Good book, but same old low-fat adviceAugust 21, 2008 You: On A Diet doesn't just lay out a diet plan, but addresses what goes on when we eat and the various chemicals in our bodies that effect our behaviors and body shape.
Part 1 is a sort of introduction to your body.
Part 2 is about appetite, your digestive system, inflammation, body fat, metabolism, and exercise. If you have ever wondered how food acts in your body and how food can effect how you feel and whether you store fat or burn it, this is the section for you.
Part 3 focuses on how your mind effects your diet - emotions and psychology.
Part 4 outlines the actual You diet and exercise plan and has a whole chapter about staying on plan by making "YOU-Turns" whenever you fall off the plan (and who sticks 100% to any diet 100% of the time?).
The appendices cover medical intervention - drugs that cane help you lose weight, plastic surgery for saggy skin, and various bariatric procedures (stomach stapling, etc.).
Throughout the book are little cartoons that illustrate the points made in the text. I found these helpful even though I am not a visual person.
My main criticism is that they trot out the same old low-fat advice that hasn't helped America yet, and that they promote unhealthy vegetable oils. Neither do I believe that saturated fat is the enemy, though Mehmet and Oz do.
This book is a good start, but I urge people to go beyond this and read more about vegetable oils and saturated fat and see if Mehmet and Oz are right in their views or not. Personally, the only oils I allow in my house are olive and coconut. Yes, coconut oil is a saturated fat.
You on a DietAugust 12, 2008 Excellent book, highly recommended for everybody who needs to understand how the body works and to start a healthy nutrition. Very good indeed.
Comprehensive!July 28, 2008 I am still working through the volume of information contained in this book. And, no, I am not skipping ahead to the chapter with their actual diet in it just yet! As someone who has struggled with my weight off and on (more on than off), I know I need to learn the why I am fat, not just the how to be thin, and I think I found the book which will truly educate me. The text is written in everyday language that you and I speak to each other, not medical high brow stuff. From the tone, I know I would also enjoy this book on tape! My only criticism, which may or may not be fair as I see the merit in it, is that some of the pages are overwhelming with "tips" in one corner, and a cartoon in the other, and the actual text from the page before somewhere in the middle. Sometimes this busy-ness gets in the way of the awesome information contained in all these sections -- if that makes any sense.
Anyway, I strongly recommend this book. I also strongly recommend catching the doctors on the Discovery Health channel when they are on. I love their down to earth approach to health. I would love to have them clean out my refrigerator and scare the fat off me with their outside the box tactics. They are just wonderful! More Manuals please!
You On A DietJuly 26, 2008 I found this book to be invaluable. Although I have finished reading it, I keep it close for reference. Now I finally understand why I have such a tummy and I'm getting rid of it!
Neanderthal I'm not!July 25, 2008 2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The premise of this book is intriguing - if we would only eat like our caveman ancestors, we wouldn't have the weight problems that are so common these days. However, the authors show a complete ignorance of what our ancestors actually ate, so as far as I'm concerned, the book starts out on the wrong foot.(It wasn't easy being a caveman, you know. They had really short life spans for a reason). Who has time to "forage" for every meal they eat? No red meat, no sugar, no processed flour, etc. Lots of walnuts, fish, and some chicken. Some of the ingredients they use with their menus would be difficult for me to find in my area. So why is this diet book any different from anyone else's? It has some cutesy drawings, I'll give them that. But the constant attempts to be funny really got on my nerves. Then comes all the science - dozens of terms for different enzymes and parts of our digestive systems - hey, I'm not that up on science. After about 10 pages of it, I was totally confused. I just want to lose some weight, guys, not get a Bachelor's Degree in biology! It really boils down to doing the same thing all other diets will tell you to do - don't eat any processed foods, get lots of excersize, drink lots of water. The kicker to this book is that the authors state you will love losing weight so much on their plan, you will never go back to eating the way you did before. Yeah, right.
