Customer Reviews

Dr. Gott's No Flour, No Sugar(TM) Diet

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This book is full of good, common-sense advice about how to eat a healthier diet. If you're a person who eats a lot of fast food or junk food, this book will really help you make more nutritious choices. By cutting out flour and sugar, it forces you to choose less processed foods, which are naturally better for you as they usually contain a higher nutrition to calorie ration than processed foods, which are full of empty calories.

I especially like the recipe section. Everything i've made from the book so far has been delicious--seafood gazpacho, halibut baked with fennel and sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic salmon, pork chops with dried cherry reduction, spicy peanut sauce. Even the sugar-free desserts are delicious. I especially liked the lemon panna cotta and I'm looking forward to trying the strawberry crepes with dark chocolate sauce, too!

This book will definitely help you make better food choices, and it will give you lots of ideas for what to cook, too!

I give Dr. Gott a standing ovation for creating a simplistic plan for weight loss. Complex plans that require higher math skills (a la 40-30-30) or intense memorization (is it no carbs with proteins or no fats with carbs or no fruit with protein or other carbs?) tend to frustrate dieters at some point in the process and they resort back to the old, weight-gaining ways. Dr. Gott's plan has 2 main rules - don't eat anything with flour (in any form) or sugar (in any form). C'est tout, as the French say (and we all know they don't get fat...:) The fact this plan is simplistic does not mean that it is easy to follow. I have been amazed daily when trying to follow Dr. Gott's basic recommendations how much food I eat on a normal basis that contains sugar and flour (and I suspect any self-respecting comfort-food loving, chocolate addict will feel the same). No bread (but you can have corn tortillas that are not made with corn flour). No pasta (mama mia!). Most cereals are out (except whole grain with no added sugar of any type). No desserts at restaurants (although there are some great recipes in the book). What does that leave, you ask? Wholesome foods like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins (although I'm a vegetarian, so that means soy products and beans), and whole grains like oatmeal (which I'm eating now), bulgur, brown rice, etc. (but NOT anything made with whole wheat FLOUR). Basically, what this plan does then is cut out all the processed foods which we shouldn't really be indulging in, anyway, and it concentrates on whole foods that are healthy and nutritious. For those who would rather die than give up sweets, Dr. Gott does allow products with artificial or fruit sweeteners, so you can still have your Diet Coke (not exactly a health food, but we have to have some vices, right?) and anything else you can find that is sweet but has no flour or "real" sugar.

Anyway, by cutting out a large portion of the processed junk we Americans have grown accustomed to, Dr. Gott has created a simple, inexpensive, and healthy way to successfully lose weight and gain health. For these reasons, I give him a high 5. Thanks, Dr. Gott (and thanks Splenda :)

Let me start saying that I have read a lot of books on weight loss and I have my own experience in the weight loss game, having being able to loss more than 200 lbs and shrink my waist (from 44 to 32) in about eight months, and I have been able to keep in good shape for more than 6 years. I believe that for a Weight loss program to be effective in the long term it has to be realistic and it has to be practical and easy to follow, so one can stick to it in order to gradually obtain what we ultimately want: Burn unwanted body fat.

"No flour, no sugar". That is basically it. The whole idea of the book is based in just that four words and can be obtained just there in its title. Pretty old and simple idea based in common sense. You will lose weight and fat just because by eliminating sugar and flour from your diet you will be cutting down two of the simples carbohydrates that you can find, and as science has show simple carbohydrates and food with high Glycemic indexes will turn into body fat quickly than any other food. An important note: you should drink plenty of water every time you are cutting down carbs from your diet.

Weight Loss is not a simple matter, since it takes commitment and discipline to achieve real and lasting results. Once we accept this we are ready to turn advices into habits. I weak point of the book is that it focuses only on the diet aspect, but for a plan to be successful I truly believe that it has to be complemented with advices on how to avoid emotional eating due to anxiety (a point well covered in the book "Intuitive Eating") and an exercise plan is always an excellent plus, not mandatory but an excellent complement for long lasting results and better health (a good combination that could also be explored in the book "The ABS Diet").

Since you are checking this book I have to guess that you are interested in losing weight, getting in better shape or just be healthier, so I will share my own experience in the weight lose game:

My own successful personal experience in weight loss is based on strategies to boost metabolism. Don't stress yourself, eat frequently, eat just what you need each time, and choose wisely what you are going to eat, supplement your diet. Yet simple and it works. I loss more than 200 lbs and shrink my waist (from 44 to 32), and I have been able to keep in good shape since then. Every single aspect of my life has improved since then.

Based on my own personal experience I can recommend another tools that you may want to consider, to establish your own strategies for boosting your metabolism, loosing weight, and even more important keeping that weight off. They are:

- "Ultrametabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss" by Mark Hyman. A practical a more realistic plan for weigh loss.
- "The ABS Diet", which is another very practical, readable, insightful, and inspirational book.
- A Body Fat Monitor or Scale. This will help you monitor your progress, to assure that the weight you are loosing is fat (fat lost = increased metabolism) and not muscle, water or bone mass (decreased metabolism).
- A Heart Rate Monitor Wrist Watch. This is an excellent tool that will help you monitor and control your Heart Rate in order to keep yourself in a burning fat state (increased metabolism).
- "Heart Monitor Training for the Complete Idiot", a primer on the use of Heart Rate Monitors for health improvement or weight control.

If you want to star focusing only on your diet, the first two may be worth considering. If you exercise, or want to start doing it right, the last three are for you. If you do both, all the recommended options can improve your results.

