Oct
31
Losing It False Hopes and Fat Profits in the Diet Industry
A reformed dieter and an exbulimic, Laura Fraser traces our fixation with thinness to the images that began appearing a hundred years ago in magazines like Ladies Home Journal and Cosmopolitan. Fraser chronicles the corresponding growth of a $50 billion a year industry that provides false hope in exchange for cash. In this meticulously researched journey through Dietland, Fraser gives the inside scoop on:
Diet drugs, including the controversial phen/fen
Diet gurus Richard Simmons, Susan Powter, and Dean Ornish
Commercial weight loss centers, including Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers
Weightloss products like thigh creams and diet cookies
Provocative, political, and personal, this revealing book is a remarkable work of investigative journalism and an enthralling, compelling story with almost universal relevance.
The hardcover edition of Losing It received major television coverage, including appearances on “NBC Nightly News,” the “Today” show, “Home and Family,” and “Good Day New York.” Excerpts of Losing It and related articles by Laura Fraser appeared in Mirabella, Vogue, Glamour, Fitness, Good Housekeeping, Self, Mademoiselle, and Health.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Factually Incorrect
I have yet to finish reading this book; however I was incensed when I came across a glearing inaccuracy on page 101. This says tons against this ‘writer’ who obviously did NOT do her homework when writing this book.
It is very hard to find credibility in a book which lacks a factual background.
Further -
Calling Paul Raford a ‘..public health specialist..” is like calling your family doctor a public health specialist. Dr Raford had written nothing on diet pills before the Wyden hearings. His critique was seriously flawed and poorly written.
Incidentally aspirin has far more adverse effects and overdoses per doses consumed than diet pills ever have. Ms Fraser implies that all overdoses were from PPA. Far from it. A lot more attention should have been paid to products like ephedra way back then!
Sure the diet industry is not perfect. I am horrified at how the public accepts new diets that come on the market; but I am also disappointed with writers who go to the trouble to write a book yet make little effort to check their facts.
4 Stars Just Finished Losing It
She covers nearly everything, doesn’t talk much about Type II diabetes, doesn’t cover liposuction at all, and she DOES say that losing weight is deleterious to your health (directly negating what a previous reviewer wrote). She talks about dieting causing more fat to be layered on when it fails, but also about how dieting to lose weight actually kills the heart muscle, and can cause heart attacks (John Candy is cited). Her thing is not that it is unhealthy to “lose weight if you are meant to once you start eating healthy and exercising regularly”, but that repetitively starving the body’s muscles and other tissues is simply bad for your health. She says some people will stay round and plump looking even when eating normally (i.e., not overeating all the time, not undereating all the time, but eating till your satisfied and knowing when you are hungry.)
What I really liked was that she talks about the healthfulness of eating plenty of nutritious calories and getting plenty of exercise, as in “eat your veggies and then go outside and play.” Seems so commonsensical, but most of us would rather wait for a pill to solve our problems and to do it fast. We would rather change to fit society than tell society to start accepting ALL sorts of bodies and types. Probably, because this is the USA, we will never get around to letting go of our puritanical viewpoints (part of which is denying the self=godlike), and we will continue to be thrown an onslaught of thin, plastic surgery girls to look at in the media. The only way we can stop feeling bad about ourselves is probably to just get over it and live our lives to the fullest.
I like what she says about living.
5 Stars Wake-up America!
The book goes behind the closed doors of the diet industry and reveals what’s really going on in the world of dieting. This book really is a wake-up call to all those who have fallen into the American diet trap. I was astonished at some of the tricks and gimmicks used by the diet industry! The book even gives some steps to becoming a healthy eater by relying on yourself, rather than following someone else’s diet.
5 Stars Freedom from Guilt!
Fraser traces the history of what’s been considered acceptable weight (surprise, it hasn’t always been the Kate Moss figure), as well as debunking all those “diet gurus” out there. Goodbye Richard Simmons, Weight Watchers and Susan Powter! She presents all the negatives associated with gastic bypass (not only do they fail, but they bring about huge health problems). Finally, she offers guidelines on how to live DIET FREE! Yes, she actually promotes how to just eat normally (who’s have thought?). BUY THIS BOOK, you will not regret it!
