I am a 45-year-old female, former cancer patient who gained weight after treatment was finished and my thyroid died on me! Also, I used to work for a national weight loss center, so I have some experience in that "industry", (which is a very lucrative one!)

A good detox sounded about right to me, given my circumstances! I lost 15 pounds in two weeks on this detoxification diet, and have lost an additional 4 lbs the following two weeks! I am happy with that to date, as I am hypothyroid and am not supposed to be able to lose any weight.

The fatty acid supplements recommended have caused my blood pressure to drop dramatically, eliminating the need for all BP meds! I have not used the recipes per se (busy soccer mom!), except for the berry smoothies, and I am still losing weight and feel SO much healthier with a clearer mind!

It is good to buy the cookbook as well as the original book, because it contains an updated section with changes to the diet at the very beginning of the book! In other words, you will miss out on the diet updates (based on the latest research) if you DON'T buy the cookbook! I did not buy her own supplements, as I've been able to buy similar ones for much less, and they seem to be working fine. Try Googling - Health Plus Inc. "Fireball Sports Nutrition Fat Burner" and also their "Liver Cleanse".

My family doctor saw me after I was on the diet for two weeks and immediately asked me what I had done to myself - that I looked so much better than when she saw me the month before. She noticed how much clearer my thought processes were, and said I was speaking faster and more clearly. My hair is getting thicker, my joint pain is nearly completely gone and I'm off all arthritis medicine, AND my mind works better! My skin is much softer and smoother as well. My doctor wants to read the book - she was so impressed!

Even if I don't lose another pound (which I doubt would happen!) I will stick with the principals and regime, because I FEEL so much better!!!

The diet takes a bit of getting used to the first week, but quickly becomes memorized habit, so just work your way through that first week of confusion and you should be fine! It's takes a bit of prep work, what with tracking down all the supplements and getting your food cabinet ready etc. If you don't have a health food store near you (and you will need a good one!) you can purchase everything online!

FYI - my MD agreed with the general claims Ms. Gittleman makes for the supplements. There is also an extensive bibliography with the various studies cited. Every recommendation in this book has extensive research to back it up, so that is another thing worth mentioning! This isn't just a "eat-all-the-bacon, steak-and-eggs-you-want" weight-loss plan!

To close, I am very happy with the program, and feel it is one of the most researched, and well-documented eating plans I have ever seen. Not the easiest initially, but nothing worth its weight (no pun intended!) ever is! The fact that it DETOXIFIES is a huge bonus as well!

I had to write this because only 1 reviewer pointed out its flaws. This is a very good program (esp the Fat Flush Fitness book, which isn't here) but it is NOT a permanent plan for Pitta types (medium build and body weight) but primarily for those whose heredity and natural propensity lead them toward overweight and obesity. Indeed, an excess of sour (lemon) and tart (cranberry) which is recommended here, would cause an imbalance in Pitta body types - which although they may weigh a few extra pounds, do not tend toward obesity - and cause them to become irritable, have frequent headaches, and their skin to break out. In fact, the diet and general lifestyle recommendations of this diet are geared toward Kapha types, who do tend toward obesity. If you don't know what I'm talking about (Pitta, Kapha) check out "A Woman's Best Medicine" by Nancy Lonsdorf - or if you're a man, anything by Vasant Lad, Scott Gerson, etc. - which explains that different foods and behaviors, while helping some body types actually cause imbalance and illness in others. This is extremely important and as I have been through the trouble of taking on diet plans that were not for my body type, can attest it isn't worth it. I assume that most people looking for a good diet are the kapha types anyway, but the writers here act as if this plan is the only plan. They are way off.

I don't write a lot of reviews on Amazon. As I have stated in previous reviews, I only write reviews on STUFF I can REALLY get behind. This is such a review.

To start off, I am a GUY. If you told me 3 weeks ago that I would take precious time to write a positive review for a diet plan-- I would've cried from laughing so hard.

Here's the facts: I was diagnosed with hypothyroid disease 14 weeks ago after putting on 77 pounds in about (3) years. I was 277 and that is WAY too much-- even for a big boned 6' 2" ex-football playing man. At the beginning of this weight gain I didn't go to my General Practioner-- I went to a dermatologist because my skin was itching badly.

So there were steriods shots and pills and steriod creams and lethargy-- and, all the while-- as I blew up like a ballon at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I thought, "It's the steroids."

Two years later-- after basically starving myself down to 262 pounds-- I finally decided I was going to take control of my body and I went to my regular physician to get the "OK" to go back to the gym. The man took one look and said, "You have a thyroid problem!" (Funny how 5 dermatologists, 2 Physician Assistants and 4 nurses-- all at the same clinic-- NEVER diagnosed this condition-- and I walked into that clinic almost 90 times in three years!)

I started on the thyroid medication (after the proper blood tests) but wasn't experiencing the "dramatic weight loss" promised by my doctor. Turns out, my medication wasn't calibrated properly. Turns out it is STILL not calibrated properly! (It can take a long time, shifting between thyroid dosages to find the exact level.)

Anyway, after 9 weeks of no weight loss, a friend told me about the Fat Flush Plan. I thought, "What the heck, let me give my body a kickstart-- so I'll be ready when the medication finally does kick in.

Yes, I had to read the book. Yes, I had to spend money to buy different stuff to eat. Yes, both of these efforts took time, significant cash and a dutiful amount of planning to set up. But I figured, if I am going to do this, then I am going to do this right.

The beginning of the first week was "OK"-- but I knew I was going to start climbing the walls (I just had a feeling) and about 5 days in I did. It wasn't that the food was bad at all, I just wasn't eating the ALL the foods I wanted!

