Rating: 
Summary: Yes, there are Fat Europeans, too...
Review: ...and the French Chef Julia Child was no Vogue model. However,I like the concepts in this book, and I'm going to try them. I have been doing Atkins since the summer of 2003, my "summer of 42". I've lost 30 pounds. But, I missed my summer fruits, and I hate going to the store and seeing nothing but carbs I can't have! I've never been a bread eater. But occasionally, I do like to make my whole wheat biscuits for myself and my friends, and I like the idea that I can now eat them without guilt or having to figure out how many carbs they are! I hear what Mr. Clower is saying about the fake foods. However, as an Atkins follower, I've gotten so used to Splenda, I don't see myself weaning myself off of it anytime soon. I like to use it not only in my coffee, but in my lemonade and my, oops, unsweetened cherry Kool-Aid! I really needed to get my blood sugar down, and the Splenda has really helped me out in that regard. I'm keeping it for now. I really do want to try what Mr. Clower suggests in the book. A lot of it appeals to me: I'm a fish eater, despite the fact that they say there are too many PCBs in it to be safe to eat every day, I want to eat my fish EVERY DAY. I'm time-challenged, and fresh fish is the fastest thing you can cook, especially for breakfast. I also love chicken. I've been using skinless chicken thighs exclusively for years. I've gotten to where I hate chicken skin now, so I won't be going back to unskinned. I absolutely hate beef, and I'm sorry if it hurts the economy if I don't eat steak and bread, but it's not for me at all. So, the FF diet is right up my alley philosophically-speaking. I learned through Dr. Andrew Weil the health benefits of olive oil, and it has been years since I've had a hydrogenated oil product in my kitchen. I fry with extra virgin, I happen to like the taste it gives to even my biscuits. It's not the worst thing you can put in your food! Where I'm going to have problems is the dairy products. I'm African-American, and lactose-intolerant (I've read where for some reason this goes hand-in-hand), which wasn't a problem because Atkins tells you to pretty much stay away from them. However, it's 100 degrees here in Oklahoma, and I like the occasional ice cream, just enough to not send me to the bathroom in pain. I agree 100% with Mr. Clowers endorsement of Breyer's Ice Cream, but you have to be careful, because for some unfathomable reason Breyers has started putting unnatural ingredients in some of their ice cream brands. Stick with the Breyers' Ice Cream in the BLACK BOXES, and you'll be safe. Dr. Weil advises against margarine, too. I've used nothing but butter for years. I hate that you can't even find simple butter cookies in the stores anymore. And I love the idea of a bite of dark chocolate for dessert. And eating it the way my best friend taught me: get a Hershey Special Dark with Almond nugget and just slowly suck the chocolate away until you get to the nut...then crunch! Now THAT takes patience! Eating in courses is tres impractical for me, a single person! But I can certainly learn to put the fork down and chew and take my time to eat. I wish they'd give me time to do that for lunch, though, at work!
Losing the grazing habit will be hard. Atkins encourages snacking somewhat, as long as you fall within a prescribed limit of carbs per day. I'm going to have to reeducate my body to a new way of thinking about food. Oddly enough, water isn't discussed at all in the book...it is critical in the Atkins/South Beach diet because of the ketone buildup, but I drink three 24 oz. sportspack of room-temperature spring water per day. However, I LOOOOVE coffee, and love to finish my day off with a nice, STRONG cup of it that I've pressed with my small French press which makes just enough for one cup. In short, I think I'll like this approach because it correlates with a lifestyle I'd been leading anyway yet had been failing to lose weight at. I'd like to combine what's in this book with the New American Plate concept the cancer organizations are touting these days: one part protein, two parts vegetable product, kind of like "the Zone", even for breakfast. I've always hated low fat products, it seems obscenely unnatural, and you know what, my grandmother lived to be 92, butchered her own hogs and chickens, milked her own cow, grew her own vegetables, baked her own bread, and was thin as a rail. How do you argue with that? The older generation knew how to eat healthy, it is we youngsters who have strayed, and who are paying now with all these cancers and weight problems.
