Dieting Books

This is an excellent book by a fourth-generation Montana cattle rancher turned vegetarian. Lyman writes about how he inherited his father's farm and destroyed it through chemical agricultural practices he learned in college.

Right before undergoing surgery for a spinal tumor he remembered how fertile his soil used to be and how dead it now was. He determined then that he would restore the farm his father had given him. During recuperation he took a personal inventory and saw a selfish and callous man. And that inventory began his change toward compassion, vegetarianism and political activism.

The majority of the book covers the detrimental effects to the environment and our health in choosing a meat-based diet to include chemical farm management, antibiotics, bovine growth hormone, mad cow disease and related human diseases, loss of forest, top soil, desertification, global warming, loss of wildlife, water pollution, etc. You'll get a nice education of the kind of foods they feed cattle that we in turn ingest. The last chapter includes some sound dietary recommendations.

He writes: "It's humbling to think that, even after turning over the greater share of our public land to cattle ranchers, and in spite of the massive feedlot operations fouling our country, we Americans still need to import beef to satisfy our collective demand for heart attacks. In the process, we facilitate the chopping down of Central and South American rain forest, while leaving the populations of those countries impoverished."

This book is an excellent introduction to the horrendous negative impact beef production and consumption is having to our health and the health of our planet. It holds a permanent place in my library.

To learn more about the history of cattle, check out Jeremy Rifkin's Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture (Plume). If you'd like to learn about how the meat you eat is produced and how it gets to the grocery store shelf, try Fast Food Nation or The Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America's Food Supply.

One of the Authors stated premises about "Flesh consumption (is) meat kills." Mr. Merzer states this without qualification, though he does make mention of the use of toxic substances in the feed. His premise is fallacious and doesn't take into consideration the anthropological and historical evidence that suggest that the diseases mentioned in his book are a modern phenomenon. Meat consumption has be apart of human dietary history since Noah and his three sons, that is to say thousands of years. Yet through the annals of medical history the same can't be said of coronary disease or cancer. What are we to make of this? There is a historical correlation that can be make between the rise of industrial farming and the modern epidemic of heart dis-ease and cancer. And of course, there is exercise, food portion and a number of other things that factor into our health. For me Vegetarianism is about taking into account the ethical implication of what it means to kill, (or in most americans case hiring a hit man), a species you share the planet with, not scaring someone into the arc of vegetarianism with half-truths.

While this book was published a few years ago the message is still crucial and timely. To wit: the very recent riots in Korea by large crowds who didn't want American beef. Who can blame them? When our government has all but stopped testing for mad cow disease and made freedom of speech unsafe, Korea made their voices heard in just the last month. The Korean consumer got a little more respect than the American consumer. Mad cow disease IS PROVEN to be in this country and in Canada now but when there's no testing there's no knowing. How convenient! Our neighbor died of so called Alzheimer's that fit every case of the human form of mad cow in Britain. It was relatively quick and it was ugly. Why so much Cruzefeld Jacob disease? We have chronic wasting disease in deer in our area and this book will tell you why. Mr. Lyman has not missed a beat and everything he says has held up over time. Even Monsanto gave up on it's hormone in milk just this week. Now perhaps I can eat milk and cheese again! Just this week a court ruled that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations were cruelty, unless you like your beef in kidney failure and acidosis, of course. I'm not really vegetarian so much by choice as by what I perceive to be necessity caused by big agribusiness hand in glove with government and the horrible conditions endured by animals destined for our table. (Well, not our table.) If we can catch a fish that doesn't have too much mercury in it or win a jackpot in Nevada and buy some certified organic, humanely slaughtered meat we'll eat it. But I'm here to say that until beef is grass finished once again and humanely slaughtered it will not show up on our table! In the meantime I've given numerous copies of this book to friends and family and I notice some big differences at the cookouts this summer! Actually they've been darned good!

Great review and delivered as promised - and quickly. Almost as good as picking it out in a store!

