Dieting Books

Many people that are overweight are eating for reasons other than hunger. This book helps you recognize when and why you eat while providing you with the tools necessary to break old habits and create healthy and new ones.

Losing weight while hard, is nothing compared to keeping it off. I've been at my healthy weight for three years, yet my relationship with food is not exactly what I desire. I picked this book up last week (after Thanksgiving) as an experiment to help me deal with a "high risk" situation I was facing. It worked!

Many authors talk about emotional eating triggers and offer suggestions for alternate activities. Spangle describes triggers not only by their emotions and adds their associated food preferences. She differentiates HEAD HUNGER from HEART HUNGER primarily so that you can tailor your "instead" activities to the specific need you are feeling. One can do this by spending time thinking about one's emotions OR one can take a shortcut by looking at the foods you are desiring. She really has me nailed here.
BRIEFLY:
Head Hunger = anger, frustration, resentment = specific desire for chewy or crunchy foods = instead activity of exercise/movement
Heart Hunger = "empty" emotions of sadness, loneliness, boredom = desire for something but often not sure what or soft, creamy foods = instead activity of soothing oneself (bath, sleep, candles & relaxation)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I am a personal trainer and have purchased half a dozen of these for my clients to help them identify their reasons for why they eat when they are not hungry. The book has steps toward identifying emotional eating and then reducing and eliminating destructive patterns. I'd recommend the book.

My twin sister gave me a copy of the book "Life is Hard Food is Easy" a couple of years ago. This summer I finally had the chance to read it and I wish I had done so years ago. While I don't currently have a problem with emotional eating, I can tell that I did in the past. I am currently on a weight loss regimen and succeeding little by little. I know that the suggestions in this book will help me not only with the continued weight loss, but also with other areas of life.

One of the pieces of advice that stuck with me the most is to think of overweight/obesity as a condition that must be managed throughout life. This book has many practical suggestions that will help you succeed in managing your condition. I am grateful to Linda Spangle for sharing her story and for having the courage to give us a different view of the weight loss puzzle.

I am not even close to finishing this book and I already love it. It is nice to read about people who have been through the same things as I have. The tips and suggestions are not at all overwhelming and the book provides a very positive outlook for the future. If you are at all experiencing emotional eating for any reason, I would definitely give this book a try. Well worth it!

This book is very well organized. There is SO much information in this one book. I look forward to preparing some of these dishes. Generally, I find raw food recipes complicated, but worth it in the end. This author certainly knows her stuff and is not afraid to preach. That does not turn me off, however. I plan to read it from cover to cover!

My background is that I'm a great cook and I love creating and trying brilliant new recipes. I'm not a vegetarian or even a raw foodie just yet, but want to understand the full spectrum of delicious foods that life can offer. Living Cuisine is a must have book for any true food lover!

I have bought several other raw books (Raw Food/Real World, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, Carol Alt's The Raw 50, and more) and they were all good. I do recommend them as well.

BUT!

If you can buy ONE book, this is the one. Living Cuisine is absolutely amazing. The recipes are excellent. There is more information packed into this book than I've seen in ANY cookbook, and trust me, I have TONS of cookbooks of all kinds. She interestingly informs on types of food, ways of cooking, tools, techniques, and more ingredients than I've ever heard of.

I was very impressed by the ingredient list. So many kinds of foods, with info about their flavors, origins, methods of cooking them. This includes seasonings, sweeteners, and anything that creates flavor. In fact, she goes into detail about flavor groups and how to mix and use them.

I could go on. Just know that I can't say enough about how much I love this book. Please enjoy!

This is a fantastic book. I just got it moments ago, but I'm so anxious to pour over its amazing recipes! The inspirational saying in the front has me hooked. This book is PERFECT for beginners, the raw-curious and those that need more raw recipes for their collection. Give it a read!! You will love it!

I was very impressed with the information in the first half of the book. I learned a lot of useful tips to help in the raw foods diet. I only gave it 4 stars because I was disappointed in the recipes, the majority of which use soy products. The fact that many of the recipes involve steaming makes it perfect for someone transitioning or dealing with a compromised digestive system, but it is not 100% raw.

