Greg Doucette: The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook [Review]

If you’re like a lot of us, cooking isn’t exactly your “forte.”

You somehow manage to burn waffles in the toaster, set off the smoke detector whenever you make chicken, or forget the one ingredient that keeps the whole dish from being a sloppy mess.

It’s an unfortunate skill to lack when you’re eyeing muscle growth. Mainly since your only alternatives—microwaveable foods or take-out—are high in all the bad stuff (salt, sugar, carbs).

Greg Doucette may have a solution.

One of his latest works, The Anabolic Cookbook, is a 100+ page recipe book to help guys like you prepare healthy meals that are tasty, nutritious, and ideal for maximizing gains.

Let’s find out if The Anabolic Cookbook is all it’s cracked up to be.

About the Author – Greg Doucette

Greg Doucette may not be a name you hear at the bar, while sitting around the kitchen table or hanging out with your non-fitness junkie friends.

But he’s kind of a big deal in the bodybuilding world.

Doucette had a knack for lifting—and lifting heavy—while most of us were still learning to read. By the age of 13, Doucette had his eyes set on training to be a professional bodybuilder.

Doucette’s experience on the stage and in the classroom stretch from his early teens to well into his 40s. His accomplishments to date include:

• Bachelor’s & Master’s degrees in kinesiology
• Guinness World Record for the heaviest sumo deadlift (9,130 kg in one minute)
• Bench press record of 529 pounds
• Participation in 60 powerlifting competitions & 54 bodybuilding competitions
• IFBB Pro Bodybuilder
• Coach to over 1,000 clients across the globe
• Author of 5 eBooks (including The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook)

Doucette has also racked up over 800,000 YouTube subscribers and gains new followers each day due to his passion for bodybuilding and fitness.

What is The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook?

Greg Doucette’s Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook does what many of us cannot do on our own.

Instead of fumbling around with utensils you’ve never seen before, “eyeing” measurements and hoping you didn’t overdo it on the egg whites, and hoping a random combination of ingredients will create a delicious (and nutritious) meal, Doucette takes out the guesswork.

Among the 60 detailed recipes that you’ll find in the book, you’ll learn how to prepare:

• Breakfasts
• Sandwiches
• Wraps
• Dinners
• Snacks
• Desserts
• Shakes

Each step-by-step recipe details the ingredients you need (including precise measurements), how many servings it makes, how long it’ll take to cook, and the macronutrient breakdown.

Some are even vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free!

Following the recipes in the Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook can help you simplify mealtime, fuel your body for gains and prioritize nutrition just as much as you emphasize your workouts.

Cookbook Details

The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook sounds like a godsend if you and your kitchen appliances don’t have a great relationship.

But there are millions of healthy recipes for free on the internet—why pay money for them?

Well, when we review what’s in this book, you’ll figure out why!

What You’ll Need

Now, before we get into what types of recipes are in this book and whether they have a shot at tasting great, let’s break through one obvious point: It’s hard to cook without tools.

Unless you’re an undercover chef, it’s impossible to “eye” 35 grams of extra lean ground beef, ⅓ cup of unsweetened almond milk, or 0.5 teaspoons of lemon rind (without access to spoons).

And good luck cooking chicken without an oven, baking sheet, and oven mitts.

To make the most of the recipes in this book, you’ll need:

• A set of tablespoons & teaspoons
• A food scale (a must-have for most recipes in this book)
• A set of cooking cups (everything from ¼ to 1 cup)
• An oven/stove combo, microwave, and freezer (for protein bars, specifically)
• Knives, spoons, forks, a whisk (optional), and a spatula
• A set of oven mitts
• Bowls, pans, pots, baking sheets, and a colander (for draining)
• A silicone tray (for protein bars)

Even if you’re a “casual cook,” you likely already have most of these things on hand and ready to go. And while you can probably make do without a colander or a silicone tray, they’ll cut down on cooking times and make your life easier.

Meals you can cook with basic kitchen supplies…Check!

What Types of Recipes Are Included

When you think about “anabolic” or muscle-building meals, what do you think of?

Probably meats and protein shakes.

The good news: The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook has both of those things.

There are recipes for hamburgers, turkey wraps, blueberry protein shakes, and chocolate protein pudding shakes (of which there are two versions).

Protein and meat fix…Check!

