Turn Off the Fat Genes : The Revolutionary Guide to Losing Weight

Rating:
Summary: Think twice before wasting money on this book
Review: Do not buy this book unless you believe all dairy, meats, and nuts are evil and should be banned! This man is an extreme vegan and for those who do not know what that is, it is a person that believes milk, eggs, nuts, fish, and meats will kill you. Feeding chicken to a child is the cause of obesity in America today! Even breastmilk is demonized. Now that I have that out of my system, the greastest disappointment with this book is the utter lack of theory and the studies to back it up. On virtually every page of all his books (yes, I have suffered through them) are wild opinions with no references whatsoever. For example, he states that in an uncontrolled study (or, in otherwords, unscientific) carbohydrates do not cause obesity but then just a few pages later states that carbohydrates may cause weight or fat gain. Now which is it? I was the most shocked on his recommendation that diets with no fats and just vegetables and grains provide enough fat. His idea of turning off the fat gene is not eating fat all together and if you eat enough vegetables and pasta you will no longer crave it. Oh please, if dieting were that easy we would all be thin. His idea of controling food cravings is stuffing yourself with pasta or cold cereal but please no butter or milk. He says that all nuts are bad because of the fat level but for those of you interested Cooking Light has reported a double-blind study of women eating nuts for a period of time and reported no weight gain. Nuts are also full of vitamins and antioxidants. I find difficulty in his continual statements that if a person does not agree with him and his medical cohorts they are confused and do not understand the greater knowledge. I wanted to find evidence that low-carbohydrate diets are bad and wanted legitimate data to back his assertions but the studies are just not there. So the bottom line is if you want a vegan life, go for it! You can look as gaunt and sickly as the author himself in just six weeks and be just as fanatical!

Rating:
Summary: Think twice before wasting money on this book
Review: Do not buy this book unless you believe all dairy, meats, and nuts are evil and should be banned! This man is an extreme vegan and for those who do not know what that is, it is a person that believes milk, eggs, nuts, fish, and meats will kill you. Feeding chicken to a child is the cause of obesity in America today! Even breastmilk is demonized. Now that I have that out of my system, the greastest disappointment with this book is the utter lack of theory and the studies to back it up. On virtually every page of all his books (yes, I have suffered through them) are wild opinions with no references whatsoever. For example, he states that in an uncontrolled study (or, in otherwords, unscientific) carbohydrates do not cause obesity but then just a few pages later states that carbohydrates may cause weight or fat gain. Now which is it? I was the most shocked on his recommendation that diets with no fats and just vegetables and grains provide enough fat. His idea of turning off the fat gene is not eating fat all together and if you eat enough vegetables and pasta you will no longer crave it. Oh please, if dieting were that easy we would all be thin. His idea of controling food cravings is stuffing yourself with pasta or cold cereal but please no butter or milk. He says that all nuts are bad because of the fat level but for those of you interested Cooking Light has reported a double-blind study of women eating nuts for a period of time and reported no weight gain. Nuts are also full of vitamins and antioxidants. I find difficulty in his continual statements that if a person does not agree with him and his medical cohorts they are confused and do not understand the greater knowledge. I wanted to find evidence that low-carbohydrate diets are bad and wanted legitimate data to back his assertions but the studies are just not there. So the bottom line is if you want a vegan life, go for it! You can look as gaunt and sickly as the author himself in just six weeks and be just as fanatical!

Rating:
Summary: Nothing new. Not for health knowledgeable readers
Review: I picked up this book, thinking it had something new on healthy eating. Big error! Barnard presents nothing new. Eat whole grains, don't skip meals, eat several small meals, fruits, vegetables and the other lingo that any health conscious reader already knows.

I was expecting to read about how food xyz sparks gene abc and causes weight gain or loss. Instead, I got a lot of theory without intelligent analysis of the data.

His blasting of fat is a joke!! He postulates fat-free eating?! That I would say be careful, fat is good, it is just the type of fat. Cut down on the saturated. He even says no to Olive oil!! Now that totally put me off.

His write off on meats, chicken etc is another joke. Argentina main food is meat yet less than 2 in 10 people are overweight. Studies have shown that the bad rap for meat is misplaced and I agree. I think we should examine what we feed our meat. All that genetic modification is the culprit!

In all, save your money. Nothing new, trust me...unless your are a beginner, even then, be careful.

Rating:
Summary: This is one healthy book
Review: I would like to say that as a vegetarian I am in good health. I am now in better health since I bought this book. Inside you will find great recipes, hints, and a program to help you lose the extra pounds. Thank you Dr. Neal Barnard!

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Delicious Recipes!
Review: It is not to be believed how wonderful these recipes are! It even got me to eat eggplant (which I hate!), but now I buy it almost every week just to make the delectable "Eggplant Manicotti" recipe. Other favorite recipes from this book include, "Potato Enchiladas", "Polenta Pizza" and "Lasagne Roll-Ups". All the recipes are simple to prepare and I haven't run across a single hard to find, strange or exotic ingredient I couldn't find at my neighborhood grocery store. I have tried several of these 100% vegan (strict vegetarian) recipe's and they have infused my daily meals with the flavor I never knew was missing.
This is now, officially my favorite cookbook.