I think that everyone that cares about their health, animals or the environment should read this book. As a lacto-ovo vegetarian that eats seafood occasionally, this was an easy read for me however I would think that hard core meat eaters would be a more difficult sell.
For the last 7 years that I have been a vegetarian, I have had people constantly say that I'm not eating healthy, I can't be getting enough protein, iron, etc. I find myself constantly trying to eat more protein in the form of dairy and seafood to make this up. It never made sense to me because when I eat the way I want to (lots of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc), I feel great. In addition, I have never been anemic and I give blood every six weeks with no side effects plus I'm fairly active competing in triathlons, half marathons and other endurance sports. Oh & I'm rarely sick...probably 4 times less likely to be ill than my coworkers. Lyman does a good job of detailing how everyone can each a vegetarian diet and get plenty of the vitamins and minerals you need without all the fat and cholesterol you don't need.
I was surprised to read the parts in the book about how heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer, etc are not highly hereditary, as we have been told, which totally makes sense. High cholesterol and heart disease are very common in my family and my sisters in their 30's both have it however my cholesterol is extremely low.
Anyway, I could go on forever but overall I think this book is great. I'm encouraging my family and friends to read it because I think it could help them live a longer, healthier life. Since reading the book, I have become more confident in my vegetarianism and I have switched to eating organic and hormone free food.
Check the book out for yourself. You will not regret it.

If you are a fan of the Biggest Loser then you will get Jillian's humor in the book and also that she is a hard core trainer who will drill knowledge into your head for your own sake. This book is informative and gives you a good approach to starting weight loss and will keep you smart about choices.

Overview: the self (behavior, pysch) stuff is excellent, the workout stuff is beyond excellent, the diet stuff is meh.

Jillian's workouts are brutal and effective. They just are. And, really, the only effective workouts are brutal, so suck it up: you want to get lean, right? Rather than prescribing the usual "3 days cardio, 2 days strength" stuff, she has you doing four days of circuit, one day of cardio (keeping your heart rate at 85% of max for 50 minutes!) "to rest your muscles,"(ha) and two days of nuthin. The circuit, for those of you who aren't familiar, is what you see those poor Biggest Loser contestants doing on TV when they're redfaced and sweating heavily: it's a way of getting your heart rate WAY up there by doing, for example, 15 pushups then 15 squats then 15 pushups then 15 squats then 15 pushups then 15 squats NEXT CIRCUIT QUIT WHINING 15 tricep dips 15 crunches etc etc. A circuit is typically made up of an upper body exercise and a lower body one: J says doing this causes your heart rate to shoot up because you're pushing the blood to the upper body, then the lower, over and over again. You do each circuit 3 times without resting, then move to the next one.

So it's brutal, like I said. But it makes you strong and lean. And it makes you feel like you can do anything.

The "self" section is also effective. Figuring out why we do what we do (mindlessly snack, overeat) is an important tool in changing our behavior. So is the positive thinking stuff, something that doesn't come naturally to this reviewer.

Why the four stars? After all the explanation of how many calories you should be taking in daily and what your metabolic "type" is, there is very little guidance on how to put a meal together. Okay, I should be eating 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein. Now how do I do that? Do I eat a bunch of veggies and an egg or two? You can always refer to "the Zone" books for advice on this if you're a balanced oxidizer because that's the dietary model followed (40/30/30). But apart from a few recipes (many using fake stuff like Splenda, sweetened whey powder, etc.), you're on your own.

This item arrived promptly as promised - the book was new as described. I have never had a problem purchasing from Amazon or it's contibutors. Great book - my daughter loves it!

This is one of the best fitness books I have ever read. Jillian Michaels explains everything in simplified manor. I've been reading this book and following her plan and I have never felt better. I lost 12lbs in one month. I highly recommend this book.

I only used this book for the exercise portion, so I can't comment on the diet portion. But this book is well worth the price for the workouts alone! Once I really followed the workouts schedule as prescribed, I dropped a size in about 6 weeks after a really long plateau.

I disagree with the posters who complain this is too basic, or there is nothing new to learn. The exercises may not be complicated, but that does not mean they are not effective. I had spent over 2 years with a trainer doing weight workouts, but this workout on my own helped me drop another size after I stopped working out with him.

The magic is in the way she composes the workouts. The workouts are amazingly effective if followed the way she lays them out. The combination of lifting with short bursts of cardio really firms up your muscles while burning fat. This type of workout produces more of a leaner/sculpted look, it's not intended for building mass or bulk.

Basic premise: focus on what you can eat, not what you can't. This alone may be a life altering concept for some; I know it was for me. But this hefty tome doesn't waste much time harping on dieting philosophy, moving straight on to the "how". If you don't eat healthy because you don't like how it tastes, this is the book for you. If you don't eat healthy because you can no longer keep track of what's healthy and what's not, this is the book for you. If you don't eat healthy because you don't have the time, this is the book for you. In short, if you want to eat healthy, this is the book for you. It may replace Joy of Cooking as my most essential cooking reference...

