If you want low carb...

If you want a very low carb diet, complete with ketosis (not ketadosis), that offers sensible, healhty, easy-to-fix menus and recipes for three weeks, this diet book may be for you. Dr. Whitaker suggests only 10 carb grams per main meal, although one might pick up an additional, absolutely minimal amount in the 2-3 high protein snacks recommended (eg: celery stick with filling that that is high protein). He acknowledges that sticking to the diet can be tough and suggests punishing yourself in some way if you go off the diet as a way to instantly discipline yourself. One example given in book: Donate money to your least favorite charity. His chapters mention recent research on various topics, including coffee. Coffee does have its pluses, research shows, although it also has drawbacks as well. If you are a coffee drinker, you may want to have a cup a day. Much very recent research is saying that while low carbers lose a lot and more than those on other types of diet (low calorie, low fat) at first, eventually, in the long term, it all just about evens out. So if you don't like going low carb and how it makes you feel, you may not want to rush into this type of diet but opt, instead, for a balanced lower calorie diet (healthiest) than the eating habits you now maintain. However, one use of this book you may want to consider, anyway, are the easy daily menu suggestions with easily found ingredients. One can always adjust carbs up (about 130-135 carbs a day is maximum in the new food pyramid, I believe) and make other adjustments if one wants to.

Rating:


Educational main stream ideas with a taint of obsession with drugs

Unlike non-medical writers, Mr. Whitaker adheres to the commonly accepted standards of managing excess body weight. He sticks with the basics of low carbohydrates, condemns Atkin's deviation on fat intake, emphasizes exercise, and stresses on the significance of quality of diet and balancing caloric intake with level of activity.

His greatest weakness is advocating magical drugs such as Ephedra and testosterone for thermogenesis and bulking muscles mass. His advice that fat could be fought with fat, such as the case of reducing belly fat with specific fat intake, is bogus. Many physicians are notorious in their obsession with chemical solution to health problems that require habit modification rather than reliance of unsubstantiated modalities that frustrate people.

His condoning of daily alcohol intake is abhorring. It reflects the detachment of medical professions from real life workable solutions. His assumption that alcohol promotes thermogenesis which leads to energy loss without exercises is foolish. Alcohol disturbs gastrointestinal motility and nervous function and impedes the ability to adhere to any long term exercise program.

Mr. Whitaker's home exercise routine is laughable. Although he stresses strongly on making exercise an inseparable routine of daily living, he does not know the right way of accomplishing that. Unfortunately, proper exercise habits must be taught in early school years. Teaching adults how to exercise properly is very demanding undertaking, no different from learning a foreign language or a new discipline after age. Most probably, walking few miles everyday is the best exercise people could do for the purpose of weight management, unless the person is committed to reeducate his or her self about how to ingrain an new exercise memory and relive a life of a newborn-sportsman/woman. The magic of walking lies in its enhancement of cardiopulmonary capacity and promotion of gastrointestinal mobility, elimination, and absorption.

The last pitfall of the book is its commercial nature in the form of unrealistic promises. Increasing metabolic rate by proper eating, though feasible, is not practical without significant change in lifestyle. The author's wishy washy approach to health issues discredits his wellness solutions. Caffeine, alcohol, and egg yolk should have no place in wellness solutions. Finally, belly fat and large size require plenty of abdominal execises on daily basis in order to increase the tone around the abdominal pouch and improve intestinal motility. Abdominal tightness is crucial to breathing, circulation, and mobility.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training


Rating: