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Summary: Why DID I buy a nutrition book from a 'celebrity'?
Review: I bought this book after scanning the forward written by Dr. Diana Schwarzbein. When I re-read the forward after plunking down full price, I saw that Dr. Schwarzbein does not ascribe to Suzanne Somers' food combining. I sold Somers' book and bought "The Schwarzbein Principle : The Truth About Losing Weight, Being Healthy, and Feeling Younger" by Diana Schwarzbein, M.D. This woman is an endocrinologist who explains her way of eating with biochemical proof. And no family celeb photos! Do yourself a favor and buy the book from whom Suzanne Somers' got her information.
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Summary: WHY did I buy a 'diet book' written by a 'celebrity'???
Review: O.K.- I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend who was new to "Somersizing", which involved low-carbs and food-combining (protein with fats, fruit by itself, etc.). She and her husband were sticking to it. So, I went down to the bookstore to browse through the book. The forward was written by Dr. Diana Schwarzbein, an expert in her field of endocrinology and working with diabetics. I bought the book. I re-read the forward, only to find out that Dr. Schwarzbein doesn't ascribe to food combining. Well. I returned the Somers' book, went to the source, and bought "The Schwarzbein Principle : The Truth About Losing Weight, Being Healthy, and Feeling Younger". Similar principles, except no food combining, carbs at every meal and snack, and fruit with meals. This is much more followable for me. I also bought her cookbook, "The Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook". Same amount of money for two better books, without the Suzanne Somers family scrapbook. I suggest you do the same.
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Summary: A New Way of Life
Review: I have tried many different diets and I must say that Suzanne has changed my life. I love the way she explains things in her book. At first I was a little hesitant to buy the book, but bought it anyway. I liked it so much that I ended up with the whole collection. I strongly believe that I can follow her style and actually stick to it mainly because I am more aware of what I put in my body. I have only been on this program for two weeks and my stomach has trimmed down significantly. A girl at work really liked what I told her about the book and she is trying really hard to do follow the program as well.Thanks a million.
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Summary: Terrific Follow-up
Review: The first Somersize book I bought was "Get Skinny on Fabulous Food". I loved it and quickly bought the first book, "Eat Great Lose Weight" to get more recipes. I bought the latest book "Eat Cheat..." as soon I heard about it because I love Somersizing, it works, it's easy to stick to. Furthermore, I wanted updated information and more recipes. I've read some of the other reviews that say the recipes are just repeats of recipes in the other books - only a handful are repeats, and I'm sure those are for people who don't have all three books. I love the new recipes - my favorite so far is chicken with goat cheese and balsamic syrup. The new recipes are a terrific addition to those in the other books. If you want to buy just one book, I would start with this one, because it contains the latest information, and add the others as you can. You need all three because the newer books sometimes reference recipes in the older books. Why do I want so many recipes? It's because they are terrific. I've never been much of an imaginative cook, but now I'm cooking up some delicious, flavorful meals that I look forward to. Suzanne includes cooking tips that maybe someone else would already know, but was new to me - like how to make scrumptious sauces without flour or corn starch, how to cook unusual veggies like eggplant and jicama, how to make "breading" without flour or bread. You can also check the website, suzannesomers.com, for help and more recipes.
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Summary: Eat Cheat and Melt the Fat Away
Review: I am mystified as to ... who have given this book a bad review even bothered to do so - 1) you haven't tried the program, you don't say you have; 2) you are not nutritionists, unless you declined to say so; and 3) WHAT in God's name does having breast cancer have to do with being able to give adequate health advice? do you think people get breast cancer from not taking care of themselves? I, on the other hand, have tried the program, lost weight and felt great on it. There is nothing she says that is outrageous in terms of nutrition - do some reading and you'll discover food combining is ages-old, there is research to support her "claims" of lowered cholesterol and there is nothing wrong with eliminating saccharine, aspartame or caffeine from your life....