Rating: 
Summary: Worked for me!
Review: I first spotted The Fat Fallacy in a bookstore at a time when I was feeling frustrated at not being able to shed those last 10 pounds after months of exercising more regularly than I ever had before and trying to eat low-fat. I was intrigued by the idea that I could eat foods I love - cheese, full-fat premium ice cream, and chocolate - all while losing weight.
It sounded almost too good to be true, but I'd seen firsthand from a trip to Paris that the French ate very differently from us yet stayed thin. Also, many of Will Clower's comments made a lot of sense intuitively. I decided to give it a try, hoping for the best, but promising to stop if it caused me to gain weight instead.
I tossed out the skim milk, "low-fat" cheese, and processed foods containing high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and other artificial ingredients (you'd be amazed how many things include them!). To refill my pantry and refrigerator, I bought cream-top yogurt, whole milk, cheese, freshly baked french bread, good olive oil, high-quality dark chocolate, fresh vegetables, etc. I loved eating the new foods, found I didn't need to eat as much as before to feel satisfied, and was amazed at how quickly I saw the pounds start coming off.
Within just over a month of making the changes, I had lost the 10 pounds I'd been struggling with. Another 5 pounds that I wasn't even trying to lose came off in the following month, leaving me happily surprised to have dropped 3 clothing sizes. Wow! It's so wonderful to be able to enjoy food without guilt, and to be happy with my body at the same time!
I've since bought several copies of The Fat Fallacy to share with friends and family who've expressed interest. I'm always happy to be able to tell people about this book, as it encourages a healthy lifestyle rather than a "diet". It's definitely worth reading, and the recommendations seem so much healthier than some of today's trendier diets. Hope you'll read it and get as much out of it as I did!
Rating:
Summary: It just makes good sense!
Review: I found this book in a discount section and was floored that it was there. Then it occurred to me that it went against everything the AHA has ever said about dairy and water fowl fat, YET it just wasn't radical enough to cause a craze like Atkins. It is a book written about good common food sense that we have somehow lost between all of the fast food "restaurants" and faux food factories.
In this book, William Clower gives a wonderful overview of how to get the faux foods out of your house and start BEING healthier by eating real foods. Another point that he addresses is the relation between fat and feeling full, plus the notion that food should not be eaten faster than your body can kick on the "full" response.
The rat race in America has left us doing everything fast, as though everything we do delays getting to something more important, and many actually believe that only epicureans and gastronomers have time to really enjoy food for what it is. Fooey!
If food is not enjoyable, why eat it? If something tastes good, why eat it so fast that it cannot even be tasted -- why not instead eat it so slowly that the flavors and textures linger on and on? Why do Americans serve dessert while a couple of people are still working on their green beans or their turkey? Why do we flop in front of the TV after a meal rather than going out for a nice stroll and some fresh air?
I am glad to see that this book has finally gotten enough press to be on its second cover. It is a wonderful book about common food sense that simply isn't taught in America. Our parents were so crazed by a lifetime of hearing about their own parents living through the depression, that they impressed it upon us. Between our parents' po-folks clean plate brainwashing and the rat ract telling us that meals delay getting to more important things -- we put our own children through the hells of a very high speed "clean plate club" as if eating more than what is wanted is a good thing and the faster the better, while the nation faces an increase to quite possibly the highest obesity rate in the world.
Funny, in America, we think it is an insult to the cook if we DON'T clean our plates, but in other countries around the world -- it is an insult to the cook to finish everything, as though a person were saying that the cook did not serve enough. Better to serve small portions with plans for "seconds" and maybe realize that there is just enough room for dessert, than to fill up on dinner and get indigestion (and obese) from the extra food [read:dessert]. It is not dessert that will make us obese, rather it is eating far more than our bodies can use that will make us obese. As I read this book, I couldn't help but constantly think of Marion Nestle's book "Food Politics". It just all rang so true.
