Rating: 
Summary: BEST Low Carb Book EVER!!!!!
Review: Although most of the book was dedicated to spelling out exactly why a high carbohydrate/low fat is bad, there is still room for tons of explanation for why a low carbohydrate eating plan will help prevent and treat several major diseases. It includes the evolution of the low carb diet and the author's plan for success which is just not to eat above 72 grams of carbohydrate a day. Overall, an interesting, highly technical read for those interested in the why rather than the how of low carbing. Not really a weight loss book at all - more the biology of low carb. I for one am kind of tired about reading the evils of low-fat and would have prefered to see just the pros of low carb. That's why I gave the book 4 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this a textbook?
Review: For me personally this was marketed as a book for the average Joe (at least by the title, the cover, and even the "blurb" on the book jacket) however it read like my science textbook from college. Unless you have an affinity for the sciences you may end up completely lost and in a fog. If you want to know in depth the science behind low carbing this is it. No doubt about it. However I will have to read the book probably 3 more times to "get it". If you want to know more than a little bit but not as much as God himself then I recommend instead going with Protein Power or Carbohydrate Addicts or even Atkins. All those books explain the same thing. Not in as much detail but unless you have a degree in chemistry you may not even understand what these authors are talking about. That is just me though...I don't have the attention span for textbook reading.
Rating:
Summary: Life Transforming
Review: I am not a self-help book type of reader, but this book really has transformed the way I live. Having read it, I bought it for people I love (my parents, my brother). They were reluctant to read it and very skeptical, but, like me, once they read it, they too made significant dietary changes and are feeling much healthier, more energized, more balanced. The great thing about this book, as opposed to other low-carb books, is that it is not just about losing weight. It is about a body's overall health and how a low-carb lifestyle affects the body in many areas. The emphasis is on healthy tissue, not being a size 8. I like that.
Rating:
Summary: Better Late Than Never
Review: I read this book in conjunction with Dana Carpender's (How I Gave Up My Low-Fat Diet...)- I enjoyed her panoramic display of many lo-carb diet options - I enjoyed this book for its recounting of a doctor's actual successes with lo-carb diets, its review and analysis of various medical studies, and its showing of the wide applicability of the lo-carb diet to all aspects of health - it's not just a weight-reduction thing, but rather applies to all aspects of health.
Rating:
Summary: BEST LOW CARB BOOK OF ALL!
Review: I've read every low carb book under the sun, over 20 in all and this one takes the cake! Not only is it lacking in hype but is the most informative low carb information available. These authors say more than the Eades book, Protein Power Lifeplan. I'm convinced that a low carb diet works from personal experience, but the reasons to STAY on a lower carb diet are explained here. A lot of the information gets technical but for readers who want more explanation than what's usually in Atkins or other style low carb books, this is the book to choose. I'll reread this book many times.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and highly recommended
Review: Of all the books on low-carb eating, this is THE best written and THE best documented--the bibliography is excellent. The book is mostly a synopsis of Dr. Lutz' decades of work in Austria with thousands of patients using low-carb diets for a variety of diseases.The most valuable thing about the book is in it debunking of the many nutritional myths out there about saturated fats and animal protein. Many of the so-called "paleo diet" books go wrong in this area, but not Allan and Lutz. The section on Evolution is right on target and very much needed in this pro-vegetarian world we live in: Humans evolved as meat-eaters, PERIOD! Since our nutritional needs are genetically-determined, we must continue eating meat today to maintain good health. It is the high carbohydrate/low-fat diet that is alien to human physiology. And to the reviewer who wondered how Stefansson and Andersen did not develop scurvy while on their all meat and fat diet at Bellevue Hospital in the 1930s, raw meat does contain vitamin C. The two men were eating a mix of raw and cooked meat on their diet. Cooking destroys the vitamin C in fresh meat, but eating it raw makes C available to us.
Rating: 
Summary: Limit refined carbohydrates to reduce your risk of syndrme X
Review: Refined carbohydrates can increase your risk of sydrome X. Best avoid them.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: The person who gave this book one star has proven himself a fraud--had he actually read this book, he could not have written a review like that. This book answers many important questions about research that has been ignored or forgotten, including absolutely fascinating information about the way a cell's utilization of energy and overall function changes depending upon whether carbohydrates or protein and saturated fat are consumed. Combining that with information that is now known about our hunter-gatherer ancestors, simple common sense would dictate that limiting carbs is the logical way to eat to insure health. I noted the "in vivo/in vitro" mistake, but Allan, who probably wrote that part, is not a laboratory scientist and I'm willing to overlook it--could have even been a proofreader mistake. Also, I'm assuming that the meat eaten by Dr. Lutz's patients in Austria was likely to be cleaner, i.e. more grass-fed, or grain fed organically, than that of the US today, so I'd be interested in having that issue addressed. Nevertheless, eating excess carbs is clearly a prescription for illness.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST for low carb diet followers
Review: This book was a real eye-opener for me. It completely blasts the conventional (low fat, high carb) lifestyle that we have been taught is so "healthy" - when, infact it may be what is causing us to be so fat, so diabetic and so riddled with heart disease. One of the authors, Wolfgang Lutz, is a German Doctor who shares his 40+ years of treating more that 10,000 patients with a low carb high protein high fat diet. A technical book as well as a "diet" book - not just to lose weight, but how low carb/high protein eating just might be able to prevent and possibly cure heart disease, diabetes and digestive troubles. I know I will LIVE LONGER AND HEALTHIER for having read this book! Update: 10/9/2003: Since reading this book, I have followed the tenents, and: 1) Lost 52 lbs 2) My blood sugar has returned to normal. I feel better, eat well, am never hungry - and still believe I will live longer because of this book. Buy - read - learn - live LONGER!
Rating:
Summary: BEST Low Carb Book EVER!!!!!
Review: This is a fabulous book, and the reviewer of February 25, 2004 who gave it a bad review because he doesn't understand why the author's cut-off point is 72 grams carbs, didn't do his homework. The book spells it out loud and clear. It's on page 199 of the book under the subtitle "How Much is Enough?" In pre-insulin era days the amount of pure carbohydrate empirically calculated as being permissible for a diabetic was 72 grams per day. Further explanation is given, which you can read yourself. Of course if you want to lose weight and feel that number is too high, eat less carbs. Nobody is stopping you! If you are very active, eat more carbs! The choice is yours. The main focus of the book is the benefits of lowcarbing. Low carbing has helped me lose weight and maintain or shall I say regain my health. I used the diet in Life Without Bread. It works. This is a wonderful, wonderful book.
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