Living Cuisine provides a great education on the raw food way of life. It is one cookbook that you will actually read. The recipes are definitely at the gourmet end of the raw food spectrum. I would highly recommend this book for individuals moving from a novice to advanced raw food diet. The book uses advanced preparation techniques and the recipes require extensive ingredients, many are hard to find.

While an intriguing read, this is not a good first book for those just starting a raw food way of life.

During the process of losing 54 pounds, I began reading "Thin for Life" on the recommendation of a friend. First, this book is not a quick fix for anyone trying to lose weight. If you're a couch potato who is looking for a magic formula for weight loss, look somewhere else. What it is, however, is a sure-fire confidence builder, especially for those of us who have continuously lost weight and then gained it back. I can't count the number of times I've joined groups like Weight Watchers or TOPS and lost weight, only to pile it back on again (and then some) a few months later.

That's why this book is so helpful - it gave me the motivation and confidence I needed to not only lose the weight, but KEEP IT OFF! I didn't read it all in one sitting - instead, I would read a little bit before I went to bed each night and let it sink in. Knowing other people had kept off this weight - and reading about their successes and setbacks - helped keep me going. I've read it through once already, but because I know how much it has helped me, I am planning on reading through it again. It sits by my bed as a constant reminder of the pounds I've managed to lose and the vigilance I must continue to keep on with my success.

This book puts everything I have learned into one body. It is optimistic and encouraging. There really is hope. I have been well on my "weigh" so the book just topped off my efforts. Everyone who hopes to take weight off and keep it off can benefit from collective thinking that this book is.

The good: The advice here from successful weight-losers is wide-ranging, generally useful, and presented in context so that you know something about the person's weight history and particular circumstances. Not all of it is going to be useful for any particular person, of course, but the perspective of successful people is, as another reviewer remarked, like gold.

The bad: About half the book (scattered throughout plus a section at the back) consists of the author's own weight-loss advice and diet program. This is very much oriented toward fat-as-dietary-demon. If you're using a high-protein/low carbohydrate approach, this part obviously won't be applicable for you; if you're following a conventional low-fat/limited-protein/high-carbohydrate diet, you'll find it more useful. HOWEVER...

The ugly: Be careful about the particulars of the diet advice here. The book advises use of margarine instead of butter in the meal plans, which was conventional thinking in 1994 (when the first edition was published) but is inexcusable in a book published in 2003. The author recommends using sweet snacks such as jelly beans, licorice, marshmallows, etc., and says "Sugar and low-fat sweets per se don't concern me too much as a dietician" so long as they don't contain fat. Sugar candy may have zero fat but that doesn't make it a good thing to encourage people to snack on. A dietician writing in 2003 should know better.

Summary: by all means read the book, but get it for the stories of the "masters", not the diet advice. Just about all of the "masters" had at least one thing to say that I found useful and insightful.

This book was suggested by my dietitian. I have been impressed with the level of research and authority contained in the book. It is reassuring to see the process that I am going through is the same thing experienced by others and that they were, and remain, successful in their weight loss. I highly recommend this book and consider it a "must have" for anyone who is serious and committed to changing their lives through weight loss.

I like this book. I don't love it. It has interesting mini-stories about people who lost weight and kept it off, just like the title states, but doesn't go into great detail.

I expected MORE from Earthbound Farms. This cookbook was nothing special. The recipes are mediocre and short in number. I expected more emphasis on the FRUITS and VEGGIES. I felt it was overpriced for what it contained. It might be good for "beginners", but contains little for real produce lovers! Also, I thought it would contain more vegetarian recipes. This had nothing more than any other good general cookbook. There are better cookbooks out there. Pass on this one!

Bought this as a gift for someone and everything she has made from it, has been great. Thus far, up to 5 different recipes. They're all different and she has shared them w/me and they are really incredible! Not just for those wanting organice food.

My family bought me this book a few years ago when I was vegan- I think they must have just assumed it was a vegan cookbook. Anyway, it sat on my shelf for a while until I recently decided to start using it.

