The Fit-Or-Fat Target Diet

Rating:
Summary: ONE BOOK WHICH HELPED LAUNCH HIGH CARB/LOW FAT CRAZE!
Review: At first I didn't get this book because of another reviewer's comments. But, I like Covert Bailey's books so much that I decided to go for it. I'm glad I did. There's different material here than in Smart Eating -- greater depth. The prior reviewer mentioned "Bailey units," which is not a concept in the book. I suspect the reviewer was referring to the target units used to analyze food for serving size, calories, and nutritional value. It's similar to other units, points, or exchange models. I found the target unit analysis very useful as a tool for checking up on how I'm doing. I've been very successful eating low fat and have lost 46 pounds, but a recent analysis of my eating using the concepts in this book revealed some room for improving the nutritional quality of my food. Someone new to the target concept might need to do more analysis at first to get used to the model. The circular target chart is a bit clearer in Smart Eating, but The Fit or Fat Target Diet doesn't have all those recipes. Great stuff for analyzing food quality.

Rating:
Summary: great way to analyze the nutritional value of low-fat food
Review: At first I didn't get this book because of another reviewer's comments. But, I like Covert Bailey's books so much that I decided to go for it. I'm glad I did. There's different material here than in Smart Eating -- greater depth. The prior reviewer mentioned "Bailey units," which is not a concept in the book. I suspect the reviewer was referring to the target units used to analyze food for serving size, calories, and nutritional value. It's similar to other units, points, or exchange models. I found the target unit analysis very useful as a tool for checking up on how I'm doing. I've been very successful eating low fat and have lost 46 pounds, but a recent analysis of my eating using the concepts in this book revealed some room for improving the nutritional quality of my food. Someone new to the target concept might need to do more analysis at first to get used to the model. The circular target chart is a bit clearer in Smart Eating, but The Fit or Fat Target Diet doesn't have all those recipes. Great stuff for analyzing food quality.

Rating:
Summary: Some Good Advice, Some Poor Advice
Review: I'm not sure where I should put this book in terms of how good it is. Undoubtedly, it has some good advice and I would be lying if I said otherwise. At the same time, Bailey is off the deep end, which is fine if you too are off the deep end. But if you're only starting to get into a pattern of weight loss and healthy eating, this book is probably going to turn you away from that.

The fact of the matter is that Bailey has some good advice shrouded in inanity. If you eat cheese and crackers, chips, cookies, and honey roasted peanuts every night, you're not going to stop that completely and eat non-fat yogurt, non-fat cottage cheese, and ice cream once a year. It's just not going to happen. To think as much is pure folly.

The problem with this book, and every other diet book out there, is that they all say to do it now. Now now now. This makes little sense, since we have to consider the fact that any change is something we want to maintain for the rest of our lives. So, while yogurt and cottage cheese might be the ultimate goal, I think it's more effective to start with one small change at a time.

If you're not starting from scratch, but are trying to get a feel for how to hone your current healthy eating habits, this book is for you. This is precisely where I found myself and I think it did open my eyes to a few things. For instance, I think the anti-fat bandwagon is way, way overblown. But in this book, Bailey does make a good point that many of the foods that are high in fat are also very low in nutrition density. This is by far the best argument yet for avoiding things like cheese and honey.

Still, I think eating 1 bowl of ice cream a year is well into fanaticism. As is his obsession with fat. Cutting down is good. Avoiding it like it's evil is another thing entirely. In fact, it bothers me that Bailey seems to suggest that chemical substitutes are an acceptable way to avoid fat. That's a bothersome notion.

And really, why on earth would you be against pancakes? I eat buckwheat pancakes with fresh fruit and no syrup. Please explain to me why this is bad. Our psychotic fixation with directing unnecessary derision against one food is clinical sometimes. This book provides some serious examples of that.

Another thing I do not like is that portion control is not a goal in this book. He essentially admits that it's fine to eat like a slathering hog, just so long as you eat healthy food. I could not agree with that less. One of the problems we have in this society is that we cannot and will not control the amount of food we eat. If we ate reasonable amounts, there would be less of a need to consume 3 pounds of lettuce every night.

Having said that, I will reiterate that the content of the book is solid, in terms of what should and should not be eaten. Hey, let's face it, 24 ounces of steak every few days is going to kill us. Period. Eating foods high in calories and low in nutrition will fatten us, and leave us unhealthy, yearning for the nutrition our bodies require.

The concept of nutrition density is one that people should take from the book. We need nutrition, not calories. If we get ample nutrition then we're all set. If, however, we pile on the calories and lack the nutrition, our bodies cry for more food. And we give it more food, usually bad stuff.

So take the idea of nutrition density from this book. But leave the artificial substitutes there. And leave the notion that you can stuff yourself at every meal. Those are bad ideas, period. Eat a nutritious diet, learn portion control, and keep it natural and you'll do fine, even if you do eat ice cream (small portions) every night.

Worth the read, but beware of neurotic & poorly thought out advice.

Rating:
Summary: ONE BOOK WHICH HELPED LAUNCH HIGH CARB/LOW FAT CRAZE!
Review: Sometime in the late 70s to early 80s an anti-fat movement began to gain momentum, to the complete detriment of American health. Mr. Bailey along with Nathan Pritikin, Jane Brody, Dean Ornish, and many others (including that hyperactive woman who kept screaming: "Stop the insanity) became the gurus who have helped lead Americans into the state of health we are in today. Ladies and gentlemen, please read the statistics - Americans have never been so obese, not to mention the fact that type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. are increasing in this country. The "eat all you want", high carb/no fat/low fat solution may work (at best) if you workout maniacally, to the extreme on a daily basis (stop or reduce your daily workout and the weight comes back with a vengeance - EVEN IF - you are still following your no fat/high carb plan! Since the mid 80s I had tried to lose weight and keep it off by following this philosophy and I experienced short periods of weight reduction at best (it was always an unrelenting struggle). I would always gain the weight back faster than ever before - that is - until I got off the "fat free/low carb merry-go-round" and switched to the "Protein Power Program". I've lost the weight painlessly, gained energy, and only have to workout 3 to 4 days a week to maintain (I include free weights, and Pilates). It's hard to believe that after all these years the philosophy behind books such as this one continues to prevail. I only wish I could give this book 0 stars. Please check out the books by Drs. Michael & Mary Dan Eades, Dr. Atkins, and Dana Carpenter, and Dr. Diana Schwarzbein.