Customer Reviews

The Cortisol Connection Diet: The Breakthrough Program to Control Stress and Lose Weight

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4 star:		(2)
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I don't do stress well at all! After years as a first grade teacher and a stressful personal life, stress almost hospitalized me. Couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. I was running on a pure histamine. My adrenals were shot-no emergency energy! I was covered with rash, depressed when I could come down enough. My muscles were wasting away. Then my thyroid crashed and I could barely drag my legs around to walk. After the thyroid started up again, the doctors "blood type diet" didn't do much. Then I saw an article on Dr. Talbott in a magazine and followed the advice while I waited for the book to arrive. I've only been on the plan for 10 days and the depression is gone and, oh, yes the brain fog. I can do 30 minutes a day on my crosstrainer. I am sleeping better and feel more positive. All this after I had to quit work five years ago because this syndrome is so debilitating. Great book! Read it! Use it! It's for everyone since we're all living under stress. I'm into The Cortison Connection now. I fell like I'm giving myself a second chance at life and loving it.
If you're tired of starving to loose weight and want to eat to achieve a healthy body and spirit, this is the best. I don't have those awful sugar cravings anymore. Did I mention I was on heavy Prednisone for five years and had drug-induced hypoglycemia? Anyway, this food plan (it's not a diet because you're never hungry) is perfect. I was never able to get the weight to drop off and now it's coming off.
Thanks, Dr. Talbott. People like you come along far too infrequently. Penecillin and the polio vaccines for the 20th century. Obesity for the 21st! If anyone should question this books importance, open your eyes to how few fit people you see. We've been "digging our own graves with a spoon"! Examine the statistics. It makes perfect SENSE. It's soooo simple!

I picked up The Cortisol Connection on a business trip a year ago and read it cover to cover on the flight home to Boston. It was an easy read that provided lots of information about the science behind stress and its affect on the body. As a salesperson doing lots of travel it really was an eye opener on what stress was doing to my body.

My wife (mother to 3 kids under 5 at the time) also found Dr. Talbott's book to be extremely informative. Having tried different diets and weight loss supplements, she appreciated finally having information about how stress was affecting her ability to "shed the pounds".

In his second book, The Cortisol Connection Diet, Dr. Talbott provides more useful information and concrete examples of how to use his "SENSE" program to lead to an overall healthier lifestyle. Both my wife and I enjoyed this book as much as the first (it was an even easier read!!!)and look forward to putting some of the additional "tidbits" on reducing stress and proper diet to use.

If you've read the first book, you'll find this an excellent follow up. If you haven't read the first book, this one definitely stands on its own, although I'd recommend both.

If you have read any "diet" books from the past 10 years, and then attempted in vain to follow the advice in those books, you will really enjoy and appreciate reading the Cortisol Connection Diet. For starters, it's a very "easy read". It's as though you are listening to a casual conversation from a friend. The information is presented in a logical and easy to follow manner. I read the book cover to cover on a short plane ride. There were two particular aspects of the book that I thought were very unique and extremely helpful. First are the highlights at the end of each chapter. I have found myself on numerous occasions, going back to the book, reviewing the chapter highlights and quickly getting the information I was looking for. Secondly, the sample menu plans and daily logs at the end of the book were great! I would put this on anyone's "must read list"!

Excellent book! I have only recently heard about Cortisol and the roll it plays in weight gain, and Talbott does a good job of explaining how it works. I feel as though he were writing about me. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because I felt he could have explained more about eating on the plan itself, instead of just giving an example for one day of meals.

The two books..the Cortisol Connection and The Cortisol Diet are a must read for anyone stressed from everyday life. Dr. Talbott offers recommendations on diet, lifestyle and supplements which are not only easy to follow, they make a profound difference to your health. You don't have to be overwheight to take advantage of this diet. Its a diet for anyone that is stressed from life.

