Review of Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings---And 7 Steps to End Them Naturally (Paperback)

The goal of Dr. Barnard is to steer everyone toward a vegan diet.If that is not your intention, best not to pick up this book.The changes are far-reaching, and radically different than the SAD (Standard American Diet).

I tried being a lacto-ovo vegetarian off and on throughout my life.The thought of giving up cheese was just too much to imagine.Additionally, having a husband whose first words about a meal were "where's the meat" made vegetarian life difficult.But if you experience a health crisis (cancer, high cholesterol, high blood pressure) it is amazing how quickly you can moderate your behavior.

My husband and I have been vegan for approximately 5 weeks now.We have never felt better in our lives.If you are holding on to meat, cheese and milk but don't feel good, this book will improve your health.Dr. Barnard also explains why it is so difficult to give up sugar, chocolate, cheese and meat.Apparently these items contain various addicting compounds.If someone had tried to tell me this 6 months ago I would have thought they were crazy. Now that I have adopted a vegan lifestyle I can say that my health has improved so much is such a short period of time that it is almost miraculous.Also, it is important to note that after 2 weeks my cravings for sugar, chocolate, cheese and meat are all but gone.

In the last 5 weeks my husband and I have seen dramatic improvements in our health.We have both each lost 12 pounds without being hungry or exercising more.My husband has decreased his total cholesterol from 177 to 113 (this happened in 24 days).He has been taken off this high blood pressure medication.I have not had a sinus headache in 5 weeks.Prior to becoming a vegan I had chronic sinusitis.My skin has a youthful glow (amazing for 43 year old woman).I also sleep better at night, and wake up more well rested.

If you don't feel as good as you did in your 20's and are willing to make a radical lifestyle change, I believe that this book will improve your health.I have also reviewed other books that advocate a vegan lifestyle if you are interested.Check out "Eat to Live" and "Stop the Inflammation Now".

I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to improve their health.Try it for a month; what do you have to lose?It is a small investment in time and money that could result in a dramatic improvement in the quality of your life.

Update:4 August 2006

My husband and I are still following a mostly vegan (95%) lifestyle.It is amazing how simple it is once you decide it is just the way that you are going to live.We both continue to feel fabulous.My husband, at 52, is back to the weight he was when he graduated high school.He is even considering beginning to exercise.We have both lost over 20 pounds in a little under 4 months.I continue to highly recommend this book if you are looking to make a lifestyle change for health reasons.



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Review of Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes Without Drugs (Hardcover)

OK, so the diet is very much like the Dean Ornish program for reversing heart disease. A decade ago, I couldn't follow the diet, but it's funny what diabetes-related eye surgery, plus the wider availability of soy foods, can accomplish.

The basic message is simple: No animal fat or protein, eat all the low glycemic-index carbs you want, and reduce all fats as much as possible. The fat reduction has been the hard part for me, though my fat intake has been greatly reduced.

Results? In one month: Blood glucose average is now what my fasting glucose used to be. I have cut one of my meds in half. My medicated blood pressure is now within a very acceptable range. I have lost more than 10 pounds. I am happier, feel healthier, and I am not hungry all the time!

To make this program work, you need to commit to it. But, I have found this much easier than my Weight Watchers experience five years ago and don't really feel the urge to cheat on this diet.

Product Description
Offering new hope to millions, this new nutritional approach to diabetes will dramatically alter the way we think about treating the disease

Until now, most health professionals have considered diabetes a one-way street. Once you developed it, you were stuck with it-and you could anticipate one complication after another, from worsening eyesight and nerve symptoms to heart and kidney problems.

Enter Dr. Neal Barnard, who through a series of groundbreaking studies, the latest funded by the National Institutes for Health, has shown it doesn't have to be that way. By following the diet outlined in this book, readers can control blood sugar three times more effectively than with the American Diabetes Association's diet and, beyond that, improve their bodies' ability to respond to insulin-in effect reversing the defining symptom of the disease. And there's more. Study participants lost weight, were able to cut back on and sometimes even discontinue medications, and left behind tedious exchange plans in favor of delicious foods in generous portions.

It's a new way to treat diabetes. It's about time.

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