The recipes are wonderful. They use the best of the best nutritional and culinary knowledge to make low cost, low cal, low fat and easy to prepare menu selections. It's like having a new favorite cookbook: the kind that compells you to get excited about trying each and every recipe throughout the year, and I have tried several of the recipes already. As a former chef, I appreciate the dignity of the recipes but I am also pleased that the "lay person" would also be able to prepare all the dishes with confidence and ease.

I am a burnt out "Zoner". This summer I watched the scales go higher and higher, commensurate with my apathy for sensible eating. Unacceptable behavior but inevitable considering the five year stretch of in-the-Zone living I did.

I read an article in BOOM, a newpaper for baby boomers. The reporter was assigned the task of finding a "diet that worked". He had on his list the AMA NO FAD DIET. Intrigued, he and his wife decided to give it a try. He reported that within weeks he had lost inches and was experiencing that all important psychological feeling of wellness that comes along with a healthy balanced eating plan. It was good timing and I bought the book immediately.

I think it most important to have finally found some guidelines that are presented in a manner that really feels like new found knowledge, instead of a mixed up version of the same old same old. The first part of the book, which discusses three different eating plans and why and how to choose which works best for you somehow did a wonderful job of just "sticking" in my mind. It's rare in this kind of book to find that you actually feel satisfied in the reading of it and have knowledge retention afterwards.

I purchased this book looking for a true guide to healthy eating habits without sacrificing the joy of cooking and eating. I was not disappointed. The recipes are great and the weight loss comes naturally. The transition is an easy one if you simply follow the technics and recommendations contained in the book.

Book has good advice and sample menus for changing your ways with respect to eating.

This book is great. It gave me great ideas to help not only my husband and me eat and work out better, but for my whole family. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has tried and failed with the "fad" diets. It really helps you learn to make bettter food choices.

An excerpt from my online review at http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/01/131001.php

The back cover assures a reader that "The weight-loss strategies in this book are based on reliable scientific research and are backed by respected medical professionals. The American Heart Association has the information you can trust."

The implication is clear - the AHA is trustworthy, their professionals are the ones who are "respected" and they're able to wade through the mounds of research data and cull out only that which is "reliable." Got it?

...

The sample menus were an eye-opener!

This is not a trick question - Are trans-fats "heart healthy?"

Of course they're not - in fact, the National Academy of Sciences-Institute of Medicine [NAS-IOM] concluded in July 2002 that "trans fat promotes heart disease" and "the only safe intake of trans fat is `zero.'" They stated that this was an ingredient that has no safe level for human consumption.

Trans-fats are found in foods listing "partially hydrogenated" oils and/or "shortening" and/or "margarine" and/or "fractionated" oil in the ingredients list - a result of chemically altering the oil through a process of adding hydrogen with a nickle catalyst to render it solid at room temperature.

So why then is the AHA including foods that have trans-fats in their sample menus and having the audacity to call them "heart healthy?"

Sorry to say, but the menus recommended by the AHA in this book have trans-fats and therefore I cannot recommend this book to anyone who wants to eat healthy!