The recipes are easy to understand, and the pictures of the food are great, but the ratios seem off to me. I made the fruit crumble and the ratatouille and in both cases the vegetable/fruit part seemed to overwhelm the rest of the dish: the crumble part of the fruit crumble should have been doubled, and the veggie part of the ratatouille made enough for *at least* twice as much pasta.

The various ingredient dictionary is nice, and now that I know I need to doctor the fruit crumble recipe, I'll probably make it again, but this book will certainly not become a kitchen staple, no would I encourage people to go out of their way to obtain a copy. If it magically appears in your possession however, don't take the recipes too literally.

I have just recently begun purchasing organic fruits, vegetables, snack items and dairy for my household. When I saw this cookbook I figured I would try it to see how it measures up to others. So far every recipe I have made has been UNBELIEVABLY great!!! They are easy to follow, you would think you are a gourmet chef. The ingredients for the recipes are not too far removed from your local store or farm market. I love that there is a story behind the Earthbound Farm to tell and that the sidebars are explanatory for certain foods and that there are also pages dedicated to explaining different vegetables (i.e. lettuce- who knew there were SO many varieties!) I would recommend this book to a novice cook and a seasoned one.

The author extols the virtues of organic produce. In addition, the book is critical of toxic pesticides, conservation through elimination of toxic pesticides and and avoidance of synthetic fertilizers. A sample crop rotation regimen is depicted.

Organic food preparation is discussed in detail. i.e.
o raspberry scones
o summer harvest soup
o sweet corn chowder
o ginger carrot soup
o iced ginger melon soup and many others

This is an excellent work for organic food enthusiasts.

I have had rheumatoid arthritis in my hips and knees since I was three (3) years of age and never outgrew it. Over the years, I have tried countless remedies ranging from aspirin, Naprosyn and Celebrex. Nothing reduced the pain and swelling in my joints and the medication wreaked havoc on my digestive tract.

Approximately, a year and a half ago, my personal trainer recommeded his acupuncturist after I could no longer run and could barely walk. The heat, stiffness and swelling in my knees and hips had become unbearable.

After a thorough initial consultation, which revealed my diet consisted largely of "nightshade vegetables" and dairy, my acupuncturist recommended Challem's book. Since reading it and following suggested changes in my diet and adding natural supplements, I have been without arthritic pain and pharmaceutical drugs for a year and a half. It's amazing what detrimental effects processed food and pharmaceutical drugs have on a person's health. I have recommended and given copies of this book as gifts for those whom I care about and are also suffering from some degree of inflammation. Thank you Jack Challem - and to hell with my doctors and Rheumatologists who are brainwashed and dependant on this country's pharmaceutical industry.

I have read several books on health and diet and this is one of the best practical books I have found.

Jack Challem is an exceptional nutritionist who provides common sense advice for reducing inflammation, eating right and feeling great. It explains in wonderful detail where aches and pains come from and how to minimize them. It also addresses diseases such as cancer and how to minimize your risk of getting them by eating right and taking the right suppliments.

The Inflammation Syndrome reinforced much of the knowledge about healthy eating right that I already knew. It also provided me with new insights that lead a more pain free life.

Challem makes excellent food recommendation such as eating more salmon and halibut. He also encourages increasing intake of Vitamins C & E, Omega 3 fatty acids, green tea and flax seed. He discusses the benefits of Green Tea, Olive oil, and more.

Overall a great book for anyone serious about eating right and feeling great!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

Stop Prediabetes Now: The Ultimate Plan to Lose Weight and Prevent Diabetes

The book itself is very informative and easy to understand. It goes a long way in trying to educate a population that health begins at the cellular level and with some knowledge, health is still within our reach. Poor health can be turned around.

The delivery time was quick....I appreciate that.

I've had asthma all my life - luckily it has been fairly well-controlled throughout adulthood. That is until I was unknowingly exposed to mold in my home. Even though the mold was remediated, I continued to experience severe, persistent asthma for over four months. I was referred to a pulmonologist and put on high doses of various types of asthma medication. I had a minimal amount of relief with these medications and still had to use a nebulizer two or three times a day.