This is quite a book. There is a tremendous amount of information to take in. Very comprehensive. Well written. Great reference book

Great resource for inspiring better eating choices. Page through and pick out some fruits, veggies, legumes, and even some animal protein (this isn't a vegetarian source, but rather omnivorous). Look at pretty pictures of them (admit it: pictures make thinking about food a whole lot more fun). Learn about the valuable nutrients in them and the best methods to cook them to maintain their nutrition and taste.

Then there are VERY easy, very quick recipes included for each food.

If you read it before shopping, you'll come home with better, fresher food and a plan for how to cook it!

I have studied Healthy diets for about 10 years and this is the most comprehensive book. More than that it is easy as you dont have to read why those foods are healthy(unless you want to) but you can just go to the recipies which are pretty fast and simple. The biggest downside of the book is a certain lack of soups,stews and especially desserts ! There are some and a lot more on his webpage (which is free by the way) but to get more sweet recipies would have been great.

I especially like the webpage where you can watch a new Video each week and cook one new dish each week to learn and change in a smooth way. If you get one book i would recommend this one

Great up to date nutritional information. All presented in a simple, clear format. The included recipes are so easy, and don't contain a lot of weird 'health' ingredients. This book gives you a whole new way to see - and eat - foods that are good for you.

This is an excellent book. It has many yummy recipes that are easy to prepare. There is a catb content rating for each recipe. There is also a great deal of very useful information about diabetes and living with the disease. I would not hesitate to recommend this book.

I am extremely happy with this transaction. It was delivered earlier than promised and in excellent shape.

Most cookbooks I've seen for diabetics call for all sorts of "fake" ingredients that I find totally unappetizing. This book, however, uses mostly "real" ingredients and has recipes that the whole family can enjoy. One of the horrifying things about being a diabetic is being "different", having to eat "different" foods and substitutes for the real thing. The recipes in this book sound really appetizing and the pictures make me want to run to the market so that I can start cooking. There are even dessert items like Double-Berry Muffins that don't call for any strange ingredients. It even gives you a choice of using a real egg or a fat-free, cholesterol-free egg product if you have a cholesterol problem. I admit I haven't read ALL the recipes yet, but of all the ones I HAVE read, the ingredients are readily available in regular supermarkets. No special trips to the health food store required. I would highly recommend this cookbook for diabetic who, like me, don't like to feel deprived and don't like to eat a lot of fake ingredients. (They give me gastric problems!)

Wonderful hardcover cookbook. Very useful information not found in any of the other diabetic cookbooks. Great recipes and I really like the illustrations. We're making the caramel cheesecake for Thanksgiving. Easy 1,2,3 system to track carb levels.

This proved to be a good choice for a teen whose mother had recently been diagnosed as diabetic. It got used.

this concept is great for working moms who want to stay in shape by counting their food points or calories. It's an oldy book goody as far as recipes go.

I have 5 little kids, but I'm either lucky or I've taught them (not sure which) to eat a variety of fresh foods. Despite having just about everything Cooking Light has published, I use this one the most (like probably 4 nights/week. It may be "dump and stir," but the meals are fresh, hot and healthy. I really, really like this book.

I am a full time college student and I also work part time... These recipes are so quick and easy... and they TASTE GREAT too!!! This cook book is my second cook book from the cooking light series...

This cookbook has some good recipes, but I didn't see any that are 5 ingredients or less which is what the title promises. Most also take longer than 15 minutes. It really wasn't what I was hoping for.

This book is great! All of the recipes I have made have been simple, quick to make, and very tasty. I am able to make healthy, high quality meals with little effort. Great for folks with busy schedules!

I LOVE the entire concept of Volumetrics... Eat as much as you want and lose weight! Seriously, we can all benefit from Volumetrics' advice -eat more fruit and vegetables, drink more water, and consume fewer fats and simple carbs. Above all else, I appreciated the gentle reminder to forive yourself when you eat things that are bad for you. We are far from perfect, and this diet (and its authors) recognizes this fact and helps us overcome our guilt and anxiety about our shortcomings.

Much useful information about choosing food while on a diet.Did you know that 1/4 cup of raisins and 1 and 2/3 cups of grapes each have about 100 calories? Obviously the grapes are much more filling and satisfying.The book also includes diet samples.

Wish I would have found this 7-8 years ago when it was first published.

I lost 65 pounds but became stuck for a year or more. This book helped me break the plateau...and I'm on the way down again!

