Customer Reviews

Balance Your Body, Balance Your Life: Dr. Taub's 28 Day Permanent Weight Loss Plan

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having seen Dr. Taub speak many many times on QVC I have enormous respect for him as a human being and even more in that he is a Doctor. I can only hope that the trend I see so evident in all his work is catching on with others in the medical profession. I belong to an HMO and they have finally joined the wellness band wagon. Any small step is a step in the right direction.The only reason the book did not receive 5 stars is that it is a bit preachy. The first few chapters Dr. Taub is busy preaching to the choir about the distingretion of the health care industry and the dairy industry. Put that aside the information is all here for you to make the changes to do well. I am somebody that has been reading every book I can get my hands on regarding diet. I don't necessarily follow the advice but just absorb what is being said. I always look for consistent threads in all the books. Dr. Taub's book is well grounded and very much an idea that can be implemented as a way of life for me. I can't stress that everyone is different and what works very well for someone might not work that well for someone else. For instance I lost weight on the Protein Power Plan and managed to keep it off but soon plateaued. Why? Because I am not a person that inherently loves to eat meat. I love vegetables. Salads are a real delight along with a big bowl of beans. So you can imagine me looking at the Protein Power Plan and trying to count the maximum carbohydrates in a day so I could eat my beloved vegetables. I knew before I even began the diet that I could not maintain such a lifestyle. I was too prone to having fruit attacks. What I have learned in Dr. Taub's book is that it is more like me and the way I am naturally. Although I know he would like for us to give up eating anything with a face, that I can not do. I love a good steak or salmon fillet about once a week. If nothing else you should come away with the notion that everything is in moderation, even moderation. Dr. Taub tells the story of his 'chocolate attack' while writing this book. He ate his chocolate but went further to understand why he was having the craving and to subsequently deal with it. I have been practicing yoga for about 4 months now and for all you non believers. Start believing. I had two abdominal surgeries and never thought I could tone my abdomen. Yoga is doing it. I am just starting to see indentations in my rib cage... how exciting and all I am doing is yoga via video tapes. You will feel 100% better, just try it and stick with it. Your body won't be used to the stretching but follow the philosophy... go at your own pace and you will do well. I also do aerobics but that's my cardiovascular workout. I have taken aerobics for years and have great lungs and a super heart but it didn't help me slim down. This man is sincere, dedicated and very well grounded in science. Check him out on QVC if you want to hear him speak about his philosophy and see some of the products he endorses. His multivitamins are fantastic.... he saved my hair and fingernails but that's another story.

With all of the complicated, controversial and misleading information that has been written on this subject, it is a pleasure to read such a profoundly simple, complete and common sense approach to weight management. Dr. Taub's writing style makes it an easy read that is full of life enhancing information. Dr. Taub states in his book that "Your thoughts are the driving force behind what you eat". Reading this book will change your thinking. 'Balance Your Body, Balance Your Life' is a must read for all who struggle with weight control. Thank you, Dr. Taub, for providing such a sensible and scientifically sound book that I can enthusiastically recommend. Dr. John H. Sklare/The Inner Diet

"Balance Your Body, Balance Your Life" is simply the most honest and best researched book on permanent weight loss that has ever been written! The author, an esteemed medical doctor and wellness pioneer takes the idea of dieting away from the fad market and places it firmly in our own hands with plenty of scientifcally based easy-to-follow guidelines. As a registered physical therapist, I see an astonishing number of chronic health problems related to being overweight including shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, backache, neckache, headache, arthritis, (especially of the hips and knees), varicose veins.. and even worse.. strokes, heart attacks, and cancer. All of these patients can benefit from Dr. Taub's book. Dr. Taub clearly explains how a faulty food mindset, which makes permanent weight loss so difficult, evolves from infancy. Questionaires help identify specific nutritional/lifestyle problems. Psychological and journaling exercises build a bridge to a new healthy attitude toward permanent health. As a pediatrician, Dr. Taub provides essential reading for anyone who wants to establish life-long health habits for their children. Anyone who follows these guidelines to help their children cannot help but benefit themselves. I bought this book because of the Kirkus Associates Review on this site, which said that this medical doctor's advice is "absolutely sound, and he isn't afraid to stand firm on unpopular positions or take on the misleading food marketing giants". Dr. Taub helps us set very realistic goals that result in weight-loss success year after year rather than promising fantastic results in days. This common-sense approach takes the deprivation out of dieting by providing such sound nutrional principles accompanied by delcious, healthy recipes, that we can actually eat less and feel more nourished. The fact that the author has been a family doctor for 35 years shines through in the simplicity and practicality of this gem of a book, and I believe that just reading it will inspire people to lose wieght forever...and it could save their lives.