5 Stars An excellent read for anybody
As a fat person, I was particularly interested in this book and it did not disappoint me. The author’s engaging style and thorough research draw in the reader and make this book a quick read. I was convinced after reading this book that weight loss surgery would be the absolute worst thing for me and that I should concentrate on living an active life and enjoying myself instead of going on yet another frustrating and difficult diet. There is no “quick and easy answer” to weight loss, which is amply illustrated by this book.
Oct
31
The 12 Second Sequence Shrink Your Waist in 2 Weeks
The 12-Second Sequence™ is fitness superstar Jorge Cruise’s newest revolutionary method of resistance training that burns fat, shrinks your waistline, and gets you into the best shape of your life—and all it takes is two twenty-minute workouts each week. Based on the latest groundbreaking research in exercise physiology, the 12-Second Sequence™ proves that the key to success is not in exercising more, but in exercising smarter.
By following Jorge’s plan, you’ll train your body to burn hundreds of calories on its own every week—all the time, even when you are not working out. Body fat melts away, lean muscle develops, and you’ll look and feel better than you ever thought possible.
Why you need The 12-Second Sequence™:
• You’ll follow a simple eight-week plan that reconfigures your body to burn 20 percent more calories—every day
• You’ll learn how to eat to accelerate results
• You’ll minimize your efforts and maximize your benefits
• You’ll be inspired by the success stories of other 12-Second stars
• You’ll target belly fat (the worst kind!), so you’ll start looking great almost immediately
• You’ll find a special bonus workout routine: the no-gym, no-fuss, do-it-anywhere way to keep on track wherever your busy schedule takes you
You can do this. Say good-bye to wasting time in the gym doing endless repetitions or spending hours on the treadmill. If you’ve got a few minutes to spare each week, you’ve got what it takes to start feeling healthier and stronger while looking absolutely amazing—for life. Get started today!
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Good regimen and Good excercise schedule but be careful of marketing gimmicks
Its been two weeks i have stuck to the diet plan and excercise regimen and i am completely satisfied with the results. I do a 45 minutes of cardio each morning, 12 second sequence excercise on Mondays and Thursdays and follow Protien 40% Carb 40% and Fat 20% recommendation . I am about to move from being obese to overweight and have lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks. my waistline has shrunk by one size and i am motivated to follow the complete 8 weeks program. His excercises are challenging and i find it hard to complete the complete set in 20 minutes as he has recommended. I do the best i can and at the end of the day i feel my body muscles pain, but the pain is good.
I would however caution everyone on his supplements. His Protien shakes are delicious but are very expensive. 28 servings cost 50 USD. This is crazy. I could order over 75 servings of good Whey protien from BodyBuilding.com for the same amount. Similarly the other products and supplements that he recommends in his books are very overpriced. I wouldnt order them at this price even if i was making millions because they are not worth the money i would put in.
Good luck , he has a good regimen and i would speak high of its success on account of my own. Stay away from his products if you dont want your valet to go light during these bad econo
4 Stars This works!
I started this program 1 1/2 weeks ago. Already I have experienced a 2 inch loss around my waist and 7 lbs of fat gone from my body. The workouts, while intense, only last 20 minutes. I can do that twice a week and the payoff is huge. My strength has increased easily by 50% and I have more energy than I know what to do with. I was sidelined for almost 3 years due to a sciatica related condition that seriously compromised my left leg and hip. I could not do any exercise that put pressure on the left hip and leg. I tried this program cautiously this month. Apparently I have finally healed and this program has given back to me the strength that I had lost during that 3 year period. My stability and balance are back to normal!
I have modified certain exercises to accommodate my special needs, but I don’t think those modifications compromised the results enough to worry about.
By the way, I am seriously overweight and am a senior citizen. If I can do this program, so can a lot of other people who might think otherwise. Try it for a week or two….you might be amazed too.
5 Stars Better than just cardio!!
I read other reviews that talked about getting the book instead of the video, so I did. After a couple of weeks, I actually saw some results. I did cardio 5 days a week for 2 months straight and felt better before this, but didn’t see any difference. After doing 12 second sequence 2-3 times a week (along with a cardio warmup), I’m starting to get my figure back! Yahoo!