I am not overweight, but I do have fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism, plus my family has a heart history to beat the band. Within just a few months of eating according to this diet, not only did my fibromyalgia symptoms back off enough that I could lower my medications, but I had a lot more energy, and my cholesterol also dropped -- by eating dairy, carbs, dairy, carbs, and then some more dairy. My housemate is constantly wanting to lose weight, but eats a lot of transfats, deep fried food, fast food, and faux foods, then lays in bed watching TV or spends a few hours as an unmoving mouse-potato. He complains because while I do eat at least 2-3 ounces of cheese and extremely rich foods every single day and am as skinny as a rail -- I hardly eat. I eat organic Pan Bigio; he eats WonderBread. If we go out to eat -- I have at least three meals worth of leftovers. I tell him it is because I am simply not hungry. Believing that deep fried grease runs in his "Southern" veins, without which he could not live, he has yet to be a convert to the filling wonders of dairy fat, water fowl fat and olive oil.
Both sides of my family are immigrants within the last three generations. Neither side ever had heart/vascular history overseas, yet within 30 years on American shores, everyone was having heart attacks, bypasses, strokes, etc. Changing out American faux foods for the real foods that my ancestors lived on only makes good sense. It will make good sense for you too.
Even if your doctor tells you that the fat in this diet is too high, the rest of the principals can still be employed easily -- get rid of the killer chemicals in your diet and start eating the real food your body wants. You'll find out very quickly that you simply aren't hungry for as much as you used to eat when your food was nothing but chemicals.
Thank you, Dr. Clower, for reminding us of the good nutritive sense that has been erased from the American dietary education!
Rating:
Summary: This book is amazing!!
Review: I had to write in to tell everyone how easy this diet actually is. I was very skeptical at first, but what he's saying actually makes sense and when you use his principles you do lose weight while eating full fat foods. My cholesterol and triglycerides are lower, BP is lower and I'm healthier. LOL, my doc even asked me what I was doing and I believe he will try it too!
Will Clower has written his book with humor, I laughed many times while reading some of his anecdotes and he's humorous while getting his point across. A very enjoyable read with life changing tips!!
I would recommend this highly to everyone!!!
The only reason I'm selling mine is that I know it by heart having read it about 10 times so I don't need it anymore. My family members have all read it, too, and now they are changing the way we eat, too. You should have seen out thangsgiving table!! Such a life, who would've thought?!
Rating:
Summary: C'est vrai! C'est simple! C'est tout!
Review: I have never been on a diet in my life. I am not a snacker. I do not eat fast food, nor processed foods. And yet, I have a weight problem. So imagine my surprise when after the first few days of reading this book, I lost 4 pounds without doing anything!
OK, that is not exactly true: I had a bowl of ice cream.
Sure there are all the tricks in this book: smaller plates, eat slower, eat smaller -- the things the critics point out in other reviews. But the real essence of his message is that if you take your time, savor your food, you will realize the moment you are full -- and that is the moment to stop eating (and this is where I think I have always failed). This book is a guide to understanding that the time to put down your fork is when you are full. It makes sense.
Another advantage of this plan is that it is extremely portable -- you do not have to pull out scales (don't laugh, I have seen weight watcher participants do this in restaurants), perform some sort of higher-math to determine the exact grams of carbs or fat. You just eat what you want and listen to your body.
So why is this not a 5-star rating? Dr. Clower's writing style is very chummy, almost patronizing and got on my nerves. The gimmick of the quiz at the beginning of each chapter (you get to guess the faux food from reading the ingredients) got to be tedious after the first couple of chapters. The testimonials sprinkled throughout the book all read suspiciously like they were written by the author. The paper (in the paperback) feels cheap, it was not a good tactile experience.
But when you push that all aside, the book delivers the goods. So it is 3 weeks later, and I have lost about 8 pounds, and I think I have made a lifestyle change without trying too hard. And unlike my dieting friends, I am not obsessing about food.
Rating:
Summary: the book that helps you enjoy eating again and lose weight!