I realized this was no way to live my life and started looking for other solutions. Thank goodness I came across Mr. Challem's book - after only one month of following his recommendations of the basic supplements (vitamin C, E, and fish oil) - I have found relief! I have not had to use my nebulizer in a week. I want to ease into the nutritional program because it will be a big change for me, but I can only imagine how great I'm going to feel after once it is implemented.

Take back control of your life, instead of letting your body do it for you!

I bought this book because I have fibromyalgia and the only thing that showed up abnormal on my tests was "inflammation". This book helped me understand what was causing my pain and the supplements to take to reduce the inflamation. I have used the suggestions in this book and Meggs' book to reduce my pain.

If you're ready to stop dieting and lose weight, this is the book for you. THis books is not a quick weight loss program but a sure weight loss program. You relearn how to eat and enjoy the food you're eating more. You take the time to release your negative eating habits in one week. You reshape yourself by fitting the program into your lifestyle and that makes it easier to attain your goal weight. You find out how to maintain your weight without couting every cornflake. If you are looking for a way out of the diet spiral, this is the book for you.

I didn't really like this book. I watch her on the Today show and think she is informative, but the book missed the mark. It's too complicated for most lifestyles and there should be calorie counts for the recipes. Really wasn't anything I wanted to follow although her principles are sound.

This is a perfectly sensible diet. It is not a fad diet like many that pop up regularly. Joy's Life Diet sticks to the basics of sensible eating and therefore is not much different than many other diet books that promote a similar "eat a variety of foods and include exercise" message.

So in order to stand out from the crowd, a new book on the scene must offer something compelling... like a colorful layout, photos of food, easy to read lists of good foods vs bad foods, that sort of thing. This book falls down in that regard. Yes, there are lists of foods to avoid and foods that you can eat unlimited amounts of, but the presentation of those lists is just plain boring. In a nutshell, the book has poor presentation of the important information that you need to know. Don't get me wrong, the information is there, it's just not presented in a way that is particularly interesting.

What I really love about this book though is the day by day recipies that are provided. This is a HUGELY important feature that distinguishes this book from many others. The trick to sticking to a diet is being able to eat the right foods in the right quantities and if you have a carefully thought out daily regimine of recipies, it makes your job much easier. You are able to shop for the right kinds of foods a couple times a week and easily prepare the meals you need, to let the diet work it's magic. Sprinkle in the necessary exercise that is essential for success and you've got a good plan in place.

I also found it encouraging to read the numerous success stories of people who have had great success losing weight following the guidelines in this diet that are interspersed throughout the book.

Overall, this diet does not really present anything new and the presentation of information is lacking in originality so I lower my rating because of that. However the included daily recipies are extremely helpful as are the success stories. For me, it's a "3", meaning OK, average.

I am just starting my diet so the review will start with an overview of the book from my reading. As I have more experience with the program, I will revise the review to reflect my experience.

There is nothing freaky or gimmicky in this diet -- no alternating fasting and feasting, no requirements to eat some "magic" ingredient with every meal -- and it seems nutritionally sound. A person who faithfully follows this program will almost certainly lose weight, assuming no metabolic abnormalities. There are examples in the book of people who lost significant amounts of weight. But the test of any diet program is whether it is something you can stick with for the long term and that is often a matter of individual preference.

This program is divided into four steps: Release, Relearn, Reshape and Reveal. Step One, Release, lasts one week and is pretty severe. It is intended to break destructive food habits, in particular sugars. There are no added sweeteners, natural or artificial at all this week. That means no diet soda and no sweeteners in your coffee or tea. Even fruits are more limited during this week. It is cold turkey withdrawal from sweet things. Scary. On the plus side, you won't be hungry during this week if you eat all the vegetables that are prescribed or allowed. There is a list of non-starchy vegetables you are allowed to eat in unlimited quantities. In addition, the dinner meal begins with a LIFE Dinner Salad or 2 cups of LIFE Veggie Soup. Men and active women may eat unlimited portions of lean proteins at meals but there is no starch at dinner.