I am 39 years old, With the help of the tools I just mentioned not only I went fro size 44 to size 32 pants, but also obtained substantial benefits that included weight control, cardiovascular improvements, lowered blood pressure, and improved muscular-skeletal strength and flexibility, but also the myriad of mental and psychological benefits derived from being in the best shape of my life.

Keep in mind that loosing those extra pounds are just part of the equation, you also need a plan that helps you keeping them off. Anything you choose to do that increases your metabolism is in the right direction. A high metabolic rate will keep you burning calories (and fat) all day long.

Fabulous book and Dr. Gott's program works! This book is easy to read. Now I fully understand why this basic way of eating works. I began this eating program 3 1/2 years ago after being a faithful reader of Dr. Gott's syndicated column in the Pasadena Star News. I had no other direction except for eliminating flour and sugar from my food intake. My weight dropped; I was not hungry; I was able to eat anywhere by simply excluding those two items and most importantly, I have kept the weight off for three years. I naturally came down to the ideal weight for my height and frame. The recipies are great, the ingredients are simple and it does not cost anything! Life is good, keep up the good work, Dr. Gott!

Dr. Gott's "No Sugar, No Flour" diet is a sure fire way to lose pounds. I have maintained this diet 90% of the time for the last five years. I am in shape, great health, and I also get a lot of physical activity through running, walking, and playing beach volleyball. 10% of the time I allow myself treats that may contain A LITTLE sugar or flour, as life is too short to be too restrictive with the sense of taste that we were given! This book is great, it explains the diet in easy terms and is easy to implement since it is not expensive and you don't have to count calories. I suggest this diet to anyone as part of a healthy lifestyle.

I'm not surprised at the greatness of this book, since I read Dr. Gott's column in our newspaper six days per week. His honesty in publishing the occasional negative letter and caring about the outcome of patients' symptoms is refreshing. This book is also, and its organization far surpasses that of Ultrametabolism, which would take a month just to outline, not unlike Dr. Atkins' books.

This diet is clear-cut and allows one to relax a little after losing more than they'd lose on most diets.

Being a slow loser, I've lost 2.5 lbs. per week, but that's a miracle for me. I'm sticking with this, and doubt if I'll binge at this rate. I'm very happy with that.

The diet laid out in this book is incredibly straightforward. If you can understand the title, you've got the gist of the diet right there. Seriously. If a food has any kind of flour or sugar in it, don't eat it. Dr. Gott's logic is quite sound. You'll consume fewer calories on this diet, and the calories you do consume will be more nutrient-dense and leave your blood sugar more stable, so you'll lose weight and feel better.

And the diet works. It's far from flawless - how many "no flour, no sugar" diets have been derailed by the scent of freshly baked bread? It asks you to give up some things you really love. But, as someone who has tried just about every diet, the straightforward rules are refreshing, and that you never really have to go hungry is a huge, huge plus. This is a healthy diet, and if you have what it takes to stick to it, you'll see wonderful results.

Despite my generally positive feelings about the diet itself, however, I'm only able to give the book 2 stars. It takes Dr. Gott all of a paragraph or two to explain the diet. The rest of the book is dire warnings about obesity, exhortations to exercise, and lectures about portion size. It's all good and reasonable stuff, but unless you've been living under a rock for the last 20 years, you know it already. You didn't need to spend money on this book to figure it out. The book also has a number of "reader questions" that all sound like they were written by the same person and are totally unnecessary. In short, you could turn this book into a pamphlet and keep all the useful information intact. But then you couldn't charge half as much for it on Amazon, I guess!

There are recipes in the book, but they are mostly disappointing. Many of them are too involved to be quick weeknight fare, but that's the time most of us need help. I know I don't reach mindlessly for the crackers when it's Saturday and I've had the whole day to plan my meals - I do it when I'm ravenous at 6pm and dinner hasn't even started yet. Those are the coping strategies I need and this book does not offer many. And as others have mentioned, Dr. Gott is a little too liberal with the Splenda. I don't have a moral or health objection to artificial sweeteners - I just don't like the way any of them taste. But when I eliminate all the recipes that have these sweeteners in them, the remaining list is quite small.

If you're interested in this diet - and you should be - I would advise you to skip this one or just get it from the library. But do invest in Dr. Gott's cookbook if you like what you hear - it explains the diet well enough, without as much extraneous filler, and offers far more recipes than this book does.

I gave this book 5 stars because of the practical content it contains. He explains things in terms everyone can understand. If you're serious about getting control of your health, here is the book for you. Dr. Gott explains that this is a lifestyle change in your eating paterns, not really a diet. The benefit is weight loss at a slow rate that tends to stay off. My husband has been on this for just under 2 months and has lost 15 pounds. His energy level has been improved dramatically. He still has another 30-40 pounds to lose, but is committed to do it. One of the best things he has said to me is, "I really don't feel like I'm dieting at all". I am not as strict as he is, but I could stand to lose about 15 pounds myself. So for us, this is the way we will be eating forever. By the way, we're both over 50 years old and losing weight. Imagine that?

Dr. Gott has a lot of no nonsense diet tips but it is basically very simple. If it has flour and/or sugar - DON'T EAT IT! And it works.

I first saw Dr. Gott in the emergency room of a hospital in 1968. He looks no different today, except for a few wrinkles and some grey in his hair. He hasn't gained an ounce as far as I can tell. He must be following this diet!

I've found it easy to follow with the great recipes. My most difficult problem is portion control. I've used a small plate for years and that helps. Also a food journal is a must at least in the beginning as you discover why you are overeating.

I don't see how you could fail on this plan of eating.