Dr. Shintani's Hawaii Diet

Rating:
Summary: The Hawaii Diet works!
Review: About 2 months ago, I encouraged my dad to try the Hawaii Diet. He is overweight, diabetic, and often suffers from swollen feet/ankles because of his high-salt intake. I cooked the meals for him and within the first week of the diet, he was able to reduce his insulin and the swelling in his feet went down. Before he started the diet, he was taking 50 units of insulin a day. Now he uses only 15 units/day. And soon he will no longer have a need for it because his blood sugar levels are becoming normal. He has also lost over 20 lbs. He probably could have lost even more, but its hard to make a drastic change of diet, so he sometimes goes off of the diet a little. My dad and I both love the taste of the foods in the cookbook. The hardest part is getting used to eating meals without meat. If you live in Hawaii, where all the ingredients are easily accesible, you should give it a try! You will definetly see results quickly.

Rating:
Summary: This is the last diet book you ever will have to buy
Review: Hello,

I read the other reviews and like to add mine. I have tried every diet on the market for the last 35 years, I bought every diet book and have gone from meat to raw diets, over and over again, with no lasting results as to weight loss or practicality, something you can live with for ever. This book has the answer and I am so thankful to Dr. Shintani for this book.I am also glad that I kept on searching and found the answer. This book may not have the greatest menus, BUT it is the DIET that you are after, the menus you can create yourself or take normal menus and adapt them. Let this not put you off. Good luck and may your search stop here, Teresa

Rating:
Summary: It really works
Review: I bought this book for my father because he needed a diet he could follow. In his own words, "I eat like a pig" and he is STILL losing weight. Since he started following the Shintani plan two months ago, he has lost a whopping 40 pounds and is healthier than he has ever been in his life. I myself have eaten the foods prescribed (and reciped) in the book and found them to be tasty and satisfying. The foods are based on food we eat all the time here in Hawaii, so being on this diet is not like giving up the kinds of food we love to eat. May not be suitable for everyone's palate (but what diet really is?), but I have found it a wonderful way to get healthy.

Rating:
Summary: This book changed my life
Review: I have read the previous reviews and I feel that they have missed the point entirely. While it may appear on the surface to be a "fad" diet, it truly can and is a way of life here on the Islands. For those who have not visited Hawaii, you probably cannot appreciate the aloha spirit of life that this book endorses. This diet embraces what Hawaiians feel in the heart and offers a path to potential weight loss. I'd say try it before you knock it.

Rating:
Summary: Dr. Shintani has saved my husband's life.
Review: I totally disagree with the amazon[.com] reviewer's assessment of this book. This book has literally saved my husband's life. He is a diabetic and the vicious cycle of insulin causing increased hunger and weight gain, causing a need for more insulin, was killing him. His doctor's answer to treating his out-of-control diabetes was to increase his insulin dosage to a point where he was up to 270 units a day. He followed Dr. Shintani's diet and through the good fortune of living in Hawaii, has been able to consult with Dr. Shintani in person. He has lost 85 pounds in 8 months and stopped the insulin shots after only 5 months. Dr. Shintani is truly our guardian angel. We recommend his program to everyone suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. The program is totally backed by science and my husband is living proof that it works.

Rating:
Summary: Healthiest Diet on The Planet / Lacks Conveniece
Review: I'd like to start this review by stating that I wrote this from from the viewpoint of the average person who is generally healthy but just needs to loose a few pounds for appearance or long term heath reasons. I do not want to offend those who are firm believers of this diet or those who have had good results with it. However, I did want to express my opinion about it from my point of view. If I had chronic health problems, or was chronically overweight (50 to 100 lbs overweight) perhaps my review of this book would be different. However, all I need to do is loose 10-15 pounds.

With that being said, and being a healthy person who needs to loose a few pounds for appearance reasons only, I think that the problem with these diets is they make you eat things you wouldn't normally choose to eat, hence staying on it and maintaining the diet is always a problem. Finding the food in the portion and quantities advocated by a fad diet at the restaruant and sometimes even a market is always a problem with the fad diet.