THIS BOOK IS FABULOUS AND WELL PRICED TOO. IT GIVES WONDERFUL INFORMATION ON HOW TO CONTROL YOUR DIET WITH VOLUMES OF FOOD. I FIND IT VERY USEFUL AND THE RECIPES INSIDE ARE JUST AWESOME!!!

How can air in food make you more satisfied - make you eat less? How can it curb a tendency to be fat, or reverse a trend?

Can it? Turns out - yes.

Feed a hungry college student a half glass full of smoothie and they will eat 20% more at lunch ½ later than the college student who drinks the SAME smoothie only whipped until it swells to a full glass with air. Not only that, but the ones that eat the airy smoothie don't make it up at their next meal.

My brother, John, and my food guru, Dick, have both recommended Mindless Eating and Volumetrics to you and me. I finally read them. Actually, John recommends listening to Mindless Eating as a book on tape, so that's what I did. I recommend it.

Listen to get the fun of it and the flavor of it. Then get the book to read the summaries of what to do.

Both titles don't really work to tell you their messages. The subtitle of Volumetrics is great - Feel Full On Fewer Calories. I'd rewrite that to read - Feel Satisfied on Fewer Calories.

It's not my job to re-title these excellent books. Mindless Eating deals with how our brains are tricked to eat more than we want by other visual cues and often by genuine optical illusions.

You could summarize Volumetrics - We don't eat calories, we eat size, volume. We are stratified by greater volume and not necessarily by greater calories. Satisfied means you eat less, means you lose fat and still feel, well, satisfied.

These are not deprivation diet books. DEPRIVATION DIETS DON'T WORK. And need I say, not fun.

The two cheapest ingredients in food are water and air. Adding air or water is the simplest way to feel more satisfied with no additional calories. You read about air in the smoothie above. Soup is food with water added. Raisins are grapes with water removed.

Let's see what that does for you...


Raisins

Which is more satisfying. ¼ cup of raisins or nearly 2 cups of grapes (50 ml or 500 ml). The metric numbers makes the size difference even more startling. Exact same number of calories. Exact same food. One has water; one doesn't.

Which would you choose if you wanted to feel most satisfied?

Yep, me too.


Soup is the Free Lunch of Satisfaction

I live on good soup, not words. - Molière

Even though soup is mostly water, you and your body perceive it as food. This is very counter intuitive to me.

Proof? Give people a 270 calorie chicken-rice casserole and a glass of water as a first course to a luncheon.

Give another group the same casserole with the water added to it to make it a soup. Check both groups to see how much they ate for the rest of lunch.

The soup people ate 100 calories less of the lunch that followed and didn't make up the loss at dinner. Cool, yes! Soup created more satiety, satisfaction. Other experiments showed that chunky soup creates more satisfaction than strained soup. And hot and cold soups both create the same benefits.

You can read the physiology in the books if you're interested. But this seems like magic to me.


Bag the Peanut Butter

I over eat peanut butter; it is one of the highest density foods you can find. If I eat volume, then you have to eat a mountain of calories to get a decent volume.

If I lived alone, I would just not bring it into the house. Obviously you can use this useful tip for all your trigger foods. Since I live with the Mysterious Madame Ling, who likes peanut butter on apples, I simply put the peanut butter in a brown paper bag.

Not only is this -- Out of sight, out of mind -- it puts inconvenience into the circuit making it harder to mindlessly eat.

Note: You may be and I am on a seafood diet, I eat everything I see. Out of sight, out of mind.


OK, One Optical Illusion

People perceive tall as more than short.

Remember the optical illusion from childhood of the upside down T. They ask which is longer - the horizontal part or the vertical section.

People say the vertical is up to 20% taller when they are in fact the same length. (The illusion is so strong for me, that I got out a ruler and tested it.)

Tall thin glasses will have you drinking less wine, juice, or Coke. And again, you will feel satisfied. Remove the short squat glasses from your life, unless you want to increase your consumption of water, then the idea works in your favor. I drink water out of a Bavarian beer mug.


Action

If you have people in your family who need to monitor fat gain, get the books, read them, and then apply the tricks.