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Summary: Good Discussion of Avoiding Foods that Affect Insulin Levels
Review: The strength of this book is that it develops good information in favor of avoiding sugars and other simple carbohydrates that will affect your insulin levels. The book also encourages you to eat balanced meals. The weakness is an encouragement to eat fats that will be inappropriate for those who are at risk for heart disease. There are also a lot of unsubstantiated theories about when and in what combinations to eat foods. The photographs of the food in the recipes are good. Most of the non-recipe sections of the book (about half) cover the same ground as her earlier books. If you have read the earlier books, only buy this one if you want the recipes. The book has a good balance of information. It begins with a foreword by Dr. Diana Schwarzbein that lays out the medical basis for the Somers' approach. "If you do not have any hormonal problems then eating balanced meals will quickly reestablish hormonal harmony." "If you do not notice immediate results in your moods, sleep, and energy levels then you are either eating incorrectly for your own personal metabolism, you are stressed, ingest too many chemicals, do not exercise enough or exercise too much, or have a hormonal balance that needs to be addressed, or an insulin resistance, menopause, thyroid disease, or a low-serotonin level." In other words, eating a balanced diet like the one described here should make you feel better or you have a medical problem that needs treating. Try eating better quality foods in moderation, then see your doctor if problems persist. That's good advice. The book does a fine job (like Sugarbusters!) of explaining why foods with simple carbohydrates cause most people to gain weight and feel lousy. The book is also solid on why dieting by cutting calories tends to make it harder to lose and keep weight off. The Somers' approach is at two levels, one for dieting, and one for maintenance. These are pretty commonsense, except the fat levels are way too high for those at risk of heart or artery disease. The only thing you have to remember is when you can eat what. You cannot mix fruit with anything. You can eat fats and protein with vegetables. You can eat carbohydrates with vegetables. You cannot mix fats/protein with carbohydrates. The reasons have something to do with enzymes and digestion times, but there is no research cited to support all of this. Ms. Somers seems a little defensive on this point. The book claims that two million people have lost weight on the diet. Many testimonials are included as sidebars. I don't know how anyone could know that. Perhaps it's true. I don't know. The recipes look like something I could make. I usually stick to heating up cans of vegetable soup, so I'm not a good person to judge. The book avoids any discussion of the effects of blood type, so I suspect that the diet probably works well for one or two of the blood types and less well for the others. My suspicion is that this is a type B diet. If you are type A, you probably won't like it because you will be eating more protein and fat than you like. If you are type O, you may not get as much protein as you need and too much fat. See Live Right 4 Your Type for more information on those points. Research also shows that some people have a higher weight set point than others. Many highly overweight people have better eating habits than people with "normal" weights. Genes seem to make the difference. This book doesn't really focus on that point. Not everyone is going to look like they should be an actress on television, no matter how well they eat and exercise. Eat healthy, unprocessed foods in moderate quantities and exercise moderately! Then, chill out . . . .
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Summary: A little disappointing...
Review: If I had known that so much of Eat Cheat was an exact word for word rehash from Get Skinny I wouldn't have bought it. I thought that was a little tacky. Also I was extremely disappointed that the Somersweet that was so hyped & raved about by Suzanne in the book is not available yet. And even worse, it is not made from the wonderful ingredients she described in the book! Her website explains that they decided to change it. Evidently it is just going to be a form of fructose. That is really unprofessional in my opinion to offer a product that doesn't exist. I do like Suzanne very much & I enjoy the pictures of her & her family. I don't resent her for being successful, rich, beautiful, ect. and I wish her well.
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Summary: It works
Review: First off I want to say that I find it funny that the strongest critics of this book probably haven't even read it, or the other two books either. Yes this book does repeat the same information, BUT is also gives updates on Somersizing. If you don't like to re-read the Somersize info, skip to the recipies because they are FABULOUS. This lifestyle does work, and you feel great! Don't let narrowmindedness from others steer you into making a wrong choice. Give it a try for a month.
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Summary: She has such style and great creative recipes.
Review: I might just be starting a collection of Suzanne's Diet books. Even if you are not on a diet or even if you don't cook you can enjoy reading her recipes. If you do buy her books, I can promise you, you will want to cook. The recipes are easy to make and they are so unique.
They all look simply fabulous and Suzanne's personality comes through in the book. Her friendly writing style will win you over and soon you will be feasting on all sorts of treats. The title is the best. Have you ever heard of such a diet in your life? Cheating? What? I mean, hey...she sometimes sneaks a bit of chocolate so why can't we :). If you love this book, look for Suzanne Somer's Get Skinny on Fabulous Food. I have reviewed it here at Amazon. Oh, I don't run her fan club...lol. I thought I did the first time I reviewed her books. I get e-mails sometimes wondering how she can be contacted to ask questions. What I do know is that she now has her own site. You guessed the name! Her book just hit number 3 on the Bestsellers list. Eat your heart out reviewers who were mean!!!!!! :) Way to Go Suzanne!
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Summary: ....
Review: If I could give ZERO stars that's what this book deserves. It's a rehash of all the same stuff she's put into her other two books and doesn't even take into account that her entire diet style has come under more and more attack by real nutritionists who know that the "eat as much fat as you want" advice can lead to heart attacks and diabetes. I know Suzanne's program is garbage because I followed it in her first book and lost 22 pounds before eventually gaining more than 30 back and having my cholesterol go from 214 to almost 300!! She is really dangerous with this non-medical advice that is designed to sell books because we all want to think there is some easy shortcut to eating all we want and still losing weight. Yea sure. Well, I work 10 hours a day and earn a good living, but I don't have the extra cash to do liposuction like her, so I'll just have to stick to a low fat diet!!
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