Rating: 
Summary: TRY AND SEE -- IT'S WELL WORTH IT.
Review: I never in my wildest dreams thought I could give up carbs. What a shock -- I don't miss them.Yesterday, even an apple tasted like sugar. This book is the best for describing all the different foods and their actions with the body and what foods and why you should eat together.This book does not beat around the bush. It even has sample menus and recipes to help you get started. I started my new eating plan the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I have went down 1 dress size. My B/P 122/60.I definitely have more energy and my mood has elevated greatly. I'm looking to get off all my meds and I know this is the way! I have read three other books -- THIS IS THE ONE!
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Summary: Free to Live and Enjoy Life
Review: I have been following Diana Schwarzbein's guidelines for about 4 months now. I have all the praise for the book that other reviewers have expressed here. For those whose progress has been slow, I thought I'd share this observation. Looking back, I can say that after the initial significant loss of inches, I can best describe my progress as 2 steps forward - 1 step back. There are times when I simply can't help myself but switch to a carb-heavy diet, including sweets and potato chips. This phase usually lasts for two or three days. At those times I gain some weight/inches back, and it can be pretty tough psychologically. The good news is that although at these times I think I've completely shot the results and gained everything back, it is usually a pleasant surprise to find out that the smaller size clothes still fit, albeit a bit tighter. I've noticed that these "binges" happen after the next stage in inch-loss has been reached. It is as if the body is fighting back to hold on to those next fat deposits that are being attacked - and who can blame it! As D.S. explains, our bodies are programmed to gain - and hold on to - fat to provide for times of stress and famine. The beauty of the plan, however, is that once you are used to eating a protein-rich diet, it becomes easy to go back on track. The "binges" are nothing like what usually accompanies low-fat/high-carb diets. You'll find it has suddenly become difficult to eat a whole candy-bar anymore, and there'll be no more of that ice-cream consumption by the gallon. In fact, you'll find the ice-cream so sweet, you won't be able to go past the first several spoonfuls. (Trust me, I tried!) And after two-three days, you'll feel like going back to the plan because you will simply be feeling like a wreck. So be patient. After the next try, your body will give up a few more ounces of fat. But you have to convince it that there is nothing to fear - that there will always be a steady supply of balanced nutrious food, and those fat deposits are not needed. "Two steps forward, one step back" may seem like a slow progress, but it's progress nonetheless, and that's more than can be said about other diets. Eating this way will also free you from the gym obsession. You'll notice that once you've built a certain amount of muscle with weight-lifting exercises, your metabolism will be working without your having to stair-master yourself to exhaustion every morning. I do weight-lifting with some regularity (although haven't for the last month and a half) and get the rest of my exercise from walking to and from work. Even extended business trips, with no excercise and abunadnce of hotel mini-bar temptations, do not throw me off anymore. But the best part is that this way of eating and living has helped me take my mind off food and weight loss and free it for other pursuits. It's the best result I could ever hope for.
Rating:
Summary: If a health body & an improved quality of life is important
Review: The all important question, "Why should I change my eating patterns?" is specifically explained. Dr. Schwarzbein educates the reader as to exactly what is and how to achieve a balanced diet. A must read for an educated consumer.
Rating:
Summary: The Schwarzbein Principle worked for me
Review: I purchased the book early last summer, and read it in a few days. It made lots of sense. I had been eating low-fat/high carb for about five years before, and my weight and body fat slowly crept up. I felt exhausted and hungry all the time. After eight weeks on the healing plan, I lost 12 pounds, and definitely firmed up. I then switched to the maintenance plan, and allowed myself about twice the carbs of the healing plan. I still kept losing, about half a pound a week, and felt great. The heartburn that I have been plagued with for years disappeared, and my cholesterol levels remained okay. Unfortunately, my family and work life got very busy around the end of September, and there wasn't enough time to make proper meals. I went off the plan, started eating fast food, convenience foods and other bad things. Sure enough, the weight came right back. Things should calm down after the start of the new year, and then I'm going back on the plan, forever hopefully. Some tips to make the diet easier: 1) Working a full time job and eating eggs every morning did not work for me. I tried that for a couple weeks and ended up spending over an hour each morning messing with breakfast. I found a good alternative in making shakes from protein powders. I add flaxseed and safflower oils, cocoa powder and fruit to provide the proper amount of protein, carbs, fat and fiber. I make a blender full of this drink in the morning, adding ice to make a cold shake. 2) Balance Bars (available at health food stores) make a good quick snack on the maintenance plan. 3) The extract of the herb Stevia (also available at health food stores) is a great natural sweetener, an alternative to aspartame. I use it to sweeten my protein shake, decaf coffee and tea.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to Follow...and IT WORKS!