4 Stars You will get great results from the workouts shown in this book
I am a certified weight consultant & the author of Asian Slim Secrets. While I don’t agree 100% with Jorge’s approach on eating, I give him full credit on his exercise regimen. You will get great results from the workouts shown in this book. However the workouts can be challenging for an obese person.
1 Star Please save your money
I borrowed the audio book from the library, before deciding to buy the real book and was very glad I did it. Overall, I was greatly disappointed.
The audio book by itself is useless, as it’s full of self-promotion, overly repetitive and refers the listener to get the details in the book every two minutes. I am not exaggerating. How many times in twenty minutes can you hear “Does it makes sense?” until you feel nauseuos? Try twenty times…
As for the theory itself, there is absolutely nothing new with the ideas of slow motion and “control tension”. Most of my fitness instructors in gym to some extent follow these principles. And definitely, in most of yoga styles you would find the same ideas. (But yoga is - what? Only couple of thousands year old - nothing comparative to revolutionary principle of “12 seconds”).
Most of dietary ideas , used in this program, are just common sense - drink water, have balanced diet, eat more vegetables, eat Omega-3 fats, don’t eat starchy carbs in the evening. Some others sound strange to me, for example all the recommendations to take one or another supplement and skip fruits (but drink water with added sugar!). This looks like one more product endorsement.
As for the exercise complex itself (I actually listened to it while driving, trying to remember and use it later), it’s a good routine, but the idea that you can do it everywhere is seriously misleading. My co-workers would just love watching me doing knee push-ups in my cubicle… and how many of us have the freedom of closing the door of the private office for 20 minutes?
Since I haven’t tried the program, I do not know how effective it could be. It probably is, as would be any program if you follow all the recommendations diligently. But in my opinion, there are so many better books targeting the change in life style and not promising fast results, shamelessly branding the others’ ideas and common sense as “revolution”.
Oct
30
Smart Eating
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In this companion volume to his best-selling Smart Exercise, Covert Bailey teams with Ronda Gates to show you how to achieve and maintain your ideal weight without ever dieting. The secret is choosing the right foods, and the authors tell you exactly what your body needs. Especially useful is the unique Smart Eating Food Target, a pull-out diagram that grades foods according to their fat and fiber content. And the 200 recipes specifically keyed to the Food Target make it easy to cook meals that are as nutritious as they are tasty.
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars Smart Eating?
I learned a lot from this book but it really left me wanting to know more. His other books are much better. The recipes were not very exciting. I loved his other books and was dissappointed with this one.
5 Stars Great!
This is the most sensible way to look at food I have discoverd. I’ve heard Gates lecture and it’s too bad her diet plan strategy is not in the book (she reported Bailey “lost interest” in the “writing process” of the book so this was excuded. You can write to Gates c/o P. O. Box 974, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
Oct
30
The 1500 Calorie a Day Cookbook
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The 1500 Calorie a Day Cookbook
Eat up. Slim down. It�s just that easy–with just 1,500 delicious calories a day!
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From the author of The 1,200-Calorie-a-Day Menu. Cookbook, comes all new recipes for when you are counting calories but don�t want to sacrifice flavor, taste, or variety. While most low-calorie meal plans leave you hungry for more, this cookbook serves up a satisfying selection of energy-boosting breakfasts, fast-fix lunches, and delectable dinners–plus two healthy snacks and one guilt-free dessert–every single day! It�s. hard to believe it�s just 1,500 calories.
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User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Incorrect Calorie Count for at Least One Recipe
This book gets an F because it failed to deliver what it promised.
As an example, the recipe for “On the Run Breakfast Cookies” has a calorie count that is wrong. In the book, the author states the recipe serves 4 with a serving size of 3 cookies each. You can easily tell this is wrong because the recipe calls for 4 cups specifically of Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal. The label on the Kashi box states 1 cup of cereal (the amount in one serving of cookies) is 190 calories. Now add oats, sugar, oil, eggs, and dried cherries and your total for one serving is a whopping 648 calories. Add the suggested apple and milk and this 350 calorie breakfast is actually over 800 calories!!!!!!!
I have made a total of 4 recipes and I will say each one has been delicious. But how are you supposed to trust the calorie count at all?