Eat well,

William

This is the best book that I have ever read! It can save your life, Patrick Quillin explains the good and bad foods to eat when you have Cancer or any other disease. He also tells you what supplements are good to take when you are fighting Cancer. His book is loaded with excellent information that is not only good for people with a disease but if you just want to be healthy. His wife has also added healthy recipes that are quick and easy to prepare. The book comes with a CD that is an added bonus, you can listen to it before you read the book! I found his book when I was fighting Cancer, I wanted a book that was more of a natural thing so I purchased his. I now use Food as my Medicine, I have had Cancer twice and Seven surgeries. The second time I got Breast Cancer I refused Chemo and did the 100% lifestyle change, Today I am a very Healthy and Happy person. My doctors are amazed that after refusing Chemo that my tumor markers are all normal. Thank you Dr. Quillin, for writing such a life saving book, Thank you from the bottom of my Heart.!

I am so thrilled to be around for my two boys and see them grow up! If you have Cancer, this is one of the most important books that you can buy. It is well worth every penny for it! I have purchased this book for friends that have Cancer. I am also thrilled that now I am writing my own book to tell you my life story!

Thank You,

Carol Knizek

Please read this book. 1 out of every 2 men, and 1 out of every 3 women, will get Cancer so we need to know how to best defend ourselves with one of the best methods we can control- diet and nutrition! If you have cancer, know someone who does, or do not want to get it, please buy this book. If you can't read well, listen to the free CD that comes in the book. As a naturalpath, it is a must read for all of my cancer clients!

I had gotten this book back in January of 2007, when my mother-in-law had colon cancer. I was the one taking care of her after her surgery and this book was very informative and very helpful. The diet that was given to my mother-in-law after surgery was terrible. Lots of canned food and hidden surgars. They wanted her to gain weight, but the way they were trying to achieve this was absolutely horrible. This book came in handy for me and I was able to change her diet completely. The only thing that she hasn't been able to give up is ice-cream, but other than that we used this book as a bible to help her get healthy.

The doctors wanted her to have kemo and radiation since her cancer marker were so high before the surgery and were still above the mark that they reccomend for treatment, but my mother-in-law decided that since her lymph nodes and all the tissure around the tumor was negative of cancer, she opted out. With diet we were able to bring her markers under the mark that they recommend treatment. I gave her the book and then recently bought another for me to have here at home. They test her blood every three months and every six she has other tests and so far she is doing remarkably well. The doctors are very impressed with her. She also is now walking about six miles a day. She says that walking really makes her feel good and she has her routine that she does, rain or shine.

Thank you Mr. Quillin for writing this book.

Out of the three books on fighting cancer with nutrition that I recently ordered, I would say that this one is the best. It is very informative and easily understandable and it also has a good variety of recipes to choose from. Also included in the back of the book is a chart listing foods that are considered the healthiest to the worst which makes selecting the healthy foods very easy.

I am now a beleiver of the approach and of the Immunopower recommended by Dr.Quillen. My husband was diagnosed with kidney cancer this past year- a total surprise to us as he was initially in the ER for a possible appendicitis scare. The kidney tumor found by accident was measured as at least .50 cm and was said to be (by a top specialist and teacher at a very excellent hospital)to be "very, very, very aggressive in nature-a Furhman grade 3 and possibly a 4" from its appearance on the CAT scan.
I had picked up this book just browsing in a local bookstore before his surgery was to be take place in a month-I figured"Why not?" and ordered the Immunopower. I was fortunate enough to have my husband agree to not only take the Immunopower, but also to follow the eating plan advocated by Dr.Quillen. The good news-the tumor was found to be smaller than initially measured causing it to be Staged at 1 B-and the best news ever-the Fuhrman grade was a 2-and the surgeon said" I am pleased and happily surprised to report that the pathology report showed the Fuhrman grade was Grade 2 and not anywhere as aggressive as I initially thought it to be". We were so fortunate in that the laproscopic surgery to remove his left kidney resulted in the surgeon being able to extract the entire tumor encased in a layer of fat.( While that was not related to Dr.Quillens work, but to some Higher Power and good fortune,) I do believe the Immunopower reduced the aggressiveness of the tumor in a very short time in this case.

Absolutely fabulous tasting meals, makes an amateur cook appear to be a master chef. My family LOVED every meal I made.

This is the cookbook for me. I am not only trying to watch what I eat it needs to be fast and simple. I fell in love with the chicken and ham pot pie, this was really a surprise as I am not a fan of pot pies. I am in the process of exploring different recipes so far they have all been great And the taste is marvelous.

I wanted to start being a bit healthier about what I was making for dinner so I bought this cookbook. It has many tastey and healthy receipes to choose from. There are breakfast, lunch, and dinner receipes included for 15, 20, 30 min. I would say this is the cookbook I use the most.