The better news: The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook has all of those things…and much, much more—60 recipes (plus a few variations), to be exact!

Not only do you not have to settle for baked chicken and a plain chocolate protein shake for dinner each night, but there are more than enough unique recipes to cycle through.

Some of the more “out-there” recipes include:

• Apple goop
• Caramel chocolate protein bar
• Anabolic French toast
• Sweet Greek chocolate pudding shake
• La tortilla wrap
• Protein P28 pizza
• Peanut butter banana PB2 sandwich

Some recipes have 50+ grams of protein, some boast fewer than 100 calories, and some are rich in fiber content. So you can pick and choose recipes based on your unique fitness and health needs instead of blindly following the recipe that looks tastiest.

Variety and meals that aren’t “boring”…Check!

The Ingredients

A chicken/turkey/egg white wrap on Flatout Light sure sounds healthy. And based on the nutritional breakdown that Doucette provides, it also looks nutritious.

But the ingredients are undoubtedly the building blocks of a meal.

So what are the ingredients like in The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook?

For the most part? Salesy.

It’s not 15 grams of peanut butter—it’s 15 grams of PB2 (a form of powdered peanut butter, usually high in protein). It’s not a regular old wrap—it’s a Flatout Light wrap.

Any oddly-specific ingredient recommendation in The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook also comes with a fluorescent yellow shape with a link that starts, “Click here to purchase!”

And since there are few alternatives for regular ingredients like peanut butter or a wrap provided to you, ingredient swaps can greatly change the macro or calorie count.

An ongoing sales pitch…Check!

Aside from that, the more common recipe ingredients are generally healthy:

• Bananas
• Soy bacon bits
• Chicken breast
• Veggies (with a conversion chart at the end to clue you into their calorie and fiber values)
• 0% fat Greek yogurt
• Almond milk
• Blueberries

For any recipe in the book that sounds unhealthy, you can be sure that the unhealthy ingredients have been replaced with healthier alternatives (like lower fat butter or organic pasta sauce).

Healthy meals…Check!

The Directions

Making pancakes from a box is easy—what are there three or four steps to follow?

But when you get into healthier meals with a long list of ingredients and a ton of multi-tasking to do, the cooking process undeniably gets a little fuzzy.

Now we must admit: The directions for each recipe in this book are rather clear.

Anything that’s not obvious (like making a cold wrap) is clearly explained to you in 3-5 steps.

So for the “holiday chocolate protein bar” recipe, you start with microwaving the Vitafiber, end with freezing the bars, and receive clear guidance for every step in-between.

Easy to follow…Check!

Other Key Information

On a positive note, Doucette’s cookbook provides far more detail than your run-of-the-mill recipe might. On top of how to make each recipe, each of the 60 recipes includes:

• The specific ingredients needed (and how many cups, tablespoons, or grams of each)
• How long it takes to prepare (if you’re tight on time, choose one that’s <15 minutes)
• The nutritional value (calories, fats, carbs, protein, and fiber)
• How many servings does it make? (is it a meal prep or single meal kind of deal?)
• Whether it’s vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free

Useful for us non-cooking folks…Check!

The end of the cookbook ends with tables and charts that look complicated but aren’t!

In fact, they’re eye-opening.

There are charts for each type of recipe (like breakfast, shakes, and snacks) that’ll clearly lay-out what page it’s on, the nutritional value, and whether it’s vegan/vegetarian/gluten-free.

In other words: You don’t have to flip through 100 pages to find a recipe worth making.

There’s a chart for links to all of those unique ingredients that Doucette seems to be peddling—I mean encouraging you to add to your diet.

And there’s an interesting fruit and vegetable serving chart. So when your recipe calls for one serving (or 100 calories) of vegetables, you can see just how many grams of each common vegetable that equates to, as well as how much fiber they have.

Educational…Check!

5 Benefits of The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook

1. Plenty of Recipes to Choose From

Most cookbooks will have a breakfast, lunch, and dinner section—and if you’re lucky, a few desserts to snack on when you have cravings.

Fortunately, Greg Doucette’s Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook has all of that, and then some!

You literally have over 60 recipes to choose from depending on what you’re craving and what you still have in the pantry.

So if you’re willing to spend a lot of time at the grocery store and in the kitchen while experimenting with new foods, you can feasibly cycle through these recipes for years.