It’s pretty easy to make 1500 calories a day delicious when it’s likely 2000 or 2500.
4 Stars Great for ideas!!
I LOVE the premise behind this book!!!!!
–delicious meals in just 30 minutes or less
–nutritious and delicious 350-calorie meals
–150 calorie snacks
–150 calorie desserts
The author is DEFINITELY on to something here!
However, there are a few disappointments here and there that I hope the author will take to heart and revise in a future issue:
1. WAY WAY TOO MANY PORK RECIPES!
In the 6 recipe Poultry- and meat-based breakfasts section, 4 of them have some form of PORK, one is beef, and ONE is for poultry as a turkey sausage dish! The next 7 recipe egg-based breakfasts section have 3 recipes calling for PORK again. Another 3 barely miss this because she specifies using turkey ham in two recipes and turkey pepperoni in one. The 10 recipe Breads, Pancakes ad Grain-based breakfasts section has another FOUR recipes or menus with PORK. She even suggests canadian bacon as part of the menu for one of her fruit- and vegetable-based breakfasts section. My point is, if someone were to follow these breakfast menus for a month, they would be consuming a pork product 12 days out of 30. That’s a lot of pork consumption, and that’s JUST FOR BREAKFAST. Fortunately, only 3 or 4 of her lunch recipes and 8 of her dinner recipes call for pork or pork products (like pepperoni or sausage). Still, that totals almost 24 out of 90 recipes for breakfasts, lunches and dinner, a whopping 27%, that call for pork products. For the person who doesn’t eat pork, that’s more than a quarter of the book which is either useless or has to be refigured.
2. WHERE’S THE LENTIL???
I would like to see her include more egg recipes, more chicken recipes, and more meatless recipes. Lentils are a fantastic high protein high fiber and incredibly nutritious food that could have brought a lot more variety to her lunch and dinner offerings. A quick look through her book didn’t find one single recipe utilizing lentils. Lentils may very well be one of the cheapest, easiest, quickest-cooking, nutritious but so overlooked foods, and I can’t believe a recipe book such as this one, in 2009, made this error. Lentils do not cause the gas that other legumes do, and they cook very quickly. They are truly a dieter’s as well as non-dieter’s super food. And I am disappointed that I cannot find even one recipe for a dish that includes lentils in this book.
3. Most of her recipes serves 4. Leftovers from lunch or dinner aren’t difficult to use on another day, but having every breakfast recipe serve 4 requires reconfiguring for those of us who do not have 4 to serve for breakfast every morning. Breakfast leftovers just do not keep very well. I think it would’ve been fairly easy to make a note somewhere on each recipe what to do to make each recipe to serve 2. Sometimes cutting it in half doesn’t work. Overall, however, this isn’t a major complaint. You do have to be careful though. There is at least one recipe which serves 8, so 1/4th of the recipe would actually be TWO servings and not just one.
4. I would like to see just a tad bit more coordination between meals, or at least to have suggestions for a day-by-day meal guide. Otherwise, it’s a lot of cooking every day.
5. The lunch recipes, many of them anyway, aren’t very conducive to taking to school or work. I would love to see a future edition expand a lunch section specifically for those that have to take their lunch with them.
Otherwise, this book really is a GREAT idea!!! When I have the time, I may sit down and come up with my own 1500 calorie a day cookbook, pulling a few recipes from her book but including many other more nutritious offerings as well, for my own personal use. This book is a good first step, and has some really great ideas. I love that I could choose 3 meal recipes, 1 dessert recipe, and 2 snack or appetizer recipes from this book every day and stay within 1500 calories!!!!
I recommend this book just for the strength of its idea. It could go a long way in helping to plan out some great menus, all within a specific 1500 calorie range. While many of the recipes will be completely useless for me, there are a few good ones in here. Mostly, though, this book is great for the ideas it generates for me.
5 Stars Great Recipes; Simplified Meal Planning
Everything the first cookbook, The 1200-Calorie-a-Day Menu Cookbook : Quick and Easy Recipes for Delicious Low-fat Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners, and Desserts wanted to be and wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong; it was fine for its time. This book is just plain better.
Updated recipes with 9 or fewer ingredients and less reliability on fat-free, chemical-laden frankenfoods. (Although there are some!)