Step Two, Relearn, lasts two weeks and adds more foods, including up to 2 items with artificial sweetener each day. Other additions are the option to each a prepared frozen meal for dinner (with either the salad or soup), more foods added to the approved list, and a daily 150 calorie healthy treat from an approved list (including wine and light beer). These "Healthy Extras" should be enough of a treat to keep a dieter from going off the rails and eating really unhealthy snacks or desserts. The program for these two weeks is still fairly strict, but much more flexible than the first week. After the severity of the first week, it should seem like a dream.

Step Three, Reshape, lasts until you reach your goal weight - or as long as you need it to. This is the program for the long haul and, thankfully, it has much more flexibility than even Step Two. At long last starches (in portion controlled amounts, of course) are allowed at dinner and because of this you can substitute any lunch or dinner menu suggestion for a dinner meal. And it is no longer mandatory to have either the LIFE Dinner Salad or LIFE Veggie Soup at the beginning of every dinner. There are a few more food options in the various categories. Most importantly, the daily 150 calorie LIFE Extra can now be used for whatever you want so you can have a taste of dessert or anything else you want. Unfortunately for diet soda lovers the 2 item artificial sweetener limit remains. This stage of the program seems to have the flexibility to stay on for as long as needed to lose the weight.

Step Four, Reveal, is for maintenance to keep from gaining weight back. This part of the book is the shortest. One of the main features is the ability to "bank" the daily LIFE Extras to use all at one time or a couple times a week for special occasions.

There is a chapter on exercise and one with answers to frequently asked questions.

Joy's Life Diet takes you through a four step process that other ordinary people from around the country have used to lose weight each through diet and exercise. Nice easy to follow step-by-step eating plan with food choices and recipes to choose from. The author offer more of a correction of eating habits that will reward you for eating healthy without feeling as if you are starving yourself in the process. This book guides you day by day with good food groupings and are not boring or repeating in nature.

Years ago when Susan Powter first came out... the book with the workout tape, etc. I bought it. I had knee surgery & during my recovery time had packed on the pounds. I knew the basics of weightloss but was still unsure of the details. How many calories are too many? You know the deal. The workout tape was great because it wasn't high impact, it worked for my recovered knee. The basics of her diet were easy to understand & easy to work into my daily life. I could easily go through a supermarket & look at the nutritional list & decide if it was ok or not without a calculator, book, cheat sheet, etc. I am horrible at math so this was quite an accomplishment. I've recently bought some of the newer diet books, the ones that focus on the mentality & emotional parts of weight gain & quite frankly been bored silly. Susan Powter did have a lot of hype, etc. but you know what? She was alive & fun & didn't bore me silly & made it very easy to understand. She also makes it clear that you do what you can do. Can't follow an excersize video because you are too large or have a bad joint, then modify it & do what you can because something is better then nothing. You can tweak the diet, it's not an exact science but it gives you a place to start. I should add, that I lost over 30 pounds and her way of watching what you eat & working out was the only one that worked for me.

Great motivator although I got really tired of the ex-husband bashing. Also, there are some serious oversights on her part. Go ahead and eat all the bagels you want. If it works for you, congratulations. I wonder what new spin she'll put on this stuff for her latest get rich scheme.

In this lively, chatty book, Susan Powter is absolutely inspirational. She offers hope for overweight people who are fed up with diets that don't work, who don't know how to start exercising, and who love to eat.

It's not without its flaws. Her breathing advice, for example, will cause useless and possibly dangerous hyperventilation. The Buteyko Breathing method (not in Powter's book) refutes her theory there, and I'd recommend looking into Buteyko, if you agree that breathing right is part of a healthy lifestyle.

But what's really useful about her book is the attitude. Get out and exercise, and quit eating refined, fatty garbage. She makes diet and exercise fun, interesting, and enticing.

