Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating book about diet and health.
Review: A cool book about nutrition, health, and losing weight. This book is what actually motivated me to become a vegetarian four years ago and so far I've not had an ounce of meat since. Though I do eat fish, so some may not consider me a true vegetarian. I have recently picked this book up to review it and am finding it just as interesting as I remember. Ornish quotes scores of studies including his own which back up his philosophy about eating and health. In a nutshell, if you don't eat meat, and limit yourself to 10% of your calories as fat, exercise moderately, and "pay attention" you will avoid heart disease and other ailments, lose weight, and generally feel great. To be more specific, he concurs with Merkin in that you can eat as much grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables as you wants, but aslo warns that you should never stuff yourself. In fact, he concentrates somewhat on "paying attention" in the sense that if you concentrate more on what you eat as you eat it and not simply gulp a meal down while you watch TV, you are much more likely to hear the natural cue's your body puts out that tell you when you should stop eating. He also recommends getting rid of salt from your diet as this hides the flavor of food, and claims that after about two weeks your tastebuds will readjust to the lack of salt, sugar, and fat that is in the normal American diet, and which he claims hides the real flavor of foods, and after your tastebuds readjust, everything will taste much better then they ever did. Finally, when it comes to exercise, he has a very interesting viewpoint that moderate exercise such as walking is the best kind. The benefits he lists are that it is less stressful to your body, so you are less prone to injury, walking is a lot easier to do than other more vigorous exercises which may require special equipment, and finally, it aids much more in losing weight. This is because, according to Ornish, when the body detects that it is exerting a lot of energy in strenuous exercise, it slows the metabolism down in order to counteract this - it's trying to maintain the store of energy so that you don't starve. When you walk, your body does not get the same message, and so your metabolism stays the same and you burn calories without having to work as hard. Ornish does seem to get a little flakey towards the end of the first part of the book, where he talks about stress. If you are more scientifically minded, you can get beyond the psychobable/new-agey stuff and just retreave the main point that stress is bad. The second half of the book is a bunch of recipes by Ornish, but as stated by other reviewers here, these are somewhat ridiculous. Sure perhaps a wealthy diet-doctor or someone else with either a lot of money or time on their hands or both can make these recipes, but for the majority of us working stiffs, forget it! So I just ignored this part of the book. Don't even attempt it unless you have the qualities described above, and/or have a real love for cooking.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth every penny!
Review: A great book that can change your life for the better! Not many books teach you how to eat more and lose weight and help your heart.
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Summary: Colorful exciting recipes to keep you from boredom
Review: A very uplifting and motivational book. I really like all the abundant recipes that are creative yet appealing in a way that I won't feel the need to drop off the regimen. I disagree that the ingredients required to make the dishes are exotic, but then that's probably because I already have my pantry stocked with everything he suggests. Cancer runs in my family and our doctor suggested this book and what a book it is.
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Summary: incorrect info in review #1
Review: After reading the review(vitamin deficiency), I wanted it to be clear that this is totally incorrect. I don't understand how this person could be deficient in iron or B12 on a vegetarian diet.First of all, iron is found in leafy green vegetables, beans, nuts and dried fruit, all foods a vegetarian should be eating.Next, vegetarians do eat dairy products, so they have no problem getting B12 , which is in milk and eggs. B12 is only found in foods of animal origin, so vegans(people who don't eat any animal products) could possibly become deficient but they can take a supplement or eat fortified cereal.I would like to add that B12 is stored by the liver ,so only a tiny amount is needed and it would most likely take years to develop a deficiency. Last of all, it is not difficult to get vitamin D either, just go out in the sun! Anyway, this book is a great guide to a healthy life and I would highly recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: Should have been titled Low Fat meets No Taste
Review: Apparently, Dr. Ornish believes in the Tooth Fairy and Santa,too, because no one could put recipes that are so tasteless on the market if they didn't truly buy into what they preached. The info portion of the book is fine, but not many of us could sustain eating like this. The recipes are, in a word, miserable. Don't waste your $ on the ingredients, or on the book for that matter.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: Dean Ornish has some really interesting ideas about diet and exercise, some of which I agree with. Let me say that you CAN lose weight on this diet, and that most of the recipes are quite tasty, if somewhat time consuming to prepare. The problem is STAYING on a diet like this. Personally, I'm just too fond of cheese, beer,fish and avocados to ever convert to Ornish' regime. A healthy diet if you can manage it but ultimately too restrictive and impractical for the average working stiff.
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Summary: Makes sense to me!
Review: Dr. Dean Ornish has done some revolutionary research on reversing heart disease by diet, exercise, and positive social interaction. His diet is a life plan and is radically different from most American high-fat, high-calorie kind of eating. He advocates a drastic reduction in fat (10% instead of the more common 40%) in food intake. He explains that most diets are based on reduced portions which causes the dieter to feel hungry and want to go off the diet. Under his plan, the amount of food is not so important as the kind of food that you eat. He explains that all calories are not equal and that fat is the enemy of those who are concerned about heart disease. A radical change is threatening to most people, but he addresses those issues and puts forth a very convincing argument for the advantages of his program. Many of his recipes seem exotic and full of hard-to-find ingredients, but there are enough of them to satisfy the most particular palates, and readers can make their own modifications to produce more user-friendly recipes. For those who scoff, the results which Dr. Ornish's patients have seen are hard to deny.
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Summary: Exceptional guide for safely losing weight
Review: Dr. Ornish has written an exceptional guide for losing weight. I found the book extremely helpful in my quest for improving my diet. Within a short period of time of following this diet I found that not only had my percent body fat dropped, but I was feeling more energetic, clear minded, and productive at work. The wide range of recipes was very helpful, as were the sample menus. I've always been leery of trying new whole grains but the guide for cooking grains and the accompanying recipes were very helpful. Even my family enjoys the recipes. I was also impressed by the scientific research that had been conducted to support the diet guidelines. It reassured me. I will never go back to the way I used to eat.
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Summary: A great book about more than weight loss!
Review: Dr. Ornish hits people over the head with this book. He makes losing weight make sense. So many diets don't emphasize everything that is important to losing weight. In this book, Dr. Ornish addresses averything from the food you eat to self confidence.
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Summary: Good plan. Willpower required.
Review: Dr. Ornish's diet plan involves focusing overwhelmingly on vegan foods & avoiding as much as possible other foods. If this sounds like something doable for you & you have the time & energy to purchase & prepare the recomemded, often times elaborate recipies, then I highly recommend this book to you. I, personally - and I don't pretend to represent anybody other than myself - find this plan to be difficult as I like many of the foods that he would have me avoid & I don't see myself making all those recipies & staying on such a program for long. Luckily, I have been doing very well on Weight Watchers, a very different, more inclusive system. I have reached my weight goal & now have an ideal body mass index, a healthy blood pressure, & feel so much better thanks to Weight Watchers, not Ornish's Life Choice program; but to each his own. You might find his program superior.
Medically, I am not qualified to say anything about the biochemistry & health involved; his studies & research speak for themselves.
I thought the book was informative & could be helpful to many, so I was inclined to award 5 stars, but because I personally don't find the program suitable to my specific tastes, I knocked off a star. Judge for yourself.
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