The habit of my slim friends is in direct contradiciton to the main theory of this book which says you should fill up your stomach as much as possible, and eat until you are completely "full". In fact the slim people i know do not eat till they are full, they eat until they are satisfied. Another good habit is to wait till you are hungry to eat (but not excessively hungry because then you will overeat). The difference here is you try not to eat preemptively to control hunger before it starts, but you try to eat only when you are hungry and when you do eat, you eat as little as possible to take the edge of the hunger (not until your stomach is full). In this way, rather than eating at pre-set meal times (which may be preemptive eating and eating when your body isn't really hungry) or eating restaurant or other dicated portion sizes (which again, may be more than you really need), you instead pay close attention to eating only the minimal amount your body needs, when you need it. A side benefit to this is eating smaller meals more frequently which is said to increase metabolisim rather than eating fewer and larger meals. In times when ancient man was starved for food binging was necessary because he was hungry all the time. Now that we live in a modern society where food is more than abundant, we have to adapt and fight that type of programming, in order to get the desired results we want.

This is another reason I think this diet is pretty dangerous for the average person wanting to loose a few pounds -- it advocates binging. If you get used to eating "until you are full" and then happen to go off the diet, now your habit is to eat till you are full and you will be doing so with high caloric foods and gaining even more weight that before... And going off the diet (which I have tried) is pretty easy since again, in my opinion, these foods do not naturally taste very good nor arey they very appetizing...

I think a books like the "medeterranian diet" and "seven secrets of slim people" (which i just bought the other day) or similar are much more sensible. The former advocates mainly vegetables and whole grains, but allows minmal fats in the form of nuts and olive oil, which can be satisfing, in lieu of trans and saturated fats and minimal non-saturated fat type protien like chicken and fish. This recommendation is apparently based on scientific research and hundreds of years of proof in the lives of the meddeteranian people and what was naturally available to them in nature and the world around them. The latter seems to advocate what my slim friends already do -- eating sensibly, within reason and paying attention to your body's hunger signs, without them even having read that book. After reading the latter book, I don't think it is a reasonable way of life to have to stick to the unnatural hard and fast rules of any fad diet without exception. Instead, you can make more informed choices as to what you put into your body. To say that the only rule you will use in eating is whether the food is low calorie and high bulk to me is ridiculous. Your body needs good fat and also in this day and age, we can't reasonably dine out or eat socially, without eating "bad foods" once in a while. The latter book solves this problem and actually advocates that you can eat anything you want or crave, as long as you know how to eat sensibly. I think from now I will try to eat more sensible foods in accordaince with general guidelines, but without the rigid hard and fast rules of the fad diets.

I also believe the title of this book is slightly misleading. The diet is based on Dr. Shintani's theories and principles. The fact that Dr. Shintani lives in hawaii and developed the diet while in hawaii, makes some sense as to why the diet is called the hawaii diet. However, for another reader to suggest that all hawaiians follow this diet or that this diet was taken from ancient or present day hawaiian people's eating habits is not true. Possibly some of it is conincidentally true, but to my knowledge the ancient hawaiians did not go around carrying charts with them telling them which foods to eat because they specifically were trying to adhere to these scientific principles which they knew of.

Also, this diet has been around for quite a long time. In its' original form when first introduced, it was not called the "Hawaii Diet". Therefore, it leads me to believe that the scientific principles upon which this diet is based were developed first, and then the connection to the eating habits of the ancient hawaiians made later, and not vice versa (i.e., ancient hawaiian's eating habits are the basis or the genesis of the principles developed for this diet) as other reviewers would seem to indicate. For this reason I view the connection and link to the ancient hawaiians as more marketing of these princples more than anything else. Moroever, many of the advocated foods probably weren't things hawaiians had access to, like perhaps tomatoes or certain vegetable not indigenous to the islands or brought here by the hawaiian people. Although the diet includes a lot of exotic foods that probably existed in ancient hawaii, probably a great many of the recommended foods did not exist in ancient hawaii either. The fact that this book has menus which list meddeteranian and american mainstream shows this diet is not completely and "authentically" hawaiian only and really, i disagree with other reviewers that this diet is "authetically" hawaiian.

I am not trying to knock this diet in all cases but I am pointing out inconsistencies I see. The theories are sound but too rigid in my view.

