Emily H. (devnem) reviewed on 1/28/2012 + 8 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 5

First of all, I do like to try to stay positive in my reviews, so I will start off with what I liked: I liked the reminder to link carbs and proteins. I liked that they reiterate often that you SHOULD have both, just not overdo it. It is true that if I eat protein first, then carbs, I'm satisfied on less for longer and I don't eat as much of the carbs. That's good advice. Also, the advice to eat smaller portions more often (eating 5 or more times a day). That is wise, but not new. That's why this book got 2 stars instead of negative!

The book starts out saying that it's not a diet book and won't make you count fat grams or calories; that THIS diet (note they now call it a diet??) will let you eat anything you want and you can still lose weight; that you don't have to do aerobics anymore; that this easily fits into your lifestyle and is healthy and balanced.

Then comes the *double-standard* *hypocritical* *opposite* advice where it turns around and spouts the need to eat EVERYTHING as low-fat as possible (forget the fact that most low-fat foods are FULL of processed chemicals!!); you need to count the GRAMS and watch for fat and carbs and read all the labels and work out how much you should eat before you start (portion control is important, but this seems a little obsessive--aside from the fact that they just got through telling me that they weren't going to make me count anything); eat as little as possible in 2-3 hours increments (yes, as I said before, I agree with eating a little at a time as often as you can, but how many people can actually DO that? How does that easily fit into your lifestyle?); you must exercise every day and do aerobics at least 3 times a week for at least 25 minutes (what happened to not doing aerobics anymore? although, quite frankly I'm a HUGE advocate for exercise and aerobics, but if you say you don't need to do it, then later tell how important it is...where is the continuity?); the list of snacks was laughable and ridiculous (shelf-stable microwaveable meals and instant bean soup, anyone?) including LONG lists of pretty much everything being LOW-FAT dairy (which also causes huge problems if eaten in the quantities and exclusivity that they recommend)...

The recipes were pretty terrible. All the ingredients included things like low-fat margarine sprays (after touting the evils of maragarines, they put it in almost every recipe?), and 'butter sprinkles', and every low-fat and processed substitute you can think of. How can eating all of those high-fructose corn syrups, hydrogenated oils, and highly processed chemicals be HEALTHY and BALANCED??? How can you REDUCE the effects of a disease that is caused by the foods we eat by eating ONLY those foods which cause problems in the first place?? (If you want a REALLY good book about food, read Michael Pollans' "In Defense of Food".)

Overall, I was very disappointed in this book. It is definitely not one I would recommend as something to help you overcome insulin resistance and pre-diabetes.

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