I heard Shawn Talbott speak on a teleseminar a couple weeks ago, about cortisol and testosterone and their role in stress, weight reduction, and health. I was impressed - the man seemed to know what he's talking about and everything he said resonated with things I already knew, half-knew, or suspected:
* Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, is a potent appetite signal for high-calorie, high-carb foods; it tells our fat cells, especially those in the belly region, to store as much fat as possible, while dialing down the body's calorie burning rate and slowly shrinking muscle tissue.
* Stress management leads to reduced cortisol, reduced fat - especially belly fat - and an increased metabolic rate, to burn more calories.
* Testosterone goes up as cortisol goes down (yes, in women too!), and that's a good thing. We should aim to balance these two hormones, and that's what exercise does for us - this is the main benefit of exercise, not burning calories per se. Walking three times per week will do it!
* Hydrate! - We need plenty of water to melt away fat; it's a chemical, metabolic thing..
* High cortisol (high stress) leads to lowered sex drive, bone loss, and suppresses your immune system. Talbott noted how college infirmaries fill up with sick students at the end each semester, because the stress of exams and papers has reduced their immunity.
* Eat flavinoids (bright colored fruits and vegetables) and a balance of complex carbohydrates, healthy proteins, and healthy fats to combat cortisol.
Talbot, trained in sports medicine, health management, exercise physiology, and nutritional biochemistry, is an associate clinical professor of nutrition at the University of Utah, a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Dietary Supplements (for health professionals) and SupplementWatch (for consumers).
An earlier book, The Cortisol Connection, How Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health And What You Can Do About It, is a more general treatment of stress, its effects, and how to control it. In The Cortisol Connection Diet (2004), Talbot concentrates on diet: what to eat and how much, including recommendations for supplements (such as Green Tea Extract). He recommends three meals and three snacks per day, and introduces The Helping Hand - your hand - a readily available physical measure for how much proteins, carbs, and fats to eat. This is not so much a diet as it is a common-sense guide - that common-sense being informed by an understanding of the role of cortisol and other hormones in metabolism as it relates to weight and health.
Talbot also critiques popular Diets: Atkins, Ornish, Zone, Weight Watchers, Ephedra (herbal stimulant), liquid. Here is what he says about the Atkins Diet:
Q: What are the side effects associated with the Atkins Diet (low carb / high protein)?
A: It depends on how the diet is approached. For example, an "Atkins" meal composed of salmon and green salad has no side effects (and obviously has many health benefits) - but an "Atkins" meal composed of a bacon double cheeseburger (hold the bun) is not good for your heart or your waistline. Eating too much protein, which can be a problem with some versions of low-carb diets, can lead to dehydration (water loss is often confused with weight / fat loss) - and dehydration can slow the metabolic rate and make weight maintenance more difficult. Too much protein in the diet can also displace other important food sources: If you've filled up on meat and cheese, you may not have room left to eat your salad, so the diet may fail to provide enough of many vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, and may also be lacking in fiber.
Any diet will work, especially at first, but as you progress, many of the popular Diets become counter-productive, especially as you try to lose those last 10 or 20 pounds. Expect Talbot's recommendations to take you all the way, and allow you to maintain that target weight for the long term.
The Cortisol Connection Diet is short - 130 pages with appendices, index, sample meals and snacks, and food log forms, all in a small page format - easily read in one or two sittings. I found it straightforward and easy to understand.
I have always known that stress is important in weight control; containing emotional eating is a major part of the WHY Weight Reduction Program (© by Judith E. Pearson, Ph.D.) that I use with my weight clients. But in part because of Dr. Talbott, I am coming to understand that stress is central, not only to weight issues but to most of the issues we deal with in Hypnotherapy.

I think I'm reviewing the seller, right, or the book? I received the book in a couple of days and it was in like-new condition. The book has great sensible information and I plan to use it. I believe the content can make a huge difference in my health.

This book is fabulous. Their are easy solutions to the fat by lowering cotisol levels. I have had adrenol problems since chemotherapy (10 m0nths). That was 4 years ago. I kept gaining weight around my middle and no amount of exercise or diets would work. Now i know why, i have to get my corisone levels down first, then the rest is all in the book, including very importand herbs. I am excited about what is going to happen. I highly recomend this book to anyone who might sespect their adrenol glands may be fatiqued. I was suprised to learn that most people with extra fat around the middle have cortisol issues.
I have read many articles and books on the subject which gave me a good undestang but no solid varible solutions like this book does. God bless Theresa Cheung. This book is a most read.

I have been into nutrition for the past 40 years and consequently I have read many books and articles on this subject. While I do not feel the diet is IDEAL, it is a more pragmatic approach that the average dieter might follow and surely better than the fast food diets of millions of people. I did learn a few things and the content was a good review in other areas. I plan to check out this:Banaba Leaf.

informative and pretty close to what I was thinking as far as addressing the issues in my life