Again, I personally believe it may be good for people with serious health problems who have a big enough incentive to want to jump through all the hoops and eat by these rigid rules. What I am saying is that for the average joe who doesn't have serious health problems but just wants to lower their weght or BMI for appearance reasons or long term health reasons, this type of diet is going to be a lot of hard work...

I guess since I do not believe I have any really major health issues right now, I am balancing results vs. effort with any diet I try and this diet (to me) does take a lot of effort if you are not naturally a vegan to begin with... It's too radical and drastic I believe. Perhaps if there were different levels of the diet it would be easier to incorporate and stick to but in my opinion (although I smoked only infrequently when I was younger) going from a regular diet to a diet like this is like trying to quit cold turkey.... To me there are absolutely no rewards for staying on this diet. Basically you have to change your lifestyle to foods that probably most people wouldn't enjoy eating very much all the time. The whole thing is that I believe most people will crave other types of foods not recommended in the diet and for that reason it will be very hard to stick to.

Moreover, although it may be true you don't count calories, now you have to carry a chart around to find the best food to eat as well as look all over town for just the right ingredients to use in the recipies. So what kind of tradeoff is that? Effort wise I'd say that although you don't have to count calories, now you have to do much more work making the foods you can eat taste good and using all these various recipies. It will be much more time consuming now than calorie counting would be. Again, if you have chronic health problems, maybe this will be still worth your time.

This diet seems to be marketed as a diet that "everyone" should follow for health reasons, which is why in part I called it a fad diet. It may in fact be a very healthy way of living. But in the age of fast food and ice cream and other goodies, how realistic is it to say that you cannot eat "any" of those foods at all?

In my opinion this diet should be marketed more as a diet for people with chronic health problems and not a diet that is good for everyone. I believe that the average person can stay healthy making the right choices "most of the time" as to what to eat instead of following really strict guidelines. In other words, the average healthy person can still afford to have dessert, candy or ice cream once in a while. To me this diet is like trying to pound a nail with a sledgehammer. It may be very very and extremely healthy -- but is it really necessary or very practical for the average person? In my opinion the answer is no, though again, that does not rule out it's usefulness in helping people who do have more serious health problems...

One last thing that concerns me with this diet though, is that even in this diet's purest form, how can one account for the fact that it has been scientfically shown that good fats such as fish oil and olive oil and nuts, which are calorie dense foods, have been actually shown in studies to increase health? Of course if one eats even good fats in excess it will not be healthy. However, it seems if one replaces normal and adequate levels of saturated fats with good type of fats instead, this may be better than eliminating all calorie dense fats completely. This is the only other small item where I disagree with the pure theory of the book.

If you are one of those total health nuts that buys everything you eat from the health food store, then maybe this book is for you and you will probably find it an easy transition. If you are more like the average person who eats take out food, fast food, pre-packaged and canned foods a lot, then I believe making the transition to this diet is going to be a rough and difficult change which is why I do not personally feel it has long-term staying power for the average person. If you have chronic health problems you may find the diet useful for your health though.

We live in an age of convenience where a lot of foods are processed and prepackaged. Perhaps many of these foods are not as healthy as they could be, but on the other hand, they are not necessarily always life threatening either. It seems the only way to stick to this diet strictly, would be to exclusively cook the foods allowed using the recipies given. How realistic is that for the average american? No eating at restaurants or buying pre-packaged foods. Basically cook everything at home and take it with you everywhere you go. I don't know about you but I am too busy to be spending all my time cooking.

To me, it is just common sense that the harder a diet is to stick to or the more effort it takes (as opposed to your normal eating habits), the less incentive you have to continue it.. It's great to have all these wonderful recipies, and they may be very very healthy, but in the practical sense, unless you are one of the fortunate few who has your own private chef, I don't think that expecting people to cook in this way for life is very realistic in this modern age of convenience, especially if many of the ingredients cannot be obtained readily at the market but need to be found at the health store or exotic foods store.

Of course again, living this way is probably a LOT more healthy than not, but the tradeoff for additional heath vs. emotional satisfaction from tasty foods and convenience, may not be worth it for the average person. I believe if you are relatively healthy you can still strike more of a balance between health, enjoyment of your food, and also, convenience in preparing your food, than this diet has to offer...


