No wheat? What kind of cruel diet is this!
Written: Jan 17 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Helps with weight loss and energy production
Cons: Diet extremely hard to stick to over the longer term.
The Bottom Line: While Lose Wheat, Lose Weight is an informative book and creates results, the diet is hard to stick to, and unlikely to work long term.
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| biscuitfarmer's Full Review: Lose Wheat, Lose Weight Books |
Out of all of the dieting concepts that I've heard of over the years, I've never thought that I would hear of a diet reducing the intake of wheat in your overall diet. This is pretty much the entire concept behind the Lose Wheat, Lose Weight, weight loss book. I picked it up a few months back, as I was really feeling self conscious over the weight that I had been putting on during my wife's pregnancy. Every time she would eat (every 2 hours) I felt like I had to eat, and soon the pounds just kept pouring on, especially after I started eating right before going to bed. I never had a chance to burn the food off, before I would consume the next meal. I noticed that my meals kept getting larger as well, as my stomach expanded.
I have always been extremely thin, and in great shape, especially thanks to the military and my constant workouts. However, things were going down hill and I had to do something about it and fast. I decided that I was going to inform myself about the many different styles of diets and sort of create my own diet based upon my informed reading. I didn't think and still don't think that any one diet is PERFECT for me or anyone for that matter, so I thought that I'd have to combine aspects of the different diets to allow me to eat comfortably and lose weight. This was going to be the key to staying confident and strong during the diet process.
About the Author
Dawn Hamilton, PH.D, is a nutritionist and psychologist, with a successful practice and workshop in London. She is the main writer behind this book.
Antoinette Savill is a Glenfiddich award winning writer, with two other books about dieting and wheat free cooking. Her books have been talked about in the Sunday Times, and Washington Times as having excellent results without missing out on good food. Her contribution to the book are the 60 recipes that are included.
Concept
The book pretty much goes into great detail about how Wheat itself is a major problem for the body. We are constantly eating wheat products all day in our pancakes, cereals, pastas, bread, whatever, and the amount that we consume in a single day is FAR above the recommended amount per the food pyramid.
The belief is that because wheat is an extreme allergen to most people, it causes very negative results in the body. Most people don't realize that they have allergies to wheat products, as it can cause nothing more than just weight gain, by slowing down the body's metabolism
The idea is to eliminate all of your wheat intake for four months, and then slowly reintroduce it, so that you can better understand how your body reacts to wheat and what can be lost from eliminating it or reducing it.
Inside the book
While eliminating wheat altogether I have found to be pretty much impossible, I mean it's in everything we eat, I have found that you can substantially reduce it. While the concept of wheat elimination pretty much falls along the lines of the no-carb diets out there, eliminating virtually the same foods, it does allow you to consume the carbs you need for energy, thus keeping up your metabolism.
The program the book details are ways that you can easily eliminate and reduce the wheat, while increasing other items in your diet that promote increased metabolism. Other things discussed are foods that are good for you to eat when you are depressed, rather than relying on sugar as a crutch for those moments of depression. A lot of diets fail because people unknowingly destroy their chances, by consuming items with high amounts of sugar or simple carbohydrates. These simple carbohydrates, need to be eliminated, while promoting complex carbohydrates for energy production.
Throughout the book are many different recipes that are not only healthy and wheat free, but are actually quite delicious.
Recipes
Some of the recipes within the book include Salmon with roast green beans and fennel (I eliminate the fennel), strawberry and raspberry meringues, sweet potato and ginger soup, turkey fillets in mustard and tarragon sauce, pear and cinnamon slices, lemon curd roulade, and about 50 others, which are all quite delicious. At least the ones that I have tried so far.
My results
I have mixed this diet with several of my other plans, and have found great overall results. I'm not sure if this was really a result of the wheat free diet or not, but I have felt a lot better overall since reducing my wheat intake. I have a lot more energy and I feel more refreshed and I guess, less clogged than I normally do. When I do my exercise routine, I have noticed a lot less cramping, and a lot better results as the time went on, through the diet itself after reducing my wheat intake.
I didn't fully eliminate the wheat in my diet altogether, I just simply reduce it down to a serving a day or less. This has made it a lot easier to stay on the diet, without hating it and wanting to quit, as it gave me more food options that aren't available if I eliminated the wheat altogether.
Final Thoughts
Personally, I don't really see how this book is any different than all of the other low-carb diets. The book promotes the use of carbs for energy production, but at the same time, eliminates wheat, which is in pretty much all major carbohydrate foods. So by eliminating the wheat, you are essentially eliminating your carb intake.
I don't think it's a reasonable assumption that everyone can completely eliminate wheat from their diet and as it's show to reduce the risk of heart disease and other natural problems, I really don't think that it's in your best interest, to completely eliminate it altogether. If you are going to do this diet, I suggest using it to help understand food allergies, and to safely and effectively reduce your wheat intake, while not completely avoiding it.
There are quite a few great recipe ideas within the book that are delicious and healthy at the same time, but I also found many of the recipes to be absolutely horrible. I am generally a very reasonable eater and like pretty much anything within reason, but this book tried to introduce foods that were not only unsatisfying, but made me crave wheat products more. Simply put, the recipes are somewhat self defeating, as they create more of a dependency on wheat products in order to enjoy the meal. You will start to think of ways to make each meal better, and every time you do, you think of items such as noodles generally.
Overview
The book is extremely well written and I think that it does more than it's fair share to introduce a new twist on the low carb concept that already exists. I think this is just an attempt to make money off of the low carb diet, without actually writing yet another low carb diet book. The book does sound as if the process is worthwhile and the results obviously have seemed to work on myself. However, as a longer term diet plan, I think that the system is flawed and creates even more of a need for wheat products, which you must resist in order for the diet to even work.
I recommend this book only to those people that truly enjoy a high protein lifestyle and don't generally consume a lot of pasta products. For those of you that love pastas, this diet will be absolutely impossible to stick to, and I suggest finding other reading to help you lose weight, not including any low carb books, as they are essentially the same.
Diet/Health Book Reviews
Mediterranean Diet
The Abs Diet
Fast Food Nation
Internal Cleansing
Lose Wheat, Lose Weight
The Coconut Diet
Recommended:
Yes
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