Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)You can buy a treadmill, but if you don't use it, it's useless. If you buy this book and don't read it from cover to cover, the same holds true. Have you ever checked out the nonfiction section at your local book sale and seen six copies of the same "diet" book? I have and more than likely the people who donated them are a pound or so lighter, simply because they dropped off the book. Jessica de Valentino bluntly claims that "Americans are professional eaters; going day in and day out, taking advantage of all the meal deals, stretching and upsizing their once fist-sized stomachs to watermelon proportions." (p. 73) She lays out the negative aspects of the American downfall in the diet department and does not mince words in her opening chapters. As a matter of fact, you can't find a better horror show in town if you really pay attention to what she has to say about what can happen to you as a result of poor nutritional habits. You can supersize yourself right into something a triple bypass or change your lifestyle ... now.
If you are a reasonably intelligent person you will recognize or have heard about many of the vignettes in the first part of the book. For example, she states that "While a doctor can write you a prescription for any drug under the sun, a good diet is the only prescription that most people need." (p. 27) Much of it is good, common sense, but she challenges you to use it. She discusses things such as our eating habits, NSAIDs, allergies, diabetes, an assortment of diseases and disorders, health care, the pharmaceutical industry, drug side effects, supplements (including herbal), research, and other interesting facets of our lifestyles and help available to us. You'll also find out interesting tidbits of information such as New Zealand and the United States are the only "direct-to-consumer advertising" countries in the world. (p. 34)
There is then a quick swing into eighteen different "types" of diets and a discussion as to why they don't usually work for the most of us. Each diet is accompanied by a small one line chart that gives a one to five star assignment as to the diet's flexibility, its health factor, how easy it is to maintain, and how satisfying it. If you've tried `em all, you'll recognize yourself in these pages. Quite simply, de Valentino see no easy fixes and states that "There are tons of weight loss diets, but not all of them are safe, nor will they provide lasting maintainable, healthy results," and maintains that "Most diets operate basically the same way with a slight twist or a pinch of insanity here and there." (pp. 47-49) The second section is quite comprehensive and goes into detail about the foods, and in some instances, the chemicals we put into our bodies. Plant products, animal products, evaluations of food composition (things like fats, proteins, hormones, etc.), food additives, and beverages are also discussed. There are some sidebars with breakouts of particular chemicals such as the amount of mercury in different types of fish.
The last part, "how to Lose Weight in the Real World," is not laid out in a step-by-step manner, but rather in a suggestive one that will help you formulate your own plan of action. If you did not carefully read the previous chapters your motivation may prove to be somewhat weak as you plan. You'll learn how to plan your meals, receive suggestions on what to eat, types of snacks to prepare, you'll learn about serving sizes, find suggestions on how to eat your food, how to grocery shop, you'll learn what menu terms mean ("Fatty Fixins), and you'll discover many other interesting facets of nutritional information to help you plan your diet. Little phrases such as "Always have a snack prepared. Having a nutritional snack readily available will remove the need to fall prey to unhealthy choices," may give you that little nudge your willpower might need. (p. 185)
If you want to retake control of your life and lose weight in a reasonable manner, this is one book you should look at. If you are simply intent on buying that treadmill and this book thinking the pounds will come off, don't bother. This is a book that you will need to read from cover to cover and motivate yourself to change your eating habits. It will not take you by the hand and walk you through the hard parts of changing your lifestyle because that is a decision that you and only you can make. There are no recipes to follow nor is there any specific plan to follow (no commando diet here). I liked what I read and felt that most of the information was quite sound and the appendices quite useful. In the back there is an index and listing of reference materials, that if utilized could be quite useful. Naturally, checking out My Pyramid online, discussing your plans, with your physician and/or nutritionist would be optimal. Did you know that "Alfredo" means cream? I always called it "heart attack on a plate." Are you up to changing your lifestyle? If so you just might want to spend a little time with this book!This book courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review.
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How to Lose Weight in the Real World: Why Other Diets Suck & You Are Not Losing Weight fills the dietary knowledge void to help dieters understand how food and lifestyle affect their attempts to lose weight. In addition, HLWRW analyzes the most common diets and why they don t help dieters achieve success, and showcases the latest dietary research to help ensure weight loss and improved health.
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