The most intriguing part of her diet is the Powter food pyramid: heavy on complex carbohydrates and drastically low on fats and sugars. Readers are urged to enjoy whole grains and legumes: not bad advice. The very nearly vegetarian mix of foods in her diet really is low fat and very satisfying. I think most people following her diet suggestions will lose weight, but mostly they will be healthier. She doesn't say it, but the high fiber alone will bring enormous benefits to heart and digestive health.

The exercise regimen is totally doable, and I personally have found that her simple prescription of walking is extremely easy and effective.

Readers are urged to make a lifestyle change, and that is the most realistic advice overweight people need to get. I found the book a refreshing alternative to gimmicky diets.

I know she's not a doctor, but she's a former overweight gal, once stuck in a state of depression, who pulled herself out of the funk and offers us a pretty darn good way to take charge of our health. That's good enough for me.

Susan Powter is wonderful in her positive expression of her seething vicious angry hatred of her ex-husband. Who could ask for a more insanely bifurcated message?

Like every other diet book out there: her argument boils down to:

Eat right
Exercise

She's a hypocrite. She goes on and on about how evil the diet industry is and how she's one of us because she was once fat. Fine: great. But half her arguements I'm not buying: No one fact checks books anymore.

Also, the book is still fixated on fat. Recently, we learned that it isn't just fat that makes us fat. Look at a bag of sugar: if I eat that, will I not gain a pound? It's fat free...

Great Susan: how do we stop the insanity? First: EAT WHATEVER YOU WANT (as long as it's health food)
Second: EXERCISE
Third: BREATHE (I think this is just filler cuz she didn't have anything else to offer).

Instead of starving ourselves, we're to go to a chart of how many calories we're to expend a day. That's still cutting calories.

Also, lumping OA into the diet industry is wrong: it's not for profit. Taking people out for a walk instead of going to an OA meeting is like taking raging alcoholics out for coffee instead of attending an AA meeting. A temporary solution to an underlying problem. Didn't susan later have some sort of substance abuse problem too? Methinks the lady doth protest too much...

She's gotten all her little droogs to write raving comentaries on her book: but who the hell has heard of Susan Powter in the last 10 years. NO ONE!! SA's a flash in the pan.


Here's the scoop: eat right and exercise. Now pay me a billion dollars cuz I'm telling you "the truth."

This is the book I lost weight with. I call a plan "easy" when you don't have to think about what to have for 2 of your meals. I need to know, so I don't start eating just anything because I'm hungry. With a good blender, these shakes turn to ice cream. There are plenty of recipes for the shakes. You don't have to have anything from Herbalife. This is the way without Herbalife. (I have nothing against it, but who can afford it?) So two shakes a day - sound familiar? What's different is, with the correct amount of protein, there is no hunger. They help you figure it out. Then, a typical high protein 3rd meal. Keep busy, and you'll lose. I did. Work out. There is enough protein here for building muscle. I guess I'd recommend this diet to anyone who has a little or moderate amount to lose. It does get boring after awhile.

Brilliant book for all of you who are concerned about your health and how to stay healthy in such a common sense and easy way. It's all about protein and I give Dr. David Heber my full house of stars!

This is an amazing book. After years of hearing so many conflicting reports abut diets - high carb - no carb - atkins etc... It was fantastic to have someone explain in plain English how your body reacts to different foods and how you can live a healthy life by making just a few subtle changes.

I've read some of the other reviews on this book and am a bit annoyed with most of the negative one.

Before answering the negative comments, let me say that I've been following the diet for 7 weeks and have lost 20 pounds. The thing I like best about it is that it's the ONLY diet I've found that allows me to eat the quantity of food I'm eating, and still keep my calorie count at about 1350. I love having a full plate and a full tummy. With this way of eating I get full at all 3 meals, have 3 snacks during the day, and am still able to lose weight. On Atkins I got full, and my lipids and sugar were great, but I didn't lose much weight because my calorie count was too high. On Weight Watchers I was always hungry, because I invested too many of my points in refined carbs and grains. This works for me.

I'm planning to use Dr. Heber's earlier book "What color is your diet," for maintenance. I have my physician's enthusiastic blessing for both.

BTW - I have no cravings. I'm easily able to say no to candy, chips, cake, cookies, etc. My pre-diabetic metabolism is loving this!

