Rating: 
Summary: The Diet That Isn't
Review: Schwarzbein goes against all the current thinking on dieting. Exercise and balanced diet are good words that all doctors will tell you. From there Schwarzbein goes in a completely different direction. Count carbohydrates, not calories. Eat as much good fat and protein as your body needs. Eat 'real' food, not the processed and chemical-filled food that lines the grocery shelves. Stay away from the low-fat foods that make you feel hungry and contribute to hormonal imbalance.After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, my doctor gave me a 1500-calorie diet. That wasn't enough food to live on. I was lucky enough to have someone recommend the Schwarzbein book. In the past eight months I have lost over 50lbs, eating food I enjoy and feeling good about it. My doctor said to keep up what ever I am doing. He was happy when I said I was eating the number of carbohydrates listed in the 1500-calorie diet. I am sleeping the entire night. My blood pressure is at 125/72, down from 149/100. I had to buy new cloths, down from size 48 pants to size 44. Hopefully I will have to buy a smaller size in the next 6 months. Steak, bratwurst, bacon, butter, eggs, mayonnaise, and whole milk are all part of my normal diet, along with generous portions of salads. I can eat as much of these as my body wants. I make sure that I eat potatoes, bread, and whole grain cereal, but in limited portions. My blood glucose readings are in the normal range, and they agree with Schwarzbein's findings in her patient studies. The main emphasis of the book is not on losing weight. It is about becoming healthy, enjoying eating, and enjoying a long life. It isn't necessary to immediately make all the changes listed in the book. The goal is to gradually make the changes and enjoy life.
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Summary: The most important book I have ever read
Review: If you read this book you may never be the same again. I bought this because my friend lost 31lbs in the first year, and another 21 pounds by June the following year. When I saw her this Christmas she was gorgeous, svelte, glowing with health, full of energy. It seemed incongruous to see her tucking into hearty meals while I was starving on a lettuce leaf and losing nothing! It is early days for me, but after only five weeks I have lost nine pounds. That is nothing! In those weeks I have been feeling well for the first time in many years. I don't fall asleep the whole time. I can run after my small toddler, even though I don't weigh that much less. I seem to have become fitter. I can breathe. I have almost stopped using my asthma inhaler, no longer need my stomach coating tablets, have had no twinge from my gallbladder (which I was expecting to explode), and have been free of headaches (the bane of my life!) What IS going on? To be able to give up so many prescription medicines so quickly? Even if I never lose another pound, this will be worth it. I have bought five copies of this book for other people - people I love who might be in the same damaging low fat trap I was. I am astonished that doctors do not mention this diet - even when it is patently clear that a patient is faring badly on all the usual regimes. Did I mention the food is wonderful? It's everything you fantasised about when you were on a low fat diet, and more. I am NEVER hungry. I am NEVER bored with the food. I can ALWAYS find something to eat in restaurants. Only YOU can tell you are eating diet food - it looks like a regular meal to other people, in fact a rich meal! Whether you adopt this way of life or not, the book is invaluable for its clear description of how the body works, and what happens when it goes wrong. I feel much more confident now in discussing things with my doctor, and challenging her preconceptions. Thank you Ms Schwarzbein!
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Summary: Easy to Follow Introduction to Low Carb Lifestyle
Review: I recommend this book to those not familiar with the low carb lifestyle or, particularly, as a gift for those relatives and friends (we all have them) who are skeptical of low carbing. This is much more a lifestyle book that a traditional "diet". Her emphasis on good fats vs. bad fats should calm those who have the conception that low carb means eating bacon three times per day. Her emphasis on carbs per meal trather than per day makes the plan easy to follow. I was impressed with her clinical results as reported in the book. This is no fad diet!
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Summary: Finally an easy to understand solution
Review: The author explains the nuts and bolts of how your body works, but in terms that any layman can understand, with excellent picture illustrations!
The introduction is the cornerstone of the book, do not skip it!
This is not a diet, not a no-carb plan, but a simple solution of eating a balanced diet. I have the Atkins (too strict) books, and also the Protein Plan (good plan), but Dr. Schwarzbein exhibits real people, from the overweight, to the athlete, to the underweight person (all with health problems), and shows how by eating balanced meals, that their bodies will heal themselves. Most Americans are insulin resistant, due to years of low fat-high carb diets. For the first time I understand how eating good FAT does NOT make FAT in our bodies.
It is amazing the education you can absorb from this book, and the way us Americans are programmed to eat.
I am on my second week with this lifestyle change, and do not need those 10am snacks anymore, or crave sweets. I feel better, sleep better and do not get drowsey in the afternoon.
Recently I was at Universal Studios, FL and noticed the "quick" foods available...high carb, greasy fried, with tons of sugar, filler food I call it. Great thing is, I had no desire for that food...
Overall, great book. I even faxed Dr. Schwarzbein with some questions, and she replied!