Review: I believe in the validity of reduced carbohydrate diets. After getting fatter and fatter eating low-fat, feeling starved all the time, and thinking there was something wrong with me because it wasn't "working"...I know realize that I am hyperinsulinemic, and most people who crave carbos and get fat eating too much of them probably are too. I've been on this a few weeks, am losing slowly, and have much more engery. Am I perfect? No. I don't agree with the good doctor on some minor issues, like not eating artifical sweeteners (NOBODY'S going to make me give up my low carbohydrate cheesecakes!), and why raw carrots are ok, but cooked aren't (some resources I have show me there's not much carb difference between the two)...and I don't understand the emphasis on hormone replacement therapy (it isn't explained in depth). But even with these minor annoyances, the book still rates FIVE STARS for me, because it is a healthy, easy to follow eating plan which I can stick to. Her cookooks are great too! -
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Summary: You MUST Read This Book!
Review: This book has cleared up so MANY misnomers about my eating,mood swings, weight gain, and energy loss. I realize now that I havebeen eating, and THINKING improperly. I always ate lots of pasta, bread, and sugar (that doesn't have any fat right? Wrong!) I have rethought the way I live, and the results are outstanding. My goal is not to be hopelessly thin, but to have plenty of energy, and to stop gaining weight. Thank You Dr.Schwarzbein.
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Summary: This one will change your life!
Review: I've been on the program for about 7 weeks, have lost 7 lbs, and everything Dr. S says is true. Fat turns to muscle, belly fat disappears, energy returns, cravings go away, digestion improves dramatically, complexion gets better. Believe me, you don't have to run out and buy lots of organic and expensive food...it's a goal, but if it's not practical, don't lose sleep over it. No time to cook? A caesar salad with chicken takes a minute. Lunch is often cottage cheese with some fruit and pecans. Breakfast is a couple eggs with buttered wheat toast. Nice to be eating nuts and cheese which I craved all my life...there must have been a reason. It's nice to be eating "normally" again! A word of advice--toss out that bathroom scale and start walking when you go on this program...you'll be amazed at how good you feel in a couple weeks.
Rating:
Summary: The definitve guide to successful weight loss and health...
Review: This book is a true gem. I have struggled with my weight for all of my adult life. This is the first time I have read nutritional life style information with the science to back it up. It's logical and effective. This is not a fad diet, but a clear education on how your body works and how it processes the foods we eat. It will provide you with a clear understanding of your body and why we gain or lose weight and how what we eat affects not only our bodies, but our minds as well. I have lost over 20 pounds over the past 3 months without "dieting" and I am more stronger emotionally and sharper mentally than I have been in many many years. Although I do not strictly adhere to all of the "principles", I am aware of them and try to achieve them as much as possible in my daily routine. I know over time, I will incorporate more of these "principles" into my lifestyle and be all the better for it. I would like to thank Dr. Schwarbein for providing us with this invaluable information and I would like to thank Suzanne Sommers for introducing me to Dr. Schwarbein.
Rating:
Summary: Best Nutrition Advice on the Market!
Review: As a Nutritionist in private practice, I see many people everyday who are starving themselves on low fat, low protein diets, afraid they will gain weight or even die if they eat butter or an egg. It is such a shame that so many dieticians and nutritionists are ready to cast aside and condemn such sound nutritional advice. When I adjust a client's diet accordingly, having them eat "real" food, the results are amazing. In my lectures and my talks, I tell people all the time that the human body is designed to run on real food, not all of the packaged, enhanced, preserved, refined particles of foods and chemicals that we feed it on a daily basis in this country! People do not know what it is like to eat "real" food anymore. And, to boot, that practice is actually condoned by the very people who are supposed to be helping them! No wonder people have no energy, gain weight easily, and have long term, chronic illnesses. Dr. Schwarzbein's book is easy to read, easy to understand, and her program is easy to follow. I do wish there were just a bit more indepth information for people who have not really damaged their metabolism but would like to drop only a few pounds and for people who are confused about the appropriate amount of carbohydrates to eat at each meal and snack after completing the "healing program", as well as when to no longer follow the "healing program". By and large, this is still the best nurtrition book on the market, to date! This fat (and protein)phobia has just got to stop!
Rating: 
Summary: Tentatively hopeful
Review: AFter a rather circuitous path looking at other low-carb plans, I figuratively bumped into this book. I also saw Dr. Swarzbein on TNN. I was impressed by the common-sense, no-hype approach and have bought the book and am trying it out. I am only on day 2! Still, in doing grocery shopping, I found it really hard to not buy "light" cream cheese and "light" anything else I needed. Having cream and butter on my oatmeal, after eating eggs and sausage is a major challenge to my way of thinking. I have to keep telling myself that the old ways haven't worked, so what do I have to loose. I am at least eating food that tastes great. I don't know that I am going to be able to eat eggs every day though! There has to be something else for breakfast! Also, I can't seem to find cream that DOESN'T have chemicals in it. Anyone else have this problem? Does any one know how this compares to the Suzanne Somer's books? I know that they are based on the Swarzbein principle. Wish me luck! My 4-star rating reflects my resistance to believing this might be "the answer"(yet again).
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