Here's a typical day's menu for me:

Breakfast: Shake made with 1C skim milk, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/2 a banana and 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries.

Lunch: Salad made with 3 C romaine lettuce, 1/2 a cucumber, a 1/4 of an avocado and 3 oz of roast chicken.

Dinner: 4 oz lean ground turkey burger smothered with sauteed onions and mushrooms, 2 C pureed cauliflower (a la Atkins), 1 cup thinly sliced butternut squash sauteed in a small amount of olive oil

snacks/dessert: 1 C non-fat cottage cheese with 1/2 c pineapple; 1 clementine orange; 1 c watermelon; 1/2 cup blueberries with 1 T low-fat coolwhip.

All this runs about 1350 calories, with 140g of protein (1 gram for every pound of lean body mass I have), and is about 20% fat. A smaller person, with less lean body mass, should be able to eat closer to 100 g of protein and still get all of the fruits and vegetables in, for fewer calories.

My reaction to other comments about the book:

1. I read the book cover to cover and (unless I missed it somewhere) I didn't see the name "Hebalife" anywhere in it. It does NOT promote any particular brand of protein powder. It does suggested using "flavored" shake mix (vanilla or chocolate), but I ended up getting plain unflavored protein powder (Genisoy) that I could mix with skim milk. If I want chocolate I add a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa for 15 calories. For the person who said the shakes taste horrible, well, for goodness sake, try a different brand, and be sure to add some fruit!

2. How can anyone say this is not a healthy diet? You end up eating a huge amount of fruits and vegetables, healthy added fats like olive oil and avocado, and lean protein. No one needs grains in their diet. They're just not necessary. I use a computer-based program (fitday.com) to keep track of my calories/carbs/fat/protein and 32 different nutrients. I consistently take in well over 100% of the RDA's for all nutrients (except vitamin D, but you get that from sunshine too), without taking any supplements. And I get about 30 grams of fiber a day.

4. Even some of the people who said they liked the diet didn't seem to be really following it. A nutrition bar for lunch and a reasonable dinner? That's not what this diet is about. You're supposed to eat from all 7 colors of fruits and vegetables every day. You can't get them in if you don't eat them at every meal and for snacks. Nutrition bars are not recommended in this diet. Have a huge salad with meat instead!

If you follow the diet the way it's laid out, it's very healthy and satisfying. But like any diet, if you stop eating that way and go back to eating the way you ate before, yes, you're going to gain the weight back. That's how you got fat in the first place!

I discovered "parts" of this diet through my brother (who distriubutes some of the products) and will never look back.

My primary objective was not to lose weight but to find something affordable, convenient and healthy for the average single working guy... instead I got a whole lot more...

1. I no longer suffer from the intestinal cramps that have sometimes kept me off from work for the last 6 years.

2. I no longer yawn at work

3. I sleep better

4. I am more focused and attentive.

5. I have lost fat and gained lean muscle.

6. The longer I'm on it the more I enjoy it.

7. I no longer crave cokes or energades because my sugar levels are consistent throughout the day (saving me even more money)

8. I now hardly ever have a headache at the end of a working day.

9. I feel great.

10. It is simple to stick to (the results encourage you so much).

I am a physician and recommend this book to my patient's. Dr. Willett is well known in the medical community as the premiere researcher on nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. This book is doubly valuable because it contains easy recipes for the reader. A must read for anyone trying to fight nature's course of yearly weight gain.

Those looking for a magic cure for weight loss, keep looking because there is none. If you want some sensible advice and delicious, healthy recipes, this book has that. I will not be able to follow the 21-day diet to the letter of the law because I work outside my home and can't do all of the meal preparation, etc., but just the simple advice to exercise at least 30 minutes a day has meant more muscle definition in a short period of time. The recipes I've made have been delicious and healthy (Madras vegetable curry, 3-bean chili, roasted tomatoes).