Great recipes...vegetable chili, turkey bacon cheeseburger, banana chocolate chip pancakes, and lots more "real" foods to eat and stay on the plan.

I'm always looking for healthier options for meals and this book is great for that! I've only tried a couple so far but they've been very tasty and relatively easy to prepare, even for me, a total beginner in the kitchen! They did take a little longer than the 15, 20, or 30 minutes, but that could have been because I'm kind of new at preparing meals so I'm probably slower than the average cook. I'm very happy with my purchase and plan to use it alot!

I LOVE, love, LOVE Dr. Gillian McKeith's show on BBC America and the book is just as brilliant! It is amazing to me how many people eat chips (aka: crisps), white bread, hamburgers, frozen dinners, take-out and sodas (aka: fizzy drinks) and then wonder why they don't feel well or are tired all the time. Well Duhhhh! :)

If you are looking to change your way of thinking about food and nutrition, then check out this book. It is not a "diet", it is a way of eating for life, energy and radiance from inside and out, weight loss from following this book is the dessert... so to speak.

I really enjoyed this book. After watching Gillian's tv show, I couldn't wait to get her books and start being what I eat. Her books are very helpful in determining how to correctly address different issues. One issue it helped me with was about my tongue. I had questioned a doctor about it and she simply said "that is the way you are." So to me it just confirmed that you should get an 2nd opinon when possible. So to me if you really want to learn what you are, this is a great book to have.

I've had to give friends and family my own copy so I've had to reorder several times! Very informative and easy to read!!

This is not just a book about food, its also part medical dictionary. Do you know what causes Varicose Veins? Where you get pimples is a signal for different organs that need nourishment! Do you know that your stomach uses more than one kind of digestive acid and how you combine foods is important? Did you know that your tongue showcases nutrient deficiencies? Do you know what coffee really does to your body?

If you want to get to know the food you eat and if you want to know about the human body order this book with next day delivery! After one month on the program I no longer take naps, feel exhausted and I lost a lot of fat! I'll have a six pack next month for sure!

I truly wish everyone would read this book, it is by far the best book i have ever read that concerns ones health we are truly as the book says, WE ARE WHAT WE EAT, this is truth, i wish i could thank the lady in person who wrote this book, i have stuggled with my weight the last 6years now i know why,i am struggling no more this book has helped me immensly all i have to say PLEASE BUY THE BOOK you will not regret it Ruth from Alaska

If you're interested in low carb eating, this book is for you. Informative & easy to read.

I bought this book several years ago when I was stalled on the Atkins diet. It's a life saver, and explains in clear words what's happening on the low carb diet to your body. I give it as a gift to my serious low carb friends, as it continues to help me on a regular basis. Bravo to Dana Carpender for looking at low carb dieting from an intelligent viewpoint!

I am new to low carbing, and loving it! And this book made all the difference. I tried to plod through the Atkins book, but Dana makes low-carbing so clear and easy. I love being able to use her examples and analogies when other people make assumptions about low-carb eating.
Her great sense of humor is evident throughout, and lightness of her approach makes it seem like I can achieve this. Her breezy but thorough book makes me feel like I have another friend along for the ride.

Disclaimer: I have not read this book. I read the part that was available here online, and everything I read appears to agree with a good low-carb diet. I just have a book that is much better researched and explains things a little more in dept than this book seems to. It is called "Natural Health and Weight Loss" by Barry Groves. I was very impressed by that book. I bring this up because, in the part of Carpenter's book I read, she talks about Banting and his low carb diet back 150 years ago. She made the point that he was so fat he had to walk downstairs backward or he would "fall over". Not quite true. Actually, he walked backward because it was easier on his knees. He was about 300 lbs. Anyway, that little thing made me think you'd all be better off reading a book with a little more research put into it. Research from numerous scientific studies, not just Atkins books, etc. Go for low carb, I love it, but read Groves' book.

I've been trying to do low carb for years. Lost 75 pounds when I first tried Atkins. But surgery, a full time job, and someone else cooking for me have caused me to gain back 30 pounds. I am not following a low carb diet closely enough, sometimes not at all. But a recent diagnosis of diabetes has me trying again. Still have the full time job, and someone else still cooks for me. You'd think that would make it easier but she simply won't cook what I want and I have to be more determined in my efforts. This book really explained all the low carb chemistry, explained all the different way to do low carb by giving variations of the diet. I feel inspired to make my voice heard and eat the foods that are good for me.