Review: I have never written a review before, but I want people to know how wonderful this book is. After having 3 children within 4 years, my weight has increased with each pregnancy. I also grew up eating junk for meals and grazing throughout the day. I want to teach my children good eating habits and I was beginning to offer them chips with lunch so that they wouldn't have a hang up with junk food later in life. After reading this book, mind you I haven't followed it perfect (a little hard re:making time to cook complete meals,) in four weeks I have lost 5 lbs. painlessly while drinking whole milk, having butter on my morning baguette, you get the idea. All the processed food was donated. And now my children eat real pleasurable food- yes, even chocolate- the good stuff- not candy bars. The book is very inspirational, makes sense, is extreme in NO way. I don't drink the coffee or alcohol, but hot chocolate is a great substitute! Enjoy losing the weight and eating delicious food!And pretty soon you don't even want to snack!
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a diet I can stick to that works!!!!!
Review: I received this book mid October and since starting it then, I have gone down from a size 14 to a size 10, my skin is clearer, and I feel so much better!!
Rating:
Summary: Freedom from Frustrating Diets
Review: I saw Dr. Clower on TV and was intrigued by his premise that our low-fat and chemical-filled culture is partly responsible for our national obesity problem. What he wrote resonated with what I know intuitively: Low fat diets don't work, and fake foods are bad for you. Clower says to eat wholesome, real foods WITH the fat and you'll feel more satisfied and eat less overall. This was an epiphany for me. After reading the book in one day, I tried another one of his suggestions: Taking small bites. At first it was like trying to hold back a team of wild horses, but over time I came to enjoy the slow pace and the savor the meal. Plus, I was eating delicious, fatty foods, so it wasn't that difficult. I haven't overeaten since. It's been said before, but something about Dr. Clower's gentle, enthusiastic style and the supporting scientific evidence he cites got through to me. I had told myself I was giving up dieting, but I was still making a mental checklist of what I "shouldn't" eat, which is still a diet! No more. After reading this book I feel more optimistic about weight loss and more pleasure at mealtime than I ever have before. What a magic book!
Rating:
Summary: Dr. Clower is a wonderful, wonderful man.
Review: I've been using Amazon for years, and this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a review. This book is nothing short of a godsend. I read an article in "Allure" magazine comparing various popular diets (including Weight Watchers) and saw that the Fat Fallacy "diet" blew the others away. Despite my inherent skepticism, something made me buy the book and give Dr. Clower's simple, friendly advice a try. I somehow managed to force myself to start eating great, tasty, real food again, and I forced myself to savor it while doing so. And at a rate of 1 or 2 lbs a week, the 15 lbs I needed to lose just disappeared. It really did. And the best part is, I know I can eat this way for the rest of my life. So Dr. Clower, thank you so very much for giving back my figure and the right to take joy in eating good food. I only hope that whatever it was that made me give your book a chance finds a way to reach everyone else one day. I'm certainly doing my part to see that it does.
Rating:
Summary: How to eat-enjoy!
Review: The French paradox has confounded doctors for years. They skip the gym, smoke more, drink more and enjoy more rich foods than Americans. And we Americans are fatter and have more heart disease.
The scientist author offers two explainations. One they eat real food. Two is their way of eating. The first is simple. We eat crap. Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil instead of cream in our coffee. Same poison in margarine instead of butter. Soy protein instead of goose liver pate. Our fast food is gross. Sugar in my hamburger patty, bun and fries too! If people didn't eat it one hundred years ago, it isn't likely to be real food.
Second is how we eat. Meet another couple for dinner on a weekend. Their cell phones ring again and again. Business, the kids, discord with relatives,... And in thirty minutes they have wolfed down their meal and are ready to drive across town to the next event. Maybe next time we could meet at 7-11 for a microwave burrito.
When you travel you see Europeans relax by the hour with coffee leisurely enjoying their meal and company. It seems a lost art in the USA. Eating is best relaxed, with friends and family, really tasting your meal. Put your fork down and talk. Listen. Enjoy. Turn off the phone. Sit at the table with nice music. Turn off the TV.
Enjoy your meals. Enjoy your friends and family. Enjoy your life.
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