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The author does an excellent job of explaining WHY this kind of diet will help prevent disease and promote excellent health.
However, I think that the 20 grams of fat allowed per day is on the low side. Also, in looking at the listings of foods (taking up about the last half of the book), I saw that the author really believes that we shouldn't consume any beef or chicken!! He has symbols for "eat all you want" foods (fruits, veggies, etc), foods to cut back on, and foods that have the time bomb as the symbol. Under beef, there isn't one single item listed that doesn't have a time bomb symbol!!
I have lost weight myself on a low fat/high fiber diet, and I'm currently on Weight Watchers. In my opinion, Weight Watchers is much more liveable in the long run. On Weight Watchers, you can have a favorite food if you just count the Points.
To be fair, the 20/30 Plan allows for 2 meals a week where you can eat whatever you want, as long as you don't go overboard. But the recipes in this book are based on mainly whole grains and beans. I do think eliminating meats is excessive. I think that the emphasis should be on LEAN meats and poultry, and small serving sizes.
If you can eat this way, I think that's great! I just don't think it's very practical for the average person who is trying to lose weight.
For low fat/high fiber healthy recipes, I highly recommend any of the Weight Watchers cookbooks (the newer ones that have recipes for the current 1-2-3 Success program).
Another interesting book on weight loss and healthy eating is Volumetrics. Please check my review of this book here on Amazon (as well as reviews of cookbooks - though not necessarily low-fat ones! I wish you all the best in the quest for better health!
I'm not trying to lose weight right now, but I know from personal experience that this kind of plan works (which is why I'm not trying to lose weight right now.) I bought the book mainly for the recipes, and for the fat/gram counter, which -- take it from one who knows -- is a lot less cumbersome than writing down every darned thing you eat. As with all "counting" methods, the main bugaboo is what we're all doing more of: eating in restaurants. Like the average American, I eat out 3 to 4 times a week. Fat count? Fiber count? Who knows? The book does include excellent suggestions for restaurant dining, most of which have become automatic for me. This is a plan that works, either for weight loss or for maintenance.
I recently had a blood test. A nurse called me with the results. She said, "The doctor says whatever you're doing, keep it up." By the way, I've always been a big eater. The best thing about this "diet" is that when you're hungry you eat. And if you're still hungry, you eat some more. Try this plan. You won't regret it!
When I came across this book, I decided to try just a little bit at a time. I thought I'd try just one day on the program per week, and see how it went. Well! I've never gone back. I have stuck with it every day since then, which is pretty easy, thanks to the 2 "eat whatever you want" meals per week. The 20/30 eating plan is easy, tasty, and even fun for me. I never feel hungry, and there are lots of good foods to eat. My doctor says this is a very healthy way to eat. It's great news that I have lost weight on this plan. But the better news is that I love the way I feel, and I actually LIKE eating this way. So much so that I plan to continue with the 20/30 plan even after I reach my goal weight. This is a plan I can happily follow for life. I am not usually evangelistic about anything to do with diet. But this is a book I will buy for all my closest friends, because I want them to be as healthy as I feel right now. I've even started a discussion/support group for people who are new to 20/30 - and if you knew me, you'd realize that doing this kind of stuff is completely out of character for me. But give me a soapbox, and I'll tell anybody that this plan has made a major difference in my life. I'm just a regular person, and I have nothing to gain if you buy this book. But it is the one book I would recommend to _everybody_ The plan is sensible, the recipes are great, and this works. Good luck!
Because I had read most of this before, for me the book wasn't all that interesting. It reminded me of Merkin's basic diet plan - that you should have 20 grams or less of fat per day, that you should limit low-fiber carbohydrates and sugars drastically, and have lots of high-fiber foods. Actually in this book for the first time Mirkin quantifies that by saying you should have at least 30 grams of fiber per day. Other than this, the plan suggests you have seafood 2-3 times per week, but no meat or poultry, and all the vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans that you want (except for some high-fat fruits like avocados and olives). Whole grains are listed very specifically and there's good information on exactly what is considered in the diet by "whole grain" - for example whole wheat bread is not. If you follow this plan for every meal, you are allowed 2 meals per week where you can eat whatever you want within reason. Mirkin also emphasizes an exercise plan, going into different types of exercise and how they can help your diet. I would recommend Fat Free and Flavor Full, if you want a lot more recipies, and perhaps a little more in-debth info about diet and health, but the 20/30 plan if you want more of an all-purpose book with recipies, a good diet strategy with some info on diet and health and fitness, as well as a nutritional guide for foods. I have a lot of reviews of books in general, but some diet/health books on my website; check it out if you're interested!
8 A Good, Simple Plan
If you want to lose weight and you just want to get on with it, this is the book for you. The text is brief and easy to understand, the plan is simple, and the book even comes with a handy little gadget to keep track of your daily fat and fiber intake. I'm finding, though, that I simply can't manage 20g of fat per day. I've been down that road before, and those considering this lowfat of a diet should be aware of the possible side effects: dry hair and skin, splitting nails, and constipation. I do better at around 30g/day, which is still very low. The recipes I've tried so far are simple and very tasty. I especially like the Banana "Rice" Pudding, which uses rum and lots of spices for knock-out flavor. You'll find yourself scouting out the nearest health food store to stock up on interesting and delicious grains, but aside from that, the recipes don't call for weird, hard-to-find ingredients.