To top it all off, every non-vegetarian who has tried the recipes I've made from this book have wanted the recipe for the dish afterwards.

I would also highly suggest you try, "Melody of India cuisine : tasteful new vegetarian recipes celebrating soy and tofu in traditional Indian foods" by Laxmi Jain, "The Uncheese Book", "Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure" and my second favorite vegetarian cookbook of all times, "How it all Vegan".

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Delicious Recipes!
Review: This could have been a much shorter book; on dozens of occasions, I found myself thinking, "Oh, come on; skip the theory, and let's cut to the chase! Enough obscure biochemistry already, just tell me what to eat, and we'll be all done!"

Well, OK; I'm impatient. And too much theory is always preferable to too little. The diet recommendations are basically the sound, healthy diet recommendations we've been getting for years: eat whole grains, more fruit, more vegetables, less fat, less sugar, and exercise more. The presentation is unique, in that Dr. Barnard suggests that this diet will somehow 'trick' our genes into making us slim. Well, this diet would make anyone slim, regardless of their genetic structure. Perhaps the book sheds light on why what happens, happens; but the actual recommendations are nothing new. I deducted one point for this reason alone; taking the same, tired old idea and putting a new wrapper on it doesn't make it a new idea. This book is not about do it yourself gene therapy, despite the sexy title; it's a vegetarian diet, and that's it.

One thing that I did like was the included meal planner; Similarly, I also appreciated the many, many recipes that make up the last half of the book. It's nice to start a diet with much of the hard work - the diet planning - already done for you. There's also a sourcing guide, if some of the raw materials prove hard to find. Something that is absent, is a discussion of vitamin and mineral supplements (although Dr. Barnard does mention the importance of B12). Multivitamins are a contentious issue; many feel that 'you can get all the nutrition you need with a knife and fork', while still others feel that concentrated multivitamins are not well absorbed, and tend to pass through the system without providing benefit. Personally, I believe high quality multivitamins are important; but aside from suggesting the consumption of any common, inexpensive multivitamin, Dr. Barnard makes no suggestions, one way or the other.

Dr. Barnard also does not mention alcohol consumption in his book; nor does he mention artificial sweetener use. However, on websites that he has participated in creating, he warns against alcohol consumption (cancer risk). I guess that, after making the major change to a vegetarian diet, Dr. Barnard felt we might need a drink. He might well be right.

The diet does not include specific portions; indeed, Dr. Barnard suggests that you let hunger be your guide. He does provide a 'rule of thumb' that you should consume 10 calories daily for each pound of your target weight; that is, if you want to wind up at 150 pounds, you should consume 1,500 calories daily. But this is only a guide, not an absolute. Indeed, he warns against eating too little, and suggests that we should eat second helpings if we want them. There's no reason to go hungry on this diet.

The diet is largely a subset of a vegetarian diet in nature, but Dr. Barnard does not present it as such; his presentation seems to be coming entirely from a 'whats best for you' approach, which winds up being essentially a vegetarian diet (minus high fat items, like nuts). The motivation seems to be based purely on health, not ethics. However, it is difficult to determine to what degree his health beliefs have been influenced by his moral stance; Dr. Barnard is a strong supporter of a strict vegetarian diet, which means no consumption of animal flesh or animal products such as eggs, milk, or butter. He is also an outspoken critic of using animals for medical testing purposes.

In reviewing the reviews of his earlier works, people tend to fall into three categories: Those who felt Dr. Barnard was trying to trick them into vegetarianism, and were very angry as a result; those who were confused, because the philosophy of this book runs counter to high protein/low carbo books, such as Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution; and those who had actually tried the diet, and experienced dramatic weight loss. It is worthwhile noting that, while there have been many criticisms of Dr. Barnard, there have been NO reviews in which someone actually followed the diet, and failed to lose weight. Say what you will of it; the diet does appear to deliver the goods, while providing good nutrition from a solid scientific base.

(Yes, it's vegetarian. Get over it.)

While I lack the medical background to either validate or challenge his statements, I can tell you that the actual recommendations are largely in keeping with what you've been getting from everyone from the National Institute of Health to your local physician. (By comparison, high protein/low carbohydrate diets are pretty much universally condemned by government health agencies, universities, local health boards, and both doctors and dietitians around the world.) Whole grain foods, less processed food, less fat, less salt, less sugar, more fruits and vegetables, more exercise... sure it'll work. It's even safe. If you're looking for a sensible, sane, balanced approach to weight loss that is both informative and supportive, you might want to check this book out.

After all, it's gotta be better than eating a hundred grapefruit.

Rating:
Summary: Best Information I've Ever Read
Review: This is by far the best book I have ever read as far as food for a healthy life. It makes complete sense out of so many myths we hear everyday about different kinds of diets. This is a program for good quality living. It has information on many experiments and testing that have been done and explains the complete metabolism issue in detail. If you are interested in nutrition at all this book is a must read!