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Summary: a lifestyle, not just a diet
Review: this book is great! unlike the other low-carb diet books i've read, this one focuses on creating sustainable habits. instead of rapid (and unhealthy) weight loss, this book teaches how to maintain health. losing (and keeping off) weight and ending food cravings are added benefits. the case studies get a bit redudant, but the rest of the book is just great. above all, it teaches you to learn to listen to your body, and to settle into a diet and lifestyle that are easy to maintain and make you feel great. my indigestion, weight gain, depression, and fatigue are completely gone now that i follow the diet...
Rating: 
Summary: The Schwarzbein Principle
Review: Interesting concept but may be difficult to follow. I have not tried the plan but have heard of others who have been successful with it
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Summary: Sensible and straight to the Point
Review: I have to say that after years of feeling depressed, tired and worn out, this book has been a wonderful find! I have been on diets since I was 12 years old and have done it all from unhealthy weight loss regimes to just packing on weight. I never realized what I was really putting into my body.( I am also an ex-smoker). I think the greatest eye opener was when the book states, to shop on the outer perimeters of the supermarket; that is where you can avoid all the processed items, and adhere to eating just real foods. I have been eating healthy for almost 2 weeks now, do not feel deprived,eat until I am satiated, and do not have to worry about calorie counting or severe measuring. I have lost almost 7 pounds already with little effort. I will say you have to be committed to changing your lifestyle and really wanting to heal. I will continue this forever. My energy level has increased which is great since I am a mother of 2 small children and work full time. Water has become my new drink of choice replacing alcohol, and diet soft drinks. Soon I hope to start exercising again. I recommend this book to anyone who is at their witts end with the diet yo-yoing and is now committed to healing themselves.
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Summary: Turning my health AROUND!!!
Review: My new doctor recommended this book and this lifestyle change. For the last 5-6 years I have been fighting declining health and increasing weight and all the medical community (until this doctor!) offered me was pills, diets, and treatment of symptoms. No one seemed interested in finding out what was causing the weight gain, fibromyalgia, migraines, incredible fatigue, increasing cholesterol, etc, etc. I carbohydrated and low-fat dieted myself into near diabetes (2 points off). When I went to my new doctor, I got two for the price of one - and I am beginning to get my life back!!!! Dr. Schwarzbein's book and plan may not be a "magic bullet" but it seems that way to me. I am rapidly feeling much better and gaining a significant amount of energy EVERY DAY. Quite frankly, I had just begun to accept that this was just the way my life was going to be. The most amazing thing is that I, a devout BREAD LOVER, have not found this difficult to do at all. The plan makes so much sense and works so well. I just cannot believe that the answer was so simple!!
ADDENDUM: I wrote the above on 7/31/2001. It is now 9/8/2001 and to my amazement, the one time I did NOT go "on a diet," the pounds have been dropping off at a healthy rate. Clothes that only minimally allowed breathing are now baggy. If you have NEVER had success with an eating-style, lifestyle change, TRUST this one. It works on so many levels - and the only one I really cared about was being able to be a healthy woman, able to meet the demands, challenges, and wonderment of the life God has given me.
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Summary: TWO YEARS
Review: I discovered this gem via the introduction in a Suzanne Somer's book. I had been following the standard high carb, low fat diet for about 15 years and was feeling completely miserable, with frequent illnesses and yearly weight gain. Following Schwarzbein's principles, I lost 35 pounds the first year, and another 7 this past spring. Any weight-loss program works at first, just because it is a change; but because this system is balanced, it continues to be beneficial, not to mention enjoyable and easy, even after nearly two years. Scared by some reviewers' statements about elevated cholesterol with this regime, I have mine checked each year. Although the combined cholesterol is on the high end of normal, my doc said this is because my HDL (good cholesterol) is extremely high. All other numbers are in excellent shape, blood pressure dropped to 100/60, energy is extraordinary. I can work out six days a week now and not only recover quickly, but I thoroughly enjoy the endorphin surges, the feeling of strength and elasticity. I'm now 49 and one of the most rewarding changes is that I am frequently told with sincerity and surprise, "You look GREAT!"
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Summary: enlightening
Review: I'm not tremendously overweight, I just want to lose about 15 lbs, so I picked up this book on a recommendation from a friend who was reallly gung ho about it. I've only just finished reading the book and been basically eating the right foods, and I can say I definitely feel better, haven't had a tea or coke, which I needed religously to start everyday and for lunch, in a week.....what a difference. Can't wait to wake up and see my progress. Now, granted I have only been doing this for a week, and I have got a long way to go, but I have spoken to my wife and told her I want us to change the way we eat, for our sakes and for our family. The book is very logical and very simple at the same time, you don't need a phd to understand it. After all your body is a machine, just like any other machine, when you find out what makes it tick, you can get it to run smoothly and efficiently. Anyway, just buy the book, it's better than spending it on a six pack and a bag of chips or 2 liter bottle of Coke. One last thing, the reason I am writing this review is because I am here buying 2 more copies for my mom and uncle who really need it, and I feel that strongly about it. Plus I want them to be around to enjoy my kids when they grow up.
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