This book is the very best presentation of a scientifically valid, humanly balanced approach to nutrition and physical activivy. It brings the reader an ideal prescription for good health for the new millenium. Stanley E. Greben, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry University of Toronto

This book was one of the most amazing books I've ever read. It has really changed my life. I will never think of food in the same way again. Thank you for such wonderful insight. This book is a must read for everyone.

This book is an honest, easy-to-follow, no-nonsense guide to losing weight without feeling deprived and stressed. I lost 20 pounds a year ago and the weight has stayed off ever since then! My life and my outlook are so changed that I'll never eat the way I did before. Anyone who is not helped by this book has just not read it carefully or with an inquiring mind...sometimes the light of the unvarnished and honest truth can dim a person's perception to the possibility of change. Nevertheless, it's all in this book for anyone who is truly willing to change for the better instead of just talking about it.

This was an impulse purchase. The slimly-stocked bookstore I occasionally patronize (when I'm not online) had it prominently displayed on the counter. After reading the blurb on the back cover--"most honest, well-researched, informative book about total health"--I felt as though I must be the only consumer on the planet not benefiting from its wisdom.

Now that I've read the book's 400+ pages (many of them taken up with recipes), I'm having difficulty recalling a single fresh insight, useful bit of information, or well-turned phrase about overly familiar, commensensical lore. Nor is there enough information to justify the book's taking up space on my shelf as a reference book.

Dr. Taub's mantra is "Everything in moderation, including moderation." The phrase certainly fits the easy-reading approach of the book, which touts the usual virtues in general, conversational, flaccid prose--eat healthy, supplement with vitamins, exercise regularly, meditate away stress and keep a positive attitude.

In retrospect, two of Dr. Taub's points stand out. First, he's strongly pro-breast feeding and adamantly opposed to anyone of any age drinking cow's milk ("Consumers Reports" has since investigated this issue and exonerated the dairy industry); second, he acknowledges the role of "entropy" in the life cyle of every human being. Comparing human development to the seasons, the stages of human beings to the natural cyles of the physical world, Dr. Taub is able, at least in the early pages, to disabuse readers of any illusions about the extent to which it is possible to turn back the clock. In this respect, perhaps the book distinguishes itself from many competing titles in the cluttered, frequently exploitive, universe of consumer health information.

On balance, 'Balance Your Body: Balance Your Life' is worth reading. Some of Dr. Taub's ideas that you may find worthy of consideration are:

- Diets are guaranteed to fail. You must permanently change your attitude toward food and eating.

- Relaxation and exercise are essential and EASY to make part of your life's routine.

- Learn to recognize and ignore food and fad vendors who promote and profit from food addictions.

- You do not have to deprive yourself of anything to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

- Forget the FDA's recommended 'Food Pyrimid' and replace it with Dr. Taub's 'Food Energy Ladder'.

- Moderation in all things, including moderation.

Dr. Taub lays out a clear and easy path to achieving a permanent lifestyle change in 28 days.

This has got to be the most boring book I've ever read. Dr.Taub repeats himself over and over, does not explain things very well, and this book did not provide any inspiration to even want to follow it. The only good thing I can say about it is that some of the recipes look good. Other than that it was a BIG waste of time.