plan in depth, and refers you back to the THM Plan book.
*Another feature in ‘Trim Healthy Table’ is the NSI (“no special ingredients”) section of each recipe.
THM has their own line of ingredients that they provide to support their plan, like their baking blend (which is just about easier to buy that make a duplicate) or their Integral Collagen.
However, with a THT recipe, it tells you what ingredients you can get from the grocery store so that you don’t have to buy their ingredients.
If you can afford them all, by all means, get them. They put a lot of work into making sure their ingredients and processing processes are high quality.
But, if you’re dipping your toe in the plan, trying to do it on a budget, or have run out of their ingredient, it’s nice to know that you can make the recipe with less expensive ingredients readily available at your local grocery store.
Myself, I have the Baking Blend, which I like a lot. Many recipes, unless you’re making lots of desserts, don’t call for a lot so a bag of it has lasted me for 8 months.
*Another thing I like about THT is that it gives you sides and serving suggestions.
Sometimes, I like a recipe but have no idea what to serve with it. THT will give you some ideas for which the flavors match, and even the page number if it’s one of their own recipes. The cookbook doesn’t really do that.
*And, lastly, why I like over the ‘THM Cookbook’, in the slow cooker/crock pot section, there is a blurb for each of them about how to cook them in your electric pressure cooker, like the Instant Pot.
I picked out this Instant Pot for my mom (after much comparison and overthinking, as usual) and she loves it (has definitely gotten her money’s worth out of it), and she’s been waiting for us to visit to help her learn to use the Air Fryer lid attachment), or you can get both an air fryer and electric pressure cooker with the Ninja Foodi, which has a beloving cult following and gets ravingly great reviews as well.
How I Would Improve the THM Cookbooks
Two things stand out to me that are kind of annoying about the THM cookbooks, but they’re minor headaches compared to how easy it is to make most of our meals out of two books.
One is the cataloging/labeling/indexing of the recipes.
Firstly, the names leave a bit to be desired. Serene and Pearl, the sister duo that wrote the book, are fairly colloquial people. That is clear listening to their podcasts. Which, usually, I am all for but sometimes….
Wellll, some of their names for dishes, like Lemon Herb Drummies, Soothe Your Soul Soup, and Hubby Lovin Chicken, Whoop Whoop Soup… well, they make my inner teenager roll her eyes.
And Hubby Lovin’ Chicken tells you nothing about the recipe itself, nor Soothe Your Soul Soup.
But that’s not the worst part — You’ll have a category, for instance in THT, called All-in-One Meals, that has 5 categories of dishes in it. The next category has 4 sub-categories.
So, finding a recipe isn’t the easiest. I have actually taken to writing the sub-categories in my cookbook, because it only shows you the head category. Le sigh.
And then you’d think, well then, go look it up in the index, duh.
Problem is, Hubby Lovin’ Chicken is not under the H’s. It’s under Chicken. {insert eye roll}
And the type is fairly small, which I know they probably did to save space, but even the letter categories don’t have a larger C to tell you where the C’s start — I also went through my index and did this as well. The highlights are mine, too.
And, actually, I got so tired of not being able to find a recipe that I made a printable of the recipes from ‘THM Cookbook’ and ‘Trim Healthy Table’, so I could search it but also see the hierarchy of arrangement — theirs doesn’t 100% click in my brain.
It has each recipe, the page number, fuel type, and the subcategory in CAPS, and subcategory in (Parenthesis).
You can get the recipe lists for both books here.
Can You Do Trim Healthy Mama If You Have a Dairy Allergy or are Dairy Free
Yes, you can. However, one of the things I’m not super crazy about in THM, is the heavy reliance on dairy.
Now, in their plans, they teach you how to incorporate dairy and still lose weight. Which is great.
However, if the recipe is an S fuel type, you can just about guarantee it has at least a half cup of cheese, heavy cream, cottage cheese, yogurt.
And these are not bad things. But if you’re like me, dairy is inflammatory and technically a no-no.
I have a diagnosed allergy to a particular protein in dairy, so I should honestly stay away from it.
I did once and my waist was the best it has ever been.
But it is hard to do in general, especially with THM recipes.
They do have a few options for making dairy free cheeses in the books, but, well, I’ll just say that I’ve never tried to make them.
And some recipes offer dairy free alternative suggestions.
However, for example, since my husband doesn’t like coconut, I can’t really make coconut milk substitutions, and that kind of thing.
Soooo, that’s just my view on it as someone who should stay away from dairy but doesn’t because it’s too difficult to maintain.
Conclusion on Trim Healthy Mama Cookbooks
To wrap up, get the ‘Trim Healthy Table‘ book first. I also got the Kindle version, as it sometimes goes on deep discount to less than $5, and it is helpful to have it in case I’m at the store and need to look at a recipe, or want to copy and paste the ingredients.
If you like that, and you probably will, then get ‘THM Cookbook’ or whatever they roll out with next.
And you can read my experience with the THM program here, and also my short writeup about the basics of the Trim Healthy Mama plan.
If you have more questions about the cookbooks, please let me know in the comments.
I hope this information was helpful, if you liked it, please let me know, I love to know what you, as a reader of this blog, are most interested in.
Thanks for reading, and God bless!!