I feel compelled to respond to some of the reviews, especially the bizzare complaint that the recipes are "not vegetarian." There are a number of vegetarian recipes (including the 3 I just mentioned) and the authors also suggest using vegetable stock instead of the standard chicken stock in recipes. Maybe the person meant the recipes are not solely vegetarian? Also, someone complained that the 9-point plan is "full of obvious things we already knew." I wonder how much that person exercises on a daily basis. It's one thing to know you should be doing something and it's another thing to feel motivated enough to actually do it. I see lots of fat people daily, and I'm sure most Americans could use that advice, even if they "know it already."

I am really enjoying this book. Have been implementing many of the ideas into my families meals. I have notice considerably more energy since changing to this way of eating. Highly recommand this book. The book was referred to me from my doctor and at the first I was hesitant about change and what would my family think, will they like it or totally say no. But they are enjoying the new way of eating as much as I am. Extremely easy to follow and understand. We live in a small community and I am able to shop locally for all ingredients.

I really have enjoyed the eating plan suggested in this book. I feel nourished and satisfied and have successfully started to lose weight. More importantly, my family is eating more fruits and vegetables than ever before. My six year old son has eaten almost everything he has tried and my very picky four year old daughter has sampled (although not relished) some foods she had previously never considered trying. I don't feel hungry and often times I am shocked by the huge amount of food on my plate when I sit down for a meal.

The fact that eating this way is very time consuming is the only thing stopping me from giving the book 5 stars. I do consider myself a foodie and I like fruits and veggies, but I never realized how much I fall back on processed food on nights that I get home late from work, or don't feel like cooking. Since being on the 21-day eating plan, I feel like I am always in the kitchen, either preparing the evening meal or getting things ready for the next day. Not to mention the clean up! I think it will become easier as I learn more shortcuts, and Ms. Katzen does try to give hints to make prep and clean up quicker, but I seem to have much less free time since I have been on the eating plan.

Overall, even with the extensive amount of food preparation, I believe this plan works. I want to eat this way for the rest of my life.

A new twist on dieting allowing you to be both vegetarian and a carnivore. No wierd foods, no huge prep times, well balanced and fairly easy to follow and the food won't cosat a fortune.

Having bought Extreme Lo-Carb Meals To Go, I thought I'd try this one for meals that are less "to go." I am thrilled with the book. All recipes contain 10 carbs or less which keeps my blood sugar so stable! Like Meals To Go, this cookbook also has a great set up to include:

1. Great Snacks - I need to eat 6 times a day to keep my blood sugar stable. I need snacks. Sharon Long gives a section of snack recipes. Some are the same as in the To Go cookbook, but nat too many, Plenty of new ideas.

2. Set Up - The book is split into sections for snacks, breakfast, main courses with different meats having different sections, vegetables and desserts. There are shopping list, smaple menus, sugar conversion tables, substitution lists and other indexes at the end. I found the book to be very user friendly.

4. Nutritional Info - This is so very important to me in a cookbook. At the end of each recipe there was detailed nutrition info and the substitution to make the recipe low fat with that nutritional breakdown as well.

I highly recommend any of Sharon's books for those following a carb controlled diet.

This cookbook has very nice low carb recipes, but you'll be wanting to
cut out the sucralose / splenda in dry powedered form. Splenda contains
dextrose and maltodextrin, and the sucralose is third on the list. This
will raise your blood glucose, so it may be best to use your meter to check how it affects you if you use this ingredient.

I haven't actually made anything from this cookbook! I either cannot find the ingredients or I would never use them. I'm not into using of a lot of fat in my cooking even though on the Atkins diet it's not a big deal. I'm just not going to use it and that renders most of the book useless to me. It's a very well written book and if you don't have a problem with what I've listed above then you will enjoy it very much.

THIS PRODUCT WAS JUST WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR , AND AT A GREAT PRICE

I bought this book because of good reviews, BUT when I finally had a chance to read the book and check out the recipes, I was highly disappointed. The author listed ingredients, a sweetener, that is not readily available.

By reading a recipe and its ingredients, I can normally tell whether the dish is going to be good, with this cookbook, I just don't see it.

I've tried the Lemon custard, it was unedible!