Customer Reviews

Diet Alternative

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book changed my whole attitude toward food and how God views my eating. I had just signed up for yet another "diet" in my effort to lose 50 pounds, when I stumbled upon Diane's book in a Christian bookstore. I couldn't put it down. After one week following the principles (which are so simple, I wondered how I could have overlooked them), I lost 5 pounds. As I write this I am well on my way to losing the 50. I now "eat to live" and not "live to eat". I don't feel deprived and I don't feel like I'm on a diet, because it's not a diet. It is a real confrontation with the heart of God and His easy yoke of sound principles in eating. The best part is I am spending more time reading the Word of God and really listening to His voice as to what is proper to put in my mouth and WHEN to put it in my mouth. If you have tried everything else and failed, PLEASE PLEASE read this book. It is a quick easy read, but it packs a powerful punch against gluttony. Read it and be free. I will never be in bondage to overeating again! Praise God!

I wish that I could meet Diane Hampton in person and thank her for putting into words what I needed to hear. If you are out there and have been struggling w/obsessive eatting for years, have tried every diet known to man and have failed every time, then this book is for you. And actually it's not the book that is so awesome, it's the way that God speaks to you through the book and the way that He transforms your mind and spirit through Ms. Hampton's lessons. Please try this book. It's short but powerful!! A must to have if you want to change your life forever!!

Our church has been on a program called WeighDown for a few years. The Diet Alternative deals with some of the same principles. Easy reading. True to Scripture. A workable plan for anyone who wants to lose weight and regain control of their life. An outstanding book value!

This really works! It is God's answer to obesity. I read it while on vacation with friends and was surprised to find I had lost 9 pounds when I returned home. I thought the principles would be hard at first maybe I should wait....instead I did what the book outlined and gave thanks to God!

After spending 2/3 of my life focusing on some diet or other, how I compared w/an airbrushed magazine model & dealing with the consequences of anorexic/bulemic behavior, the Diet Alternative made sense of God's rules of order rather than the world's dietary rules of disorder. There are many well-meaning diet guru's & nutritionists out there, willing to tell us the latest and greatest up-to-date ways and means of reducing our waistlines and eliminating our bulges. Very few of them address the underlying causes of eating when we're hungry for things other than food. We are 'fearfully and wonderfully made', the Psalmist writes, and we unconcernedly take advantage of all the world's tempting offerings without considering the consequences of our actions. After years of 'I want it when I want it', having to put my choices on hold until I really was physically hungry, and avoiding relationships, activities, intimacy, etc. "til I got thin enough", I was ready to make a change. Diane writes about sewing seeds to the Spirit rather than to the flesh. Her use of Scripturally sound references to obedient behavior, responsible choices and simple language to define often misquoted Biblical precepts, had me going to my Bible to make I sure I understood, sometimes for the first time, what God was asking me to do and become...not perfect by dieting, looking a certain way or staying imperfect because I wasn't at 'the perfect weight for my height', but perfect at following His will and leading. I've sewn a lot of seeds to the flesh, that is, had my own way, which didn't work. Rather, by taking a meal and choosing to NOT eat, to give sacrificially rather than conveniently for me, I gave back to the Spirit seeds of right behavior. It's easier to eat real food when the body is hungry than to swallow fake food when the heart or mind is hungry for nourishment only God can truly give.

I picked this book up while browsing in a Christian bookstore and started reading. I finished it before leaving the store. This book is a very concise, thorough description of the problem I had with food. It enabled me to overcome my focus on food and refocus on the one who gave us food. I feel as though I have been released and allowed to become "normal". Other longer books have addressed the problem in somewhat the same way, but nothing as brief and easy to understand. If I get off track, I review the book and I can quickly get back to the correct way of eating. I am saddened that so many have been deceived by decades of misleading information and some continue to advocate eating patterns and foods that only add to the problem of gluttony, failure, self disdain, and yet another attempt at one more diet. If you have become trapped by constant thoughts of eating, food selection, or guilt about your eating, this is the book for you. I can now think of something besides food, like GOD!
Thank you Lord for leading me to this book and thank you Diane for writing it.