9 This book changed my life!
I first heard of the 20-30 Plan when I happened upon Dr. Mirkin's radio program. I was interested ( and 30 pounds overweight ) so I bought the book. I found the plan to be very easy to understand and very easy to begin. Within 6 weeks, the extra 30 pounds were gone and I felt great. Now it's 6 months later and the weight is still gone, I still feel great, and I'm enjoying the food I eat more than ever.
10 Torture not diet!
The only things you can eat on this diet is fruits and vegitables and whole grains. No fat, no processed food of any kind, no meat...... The guide in the back even discourages fat-free dressing for your salads. The only food you can have at a fast food resturant is salad w/out dressing. This is too extream of a way to eat for very long.
11 Nutritionally sound, fun, and easy to follow.
Fat people know how awful it is when you want to lose weight, but feel like you don't have enough willpower to diet or excercise. I spent a long time in that condition.
12 Lifestyle change, not another D-I-E-T
I bought this book in February 1999. I am 38 years old, female, and have struggled with my weight since I was about 9. I have a degree in biology andwork as a scientific editor/writer. Most diets I have seen are silly, unworkable, or downright dangerous. This book seemed to me to be sensible and actually useful for real people. I am mostly vegetarian, so the foods advocated in this book are great for me and the way I eat when I know I am being healthful. I can't imagine my husband eating many of these recipes because he prefers meat, cheese, etc. Over the last 7 weeks, following the suggestions in this book and exercising 4-5 times a week, I have lost 11 pounds and feel better than I have in years. Moreover, for me at least, this is a way of eating that I can maintain, because it is not that far from my own inclinations and I am not tempted to stray (as I have been on other diets). I swore I would never 'diet' again, and with this book, I don't feel like I am. I have not been hungry, either.
13 20 grams of fat per day is too little.
Cutting total fat intake to 20 grams a day is a drastic, unrealistic and probably unwise recommendation for most people. 20 grams of fat yields 180 kcalories -that means less than 10% of the daily caloric intake is fat. If the authors are really advocating this, then their prescribed diet could be potentially unhealthy.
14 Makes good sense
This book was written clearly for the layman (as opposed to doctors or nutritionists) and the recommendations on the diet make sense though they tend towards vegetarianism which meat lovers might not want to cope with. The recipes that I've tried are good.
15 As a Personal Chef, I can confidently recommend this diet
As a Personal Chef, I have been asked to cook many different 'diets' for clients. I have only refused one client who was over 100 lbs. overweight and wanted to do the high fat and cholesterol Beverly Hills Diet plan. Now, I have read many diet books and tried several that my clients have asked for, just to get a feeling of what they were doing and the physiology of it all. I have even done the extreme high protein Atkins diet, I felt great, not hungry but after 6 days, I could no longer look at another piece of meat! I would have killed for a bowl of veggies! The wonderful thing about this 20/30 diet is that it is a life style change is that it is livable. I could eat this way forever and feel good about it. I just purchased a pressure cooker and it's wonderful for cooking the whole grains in minutes versus an hour or so. One pot meals are a breeze and you can add meat, veg and rice or grains to the pot and just serve your family the meat while you eat mostly grains and vegetables. Beans cook up in minutes also. Since I am in the first days of this diet, I can not vouch for weight loss yet, but I feel good about the foods I am eating and I am looking forward to introducing the new grains to my children so they will learn a healthier way to eat. The little fat and fiber gram counter is attached to my car keys and is easy to use. It helps to know when I have used up all my fat grams for the day, I just stop eating them! I recommend this way of life to everyone who is looking for a life long way to health!
16 Great all-purpose book about dieting, health, & nutrition.
I read Dr. Merkin's last book, Fat Free Flavor Full, and this one seems to be more or less the same book, just reworked with a little more emphasis on dieting and less about health in general. The 20/30 Plan is shorter than Fat Free Flavor Full, having only about 100 pages of information on the program (as opposed to 150 or more in the previous book), about 50 pages of recipes (as opposed to 150+ in the last one), and almost 150 on the "food list" (not included at all in the last book) which is basically a nutritional guide to a vast variety of different foods.
17 I'm Not Hungry!
I have been struggling with my weight since I had my first child. Normally I don't like diets because a) they rarely work and b) many aren't healthy (like The Zone). A personal trainer in my gym recommended this book to me because it's medically sound. Well, after three weeks on this diet, I can tell you that it really works. I have lost 5 pounds and I feel like I have so much more energy. I eat a bowl of oatmeal with dried cherries in the morning (7:00 am) and I don't feel hungry until 1:00pm! I eat all the fruits and veggies I want and the whole grains they talk about are actually really good. Plus the counter that comes with the book is a neat tool to keep you counting your fiber and fat grams each day. I plan on staying on this diet for life. Thank you 20-30!
Perhaps the remembrance of these things will prove a source of future
pleasure.
-- Virgil
I got this powdered water -- now I don't know what to add.
-- Steven Wright
