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Rating: 
Summary: What?
Review: 800 calories for a low fat muffin? Ridiculous!
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Summary: One that finally worked for me!
Review: Dr. Shapiro's book is excellent and realistic. It shows you how to eat. He opens up your eyes to the amount of calories one easily eats in a day. I strongly recommend this book to dieters.
Rating:
Summary: What?
Review: I bought this book back in December 2002 to read when I was bummed about my weight. I found the examples enlightening and simple to understand. I was also pleased to read the stories of other folks with my problems.Since then I've lost 55 lbs. Bottom line - it didn't loose the 55 lbs for me (exercise in combination did) but it sure helped me get on the right path.
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Summary: Not a diet book
Review: I have been looking for exactly the information in this book for some time. I seem to be constantly eating, yet constantly hungry. I also avoid diet fads, because I'm very active and am afraid that diets will harm my performance in my favorite sports. When I feel hungry, I get tired, cranky, and can even get almost dizzy. That's why I eat constantly! However, this book showed me what to eat so I feel full but reduce my overall calories. Since I began using Dr. Shapiro's program, I feel better and have control of my appetite. My athletic performance has not faltered. And I lost weight. I only have one problem with this book. Many of the examples are excellent. For example, if you have a sweet tooth and love ice cream, the pictures show you that you can eat many more popsicles than ice cream for the same calories. That's great for people who have a sweet tooth. However, the book is almost entirely lacking in good substitutes for people like me who crave cheese and dairy.
Rating:
Summary: Good at raising awareness, but rather one-sided
Review: I think the immense virtue of this book is that it raises people's awareness about the foods they eat: many people blindly assume that if a food item is "fat-free" it's "healthy," or that certain foods are ipso facto "fattening," but Dr. Shapiro pops that bubble neatly. And by showing that you can improve your diet by making the right choices among easily available foods, vs. following someone's weird (or expensive) "diet plan," he's done everyone a great service. Still, I have some problems with his approach: (1) His concept of protein equals "soy," which is fine if you're a vegetarian, but those of us who still include moderate amounts of animal protein in our diets would have appreciated some guidance there too. (My doctor says I'm "pre-diabetic," so I'm trying to raise my protein intake and reduce carbohydrates, but it's hard to stick to this regimen if my only choice is tofu!) (2) The implication of many of the pictures is that quantity is more important than content -- but one reason Americans are fatter today is that we've grown accustomed to "supersizing" everything and stuffing ourselves. I think portion control is just as important as making the right choices. (3) He doesn't (usually) take into account the carbohydrate vs. protein content of the foods he compares. Given the choice between eating only fruit or having a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, I'd choose the latter because I need the protein. I think that the book is fundamentally sound and very helpful, but I'd appreciate it if, in future editions, Dr. Shapiro made more of an effort to address these issues too.
Rating: 
Summary: A Revelation of Common Sense.
Review: It's about time that someone put some common sense into eating. Dr. Shapiro does just that. He shows us with pictures and words that losing weight doesn't mean starving to death and doesn't mean giving up eating well both in quality and quanity. Common sense may tell you a lot of what Dr. Shapiro presents here (like, eat more fruit and vegitables and grain products such as breads). but he has taken the leg work out of determining what foods to eat. As he tells us, there are no bad foods. But, he shows how we can make choices that will fill us up, keep us healthy and help us shed the pounds without fads, starvation and chronic weight loss/weight gain cycles. This book is an eye openner to anyone wanting to loose weight or just eat healthier. A revelation of common sense.
Rating:
Summary: Neither fish nor fowl
Review: It's not quite the Atkins Diet, it's not quite the Zone Diet. I don't know quite what to think of it other than some of the pictures were pretty startling showing the calories in a cup of cashews compared with a bunch of pineapples and some such other items. But it didn't help me lose any weight. I will admit, however, that I'll stay away from cashews.
Rating: 
Summary: Learn food choices
Review: The photos of this book really are an outstanding way to get people to re-think their food choices. I have to agree with other critics, though, that his push of soy products gets old. Soy products are expensive, not available everywhere, and some people (not me, but my husband) just hate them. Yet Dr. Shapiro gives almost no other protein options. He also uses low-sugar products, many of which have artificial sweeteners that many people would argue are more unhealthy than sugar. Also, he uses some super-size foods for basic comparisons...he uses an oversized 400 calorie bagel as an example, yet the bagels my family buys prepackaged from the store have only 180 calories. My point is this: Dr. Shapiro's book will get you out of your comfort zone and make you re-evaluate what you eat, which is fabulous So use that same principle when using his book. You can still have a turkey sandwich if you use less meat than his photos, and no-fat mayo -- you don't have to use expensive soy lunch products. I also found it disappoining that he included photos of specialized dishes, but then didn't provide recipes. All this aside, I have lost weight because I am incorporating much from his book into my eating choices.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea, not so great execution....
Review: When I first bought the book, I could not put it down and read it cover to cover. It was fascinating, beautifully done, and the concept unique, fresh and interesting. The calorie information, photos, and "choices" were awesome. I loved seeing how much Chinese food one could consume and promptly went and ordered that menu at a local restaurant!
Dr. Shapiro is a chiropractor, not an M.D. or Ph.D. His explanations of the "other diet programs", especially Atkins were weak, like he doesn't really understand the theory.
I wish people well who try Dr. Shapiro's approach. However, I don't think most Americans will eat cheeseless, veggie pizzas, and tofu burgers instead of "the real thing"... or can give up bagels, meat and chicken. I think portion control is more realistic. I highly recommend it as an inspirational reference book, and I'm glad I have it on my bookshelf.
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