Then again, if you are chronically overweight, have serious health problems like high cholestorol, and have tried every other diet to help your health to no avail, then maybe this diet could work for you too....

I do not doubt the claims of this diet as to increased health and a lot of weight loss for many people. However, it seems the examples cited of people with most weight loss are people who are extremely overweight or who have more severe health problems. Therefore, rather than calling this a diet "everyone" should follow, I just feel it may not be applicable or may be too inconvenient and too extreme a change for the reasonably healthy person who just needs to loose a few pounds or eat healthier. I believe if your health is not too far deteriorated or if you are not excessively overweight, there are other diets and ways of eating that may suit your goals to a healthier lifestyle and weight loss, better than this method.

Rating:
Summary: Super book (only drawback are some of the foods you may need
Review: I've experimented with Dr. Ornish's plan, Dr. Atkins' plan, and with vegetarianism; I am NOT running Ornish down, but I gotta admit I DO like tuna fish now and again (by the way, the tuna fish I buy is not only dirt-cheap but is actually totally devoid of fat; and even regular canned-in-water tuna is incredibly low in fat). So Ornish's plan is not something I could strictly adhere to. Dr. Atkins' Diet led me gain body fat and weight; I dropped that like a hot brick. Vegetarianism is cool but it got to be a hassle with my family. Then....I chanced upon THIS book (and in fact got this book from my brother for Christmas).

Dr. Shintani is sort of like Dr. Deepak Chopra: He combines the best of Western medicine with the best of the ancient medicine of his own culture (in Chopra's case, that's Ayurvedic medicine; in Shintani's, of course, it's the wisdom and medicines of ancient Hawaii, before we Westerners screwed things up for them). And he explains -- without bashing, or badmouthing, or distorting facts to make them fit what he wants -- how in fact his diet plan can work.

Simply put, we all know that if you don't eat too many calories you either will not gain weight or in fact you'll LOSE weight. Ah, but how do you do that without feeling deprived? Basically by eating whole, unprocessed, natural foods which not only are low in fat and high in nutrients, but are high in satiety value (you'd have to eat a whole heck of a lot of them to get anywhere NEAR 2000 calories, plus a serving of them would fill you up so you feel satisfied and won't feel like eating more anyway). He suggests things like poi, taro, whole grains, non-dairy and non-meat sources of protein and calcium, and very low-fat foods. BUT he allows for various exceptions: For instance, you can use egg whites or skim milk if you like, or eat tuna and other low-fat meats and fish. He includes a Hawaii/Pacific diet, a Hawaii/mainstream American diet, and a Hawaii/Meditteranean diet so that you DO have choices and variations.

I would have given this book 5 stars, but for one little thing: Some of the recipes call for things that quite frankly we don't see too much of here on the East Coast (my produce store, what with its wonderful choices of apples, pears, cabbage, tomatoes, etc., just refuses to stock breadfruit! phooey!). So, you might not find the recipe section extremely useful, although many of the recipes, such as his low-fat oatmeal, are easy to make and really good too. Other than for that one little qualm I've got, it's a great book. At the very least, check it out: You'll learn a lot from this guy.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: If you are looking to learn more about HEALTHY, WHOLE, NATURAL foods, this would be the book to read.

THIS IS NOT A 'DIET' - you will not want to go on this for a short period of time. Anyone who has been successful in losing weight KNOWS that you must change your negative habits. This includes thoughts, as well as actions. Yo-yo dieting is deadly - find yourself a healthy LIFESTYLE to easily maintain for a life time.

This book, not only focuses on the foods to get healthy, it also focuses on the balance a person must achieve in their lives (whole lives, not just the weight). Balance, connection, relativity is the key to becoming a whole, healthy person.

I strongly encourage you to take the time to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Dr. Shintani has saved my husband's life.
Review: Terry Shintani has written a fine book on how to eat healthy foods, stay slim, eat as much as you want and really enjoy your food. He has a "Mass Index of Foods" to show you exactly why some foods (cheese, nuts, red meat, etc) are fattening and full of calories, while others (whole grains, beans, vegetables, fruits) are low in calories and you can eat all you want. He practices what he preaches and is very sincere. There are very few good diet authors and it is refreshing to read a valuable book like this.