Give up dieting forever! I have and I am now losing weight eating anything, yes anything, I want. Can you imagine eating anything you want and not being frightened? This is the book that will set you free, this is the book you need. Has it struck you that dieting is unnatural? Don't eat this, don't eat that, count this, count that, measure this, measure that, I can't have this, and I can't have that, ad nauseum. Which diet guru are you going to believe? Can you reall stay with a low-carb diet or a high-carb diet or calorie counting the rest of your life? Most importantly, do you want to stick to a restricted diet the rest of your life? The first day of my new eating pattern I ate two meals. The second day, I woke up with no hunger, no reactive hypoglycemia (nausea and shakes from hunger)! What a miracle. I have shifted to an apple for lunch and anything I want for dinner (I love to cook and desire to eat with my family). At maintenance, I may end up eating two meals a day; I don't know and it certainly isn't something to "worry" about. The diet gurus that say one meal will cause you to overeat later, etc., are wrong, wrong, wrong. Maybe it sounds theoretically correct, but it does not work that way. Listen, I have found out the less you eat, the less you eat. I do eat to satisfaction at dinner and it does not stretch my stomach. By the way, Dr. Dean Edell stated on his radio show that he only eats one meal a day himself. He says there is NO scientific proof that X number of meals are better than one. Also, I want you dear readers to know that I have four friends who are "naturally" slim (adult women - 30's and 40's). Two of them eat a small amount for lunch (like a small hamburger) and a good dinner (they are sizes 3 and 6). One gal eats at 2:30 PM, a huge amount, and a snack at night (she is size 7). One gal does nibble all day, like a potato chip here and there (no thank you, personally). Oh, and a relative who is size 4 eats breakfast and dinner, never lunch. Remember my comeback for sabotagers: "Slim people don't need much food, even if we exercise. Who says a certain number of meals a day are better than one or two?" The only negative thing I have to say about Diane's book is that I felt she took scripture out of context. God fed the Israelites manna 2X a day; they were supernaturally filled and nourished. He does not feed anyone manna today. Also, biblical gluttony is not overeating (I do believe a lifestyle of overeating is sin, but not gluttony). Biblical gluttony refers to the Roman-type parties where people overate, overdrank and went on to commit more sin. On the positive side, I do believe Diane tries steer away from legalism and authoritarianism. This book is an answer to prayer. You won't be sorry if you buy this book.

I found this book to be incredible and do~able. It put the reality of the problem in perspective and addresses the 'heart matter' versus the 'diet solution'.

The nice thing is....because it is NOT A DIET....you CAN'T FAIL!

If you have been struggling with weight and you truly want to be set free from ever having to deal with the diet issue ever again.. buy it, read it, do it and buy a few for friends.

I believe this was God inspired truth and it is much easier reading and quicker than the Weigh Down Workshop. It just gets right to the point and cuts right to the marrow.

It will also increase the quality of your relationship with God because an incredible trust begins to grow and faith is being exercise on to victory. God meets us right we are if we are just willing.

Praise God....it is not just me....and I can be set free!

By the time I got to page 47 of this book, I was weeping because I knew I was finally FREE. I've been overweight for 10 years (240 lbs) and had tried every diet known to mankind. I always gained it back and more. God makes this so easy, it's almost too good to be true. I've learned to listen to my body and got a great side benefit - a closer relationship with God! And needless to say, my family is thrilled. Thank you Diane - your book will help thousands who lost all hope.

This book has been around for over 20 years and, to date, I haven't found any weight loss method that makes more sense. The author, Diane Hampton questions the traditional idea of dieting and the notion that people need three square meals a day in order to be healthy. This may have been true in the distant past when we lived in more of an agrarian society in which people were extremely active, working outdoors and walking long distances, etc. But the majority of us work in jobs in which we are largely sedentary and, therefore, need much fewer calories than we typically take in on a daily basis. In this book, there are no food restrictions, per se, but the author does point out that when people are truly hungry - and finding true hunger is a big part of this program - they don't crave junk food, but rather find satisfaction in eating foods that hold greater nutritional value.

After following the principles outlined in this book, it was almost as if I'd had a gastric bypass! After a while I was hardly ever hungry, I could only eat very small portions because I became uncomfortably full if I ate beyond being just satisfied. At one point I even worried that I wasn't eating enough because I was hardly ever really hungry! As the author points out, this is because overweight people have a generous store of energy in the form of excess fat in the body. The body uses that stored energy, but still needs other nutrients and true hunger will signal the body's need for additional nutrients.

Although I think anyone can benefit from the principles in this book, Christians in particular will appreciate the author's emphasis on the transformative power of Christ which provides the ability to be successful in weight loss. She recognizes that people use food for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with providing fuel to the body. She explains the Lord's profound interest in our physical, spiritual and mental well-being and that He is more than able to fill the void that food has occupied in so many people's lives.

There has been some negative commentary about this book; in particular, it has been said that the author promotes unhealthy eating. To get the most out of this book, it must be understood that the purpose of this book is not to provide dietary guidelines or food recommendations. It is written to set straight the purpose of food in our lives, to recognize the power of Christ to heal and empower in the pursuit of healthy eating patterns, to discipline the body, and to promote a healthy balance between the use of food as fuel and enjoyment of the eating experience. These principle can be combined with healthy programs such as Weight Watchers, that specifically teach rehabilitation in terms of what we eat.

I, obviously, highly recommend this book to people who are tired of dead-end diets and would like to - for once and for all - get down to the root of their eating problems and come up with a livable and lasting solution for weight loss.