2. Mostly Healthy Ingredients

A lot of cookbooks out there claim to have “healthy recipes,” and then you see things like bacon, whole milk, and grease somehow snuck into every recipe.

Not with this book.

For any typical “unhealthy” ingredient, Doucette includes a far healthier replacement. So you don’t have to give up bacon entirely but rather swap in soy bacon bits instead.

Healthy and delicious at the same time is possible.

3. Ease of Preparation

While it may be a bit of a hassle to order certain ingredients online or head to the supermarket a few times a week, actually preparing each recipe is flat-out simple.

Not only does Doucette clearly walk you through how to make each dish (even down to minuscule things like boiling the water), but you also don’t have to spend all day in the kitchen.

You can make most of these recipes in as little as 15 minutes—sometimes in just 6.

4. Options for Unique Diets

The downside of many cookbooks—especially those intended for building muscle and loading up on protein—is that there’s very limited wiggle room in terms of ingredients.

If you don’t eat meat (or animal products) or have to avoid gluten, you may be SOL.

A good chunk of the recipes are vegetarian, a few vegan, and there’s a whole stack of gluten-free pasta dinners.

In other words: You have options, regardless of what type of diet you follow.

5. Great-Tasting Recipes

When dropping body fat is your goal, the joy you get from eating disappears. If you want to cut calories, get your macros, and not fight hunger pangs, you have to be willing to sacrifice taste.

Well, not with these recipes.

With delicious, filling, and low-calorie recipes (like apple goop and chocolate lava cake) to choose from, you’re never forced to choose between your goals and food enjoyment.

No more unseasoned chicken breast, chalky protein powder, or plain old peanut butter.

Look forward to your meals again!

3 Negatives of The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook

1. Where Are the Pictures?

Have you ever ordered a dish that sounded really good at a restaurant, only to have it brought to your table and look nothing like you envisioned?

What your food looks like can either make or break your desire to eat it.

So the fact that there are no pictures whatsoever in this book is a major downside.

One recipe may sound really disgusting, but you may be more inclined to try it if you saw a picture of it—and the opposite is true as well!

2. No Guidance For Selecting Meals

Do we doubt that these recipes are healthy? Absolutely not!

The ingredients, cooking methods, and nutritional values of nearly every meal in this cookbook are probably far better than what you’re currently eating.

The problem here is this: If you don’t know a damn thing about how many calories or macronutrients you need on an average day, this book won’t be of much help.

Given this cookbook is intended for folks looking to build muscle and ramp up their protein intake, you’d think Doucette would at least give vague suggestions in this area.

3. The Ingredient Issue

The ingredients in Doucette’s cookbook are healthy. Getting the ingredients in your hands is an entirely different story.

You’ll probably have to make multiple trips to the grocery store each week to keep a fresh stock of fruits and vegetables while also buying ingredients you may be hard to find in your usual aisle (like xanthan gum or mustard sauce).

It’s probably not a deal-breaker, but it can be a bit of a hassle to stock up on the right ingredients. Luckily, you’ll use most ingredients frequently enough to make them worth the trip.

Then, there’s the over-promotional aspect of many of the ingredients.

Since you may not have things like ICON Meals protein bread or Liquid Muscle egg whites at the grocery store, you may be left to order them online instead or make your own substitutions.

Wrapping Up This Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook Review

Greg Doucette’s Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook can be a game-changer if you’re looking for actionable advice to trigger noticeable gains and improve your overall health.

You have over 60 healthy and easy-to-make recipes to choose from, and they do the impossible: They keep your calorie count low, your protein levels high, your stomach feeling full, and your dreams of cutting body fat a reality.

It’s also rare for a cookbook of any sort to boast vegan and gluten-free options, so that’s a perk we aren’t used to seeing.

But it’s not without downsides.

The lack of pictures can make it hard to choose meals based on what you have a taste for, there’s no walkthrough describing how to fuel your body properly depending on your goals, and some of the ingredients can be a little hard to find.

The final verdict: The Ultimate Anabolic Cookbook is excellent, giving non-chefs options in the kitchen that are easy to make, flat-out delicious, and awesome for gains and cutting.

Perfect? Absolutely not, but it’s worth giving a go if you’re serious about nutrition.

Rating: 7.7/10