My other problem was, I was weighing myself every day. I know that's a diet "no-no" but I wasn't used to being overweight-- and certainly not overweight from a medical condition that was hindering any weight loss.

Then something truly miraculous happened. About day seven, I lost (3) pounds, then (2) more.

To make a long story shorter, by end of WEEK 2, I had lost 5 1/2 INCHES OFF MY STOMACH.

End of week 3 is today. I haven't had time to check my stomach by I have moved from XXL shirts to LARGE shirts in 21 days.

I have lost 21 POUNDS in 21 DAYS.

I have yet to see the INSIDE of my GYM.

I feel GREAT. My clothes are fitting again and people DEFINITELY notice.

And my medication is still NOT calibrated properly and I have a disease that turns muscle to fat.

I feel like I have learned how to eat properly all over again.

And the reservations about the food? Well, that was just me having to get used to the whole "lifestyle" change. I have and now it is all VERY easy.

Try this-- STICK TO IT and you'll find your variation of "21 in 21" to be one heckuva motivator!

Tomorrow I begin Phase 3 of the program, and I must say that I am blown away at the results!!! I stumbled on this book while webshopping one day, and just decided, 'What the heck.' Within the first week, I felt what I can only describe as a 'light feeling' -- as if something that was clogging my body finally was released. By P1W2 (Phase 1 Week 2) I had lost at least 1 inch in my stomach -- my problem area. By P2W1 even my co-workers noticed the difference. Clothes that I could not button or zipper up a month prior were now fitting me. By the end of P2W1, the thick allergy-related dark circles under my eyes cleared up by 75%, and overall my allergies did not bother me anywhere near the extent they used to. I just want to add that I saw results, and have not even started a fitness training program yet... I will admit that I followed 95% of the program. I used small amounts of salt just for flavor where necessary, and have even eaten some things that are not FF (Fat Flush) approved. Yet I NEVER felt terrible or felt as if I wanted to give up on the program because I STILL got results that were so wonderful that I didn't want to stop. At first it is very hard to give up the carbs, and even now I have my cravings, but the good thing about this program is that I know that I can satisfy those cravings, but in a healthy way and I can enjoy the things that I like to eat, but without going overboard and without becoming addicted again to the carbs!!! I would recommend this book/program to anyone. It was surely a wonderful addition to my life!!!

I do not know where to begin other than to tell you that this plan has SAVED MY LIFE!!! It has taken an overweight, tired, sick, and unhealthy woman and provided her with the knowledge and tools that have helped to transform her into a healthy, happy, energized, lucious woman.... heavy emphasis on the "healthy" aspect.

I have had a weight issue since I was 12 or 13. Always turned to food for love, for comfort, for solice, for excitement, for passion, for.... you name it! And I've done every "diet" under the sun... including, but not limited to, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutri-System, Over-Eaters Anonymous, hypnosis, behavior modification, .... basically everything except jaw wiring (which I once checked into) and stomach stapling (which I also investigated).

Last fall, while watching a football game, I overheard the announcer referring to one of the players as "a big guy.... 6'2" amd 235 lbs".... well I was 236 and certainly NOT 6 feet tall... it was, as Oprah calls it, my "lightbulb" moment. I knew I had to change my life or I was going to die. I am the mother of a 15 year old boy who needs his mother in his life and I was not going to be around long if I continued living the way I was.

I started doing the Atkin's diet, and I liked the "low-carb" philosophy that he espoused, especially liked reading his "Age Defying Diet Revolution" book. But, overall the Atkin's diet left me feeling "heavy", constipated, kind of lathargic and overall felt basically unhealthy.

Then, after telling a friend about my concerns with Atkin's, she told me about FFP in late May. Just hearing her talk about it made so much sense that I immediately went out and bought the book, cookbook and journal. (I've never been one to keep a journal, but I just started journal number five a few weeks ago.) I had seen Ann Louise Gittleman not long before that on Dr. Phil talking about perimenopause, and her newest book called "Before the Change", and sat there taking notes a mile a minute. She just made so much sense..... but I didn't put 2 and 2 together and figure out that she was that woman on Dr. Phil until I did a search of her books at the local library when initially looking for the FFP, and when I saw "Before the Change" on the list of her books, everything clicked!!

Since the first week of June, I have lost approximately 65 lbs, and still have 36 more to go.

But, far beyond the weight loss issue is the fact that I have become a healthy person. I live a healthy and fit lifestyle. I am a role model for friends, family, coworkers, and even perfect strangers that I meet. I have joked that I am like a Fat Flush evangelist. I even bought 4 extra copies of the book and 2 extra cookbooks, and created my own little FFP lending library so that I can lend them out to others to get them started. I have numerous friends who are now Fat Flushing.... all of them with success.

Just as a side note.... I have purchased and read nearly ALL of her books. I especially liked "Eat Fat, Lose Weight". It all just made so much sense to me. I even bought "Super Nutrition for Men" for my husband to read. I have a little bookcase in my kitchen that I keep cookbooks and the like in, but I have one shelf devoted to my ALG books.

I am very appreciative for what the Fat Flush Plan has done for me, my life, my family, my spirit, my outward and inward beauty, but most of all, I am thankful for my increased good health and overall sense of well-being and the knowledge that I can succeed at anything I really want to do, if I have the right information and the proper tools..... as I said at the beginning of this letter... it has CHANGED MY LIFE!!

Thank you from the bottom of my bottom for everything this plan has done for me and all of the Fat Flushers around the world.

Jamie Zayach
Sandy, Utah