The entire meal takes less than 30 minutes–the whole menu complete on one page. Calorie count and other nutritional information provided for each recipe/menu including identifying menus higher in fiber, vitamins A & C, and calcium.
I made the Creamy Pumpkin Pie dip for our dance troupe hafla and it was a big hit! Nothing to take home.
She doesn’t provide grocery lists. That will depend on what menus you choose. But, she does offer a brief nutritional introduction (just enough to keep your eyes from glazing over)and suggestions for what to do with leftovers. I’m all about freezing extra portions for later so I don’t mind a recipe that serves 4-6.
Those who’ve read some of my other review will note that I’m a BIG fan of mix and match diet cookbooks. If I was going to buy a companion volume, I’d choose The All-Natural Diabetes Cookbook
Oct
29
Hormone Revolution Weight Loss Plan
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Hormone Revolution Weight Loss Plan
Karlis Ullis, M.D., is an international authority on sports medicine and anti-aging medicine. In The Hormone Revolution Weight-Loss Plan, he brings his expertise on aging to weight loss. In fact, Ullis’s clinical experience reveals that weight gain is a leading cause of premature and accelerated aging.
This effective, sensible plan is designed for both men and women and shows how to turn hormones into powerful alleys in the battle against weight gain, especially when it occurs around middle age. Because hormones regulate everything from metabolism and appetite to libido and energy levels, no weight-loss program can work long-term unless it factors in the crucial role of our natural hormones.
Traditional calorie-restricted regimens wreak havoc on the body’s delicate hormone balance, often lowering testosterone, thyroid hormone, growth hormone, and other hormones that play a key role in fat loss, muscle gain, and increased energy. The Hormone Revolution Plan teaches precisely what to eat as well as when to eat in relation to the timing of exercise, physical activities, and sleep. Dr. Ullis views carbs as essential for sustaining energy, and he explains when they can be eaten for optimal fat-burning hormonal effects.
Dr. Ullis has developed an all-natural, drug-free program to help world-class athletes harness the power of their body’s own hormones. Now this same plan has been adapted so anyone can “hormonally charge” their weight-loss plan.
User Ratings and Reviews
1 Star Total waste of paper
As a consumer of many books on Hormones this book was one of the worst I have read. It is a come on for nothing. It is just a rehash of the insulin connection to obesity. It is strange that most books seem to be repeating the same information. But there is nothing on the horizon to really help us get and keep our weight down. This is my rant about food. The foods that are natural and good for you are contaminatied with toxins, hormones, and antibiotics. The food that you can buy that are not contaiminated with the aforementioned is so expensive the normal person can not afford them. Most of our food supply is contamined with High Frutose Corn Syrup or Trans Fats, or Pestisides, or all of the above. This book is no different than the other books I have read on Insulin Connection. The formate is boring as well. Shop on the outer peremiter of the store, exercise, stay away from junk food, read the labels,and a lecture about insulin. There you have it in a nut shell. Save your money for a personal trainer. Thank goodness it was cheap. But I feel taken again.
4 Stars title doesn’t do the book justice
The title makes it sound like a clone of Atkins, but it’s not. I think this is unfortunate, because the book gets lost in a sea of diet books. As a diet book, this isn’t the best, but this is much more than just a diet book. There is some overlap in information, but Dr. Ullis puts much more emphasis on exercise with even a section of illustrated strength training exercises. Atkins and other low carb diets are about keeping insulin levels down to burn fat. Ullis talks about that, but also about balancing all your hormones for improved health, longer life, and to reverse the affects of aging. Unfortunately, he doesn’t go into the technical details as much as I would like (which accounts for the deduction of one star), but there are definitely some good things to learn about this book. Ullis emphasizes not only what to eat and how to exercise, but also timing. So, I think this is a worthwhile read.
5 Stars Great book for the clueless
Karlis Ullis, M.D. is one of a few number of doctors who really understand this subject. I can say this as a patient who has had problems with other doctors who were not up on hormone replacement. This new book is ideal for someone who wants to know how to get started and wants factual information, not BS. The book is written in simple, understandable language, doesn’t make a bunch of ridiculous promises and puts the onus of progress on to the individual where it belongs. However it also provides the information on how to do it. Highly recommended!
