Customer Reviews

The Gabriel Method: The Revolutionary DIET-FREE Way to Totally Transform Your Body

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

*****
This book is essentially the theory and practice of a healthy, non-diet way of living that will actually lead to greater weight loss than even healthy diets. The main tenet of The Gabriel Method is that the body will not lose weight until it is ready; that is, until you (and it) feel safe. So it's really important to find ways to help your body feel safe, and then weight loss will naturally occur.

The author emphasizes visualization as a part of this; he strongly suggests (although it's not absolutely necessary) that you use his own CD for this, which is sold separately from his web site. He emphasizes lots of ways of eating healthfully, but stresses that these need to happen by following the body's needs and listening to your own body, as opposed to forcing anything. He also emphasizes things like forgiveness, and other types of self-care.

What I think is unique about this book is that it is a comprehensive approach to the anti-diet mentality. I am already following this, and have found it is the only way I can healthfully and sanely lose weight. However, this book was still of value to me as it added really good tips--like the importance of visualization, and reminders of noticing the life force of food, and much more. I liked the author's style of writing and found it encouraging and motivational.

For anyone who diets, please read this. Especially if you are a yo-yo dieter, I think you will appreciate this book. And if diets HAVE NOT worked for you in the past, and you don't know why, this book is an absolute MUST READ.

Highly recommended.
*****

I have a graduate degree in nutrition and extensive knowledge of nondiet approaches, including Shapedown, Intuitive Eating, and Eating Competence. That said, I believe we all have our own inner wisdom and should follow what works for our own, unique bodies. So this review is my own personal view. It doesn't mean I bow to the USDA or don't have a critical thought in my head, it's just my review of the book (which I liked).

THE BABY: Gabriel's book has some wonderful qualities, including the visualizations, which I find to be a missing link in many nondiet approaches to weight management. He also gets the reader to "add in" healthy foods rather than "restricting out" foods that they see as "forbidden." This is something I've always preached and agree with wholeheartedly. His take on the dynamics of dieting and emotional starvation are spot on.

THE BATHWATER: Although he has "notes" and citations at the end of each chapter, don't get caught up in some of the nutritional assertions he makes. Pasteurizing milk does not "denature" the calcium in it. Calcium cannot be denatured... it's a mineral, not a protein. The calcium in any milk is just fine. Eating foods in a specific order is also unfounded. He says that meat requires an acidic environment, where milk and starch require alkaline ones... well yes, no, and it doesn't matter. Protein (from both the meat and milk) is digested first in the acidic environment of the stomach, and then in the alkaline environment of the small intestine (the pancreas shoots in bicarbonate to neutralize the stomach acid). Sugars and starches are primarily digested in the small intestine. The key: your stomach is like a blender, and all the nutrients are in one big glob. You have mroe enzymes than you can shake a stick at, and they only recongize the nutrient they're trying to break down, be it protein, carbohydrate, or fat. There is no reason to eat foods in a particular order or at separate meals.

He also asserts the aspartame causes an insulin response. This is based on a small study (that he doesn't cite, but it's the only one I could find) from 1988 on a handful of type 2 diabetic patients. The insulin peak was no different than with the unsweetened product, and the area under the curve was slighly greater.

I could go on (and on, because he really does make some outlandish nutritino claims) but you get the idea. He makes some mistakes, as so many authors do, by not consulting with experts in areas with which he's not familiar enough. He relies on "it sounds good, and makes sense."

NOT THROWING THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER: There is so much about this book that is excellent, just not the nutrition information (other than eating whole, healthy, unprocessed foods). I suspect Jon Gabriel will correct some of his errors in subsequent editions of the book. I hope the next edition will be even more grounded in science, as there is a LOT in this book that is uncited. It's a red flag for me, as the citations he does give are often news articles or simply "notes" that are his opinions. I'm concerned that some readers might see the smattering of citations and swallow the whole shebang without a critical eye.

THE BOTTOM LINE: A good read for those struggling with weight issues, although there are other similar books grounded in science. Simply take the nutrition information with a grain of salt. No pun intended.

Mr Gabriel was interviewed on Coast to Coast radio towards the end of February 2009. I bought his book on February 25 and read it. There were some thoughts in the book that really stayed with me and I incorporated them into my daily routine. I decided to give my body the nutrients it needed before eating anything questionable and to do some visualization. I did not use Mr Gabriel's CD but just did it on my own. I did not think I was doing much different than I had been doing before reading the book, however when I weighed myself on March 23 I was very surprised to find I had lost 10 pounds. Thats better than I did when I spent over $300 on a well known food program that provided some really nasty tasting packaged meals and left me constantly hungry. I am rereading the book and plan to download Mr Gabriel's visualization too.

The eighty pounds I've lost are only a small part of The Gabriel Method's impact on me. Jon's insight that many of us are "starving" and compensate with food has led me and several of my friends to look inside ourselves and become better people. At first I thought it was too good to be true, but it's all based on sound logic and biochemistry, and the real proof has been in the results. I have re-discovered my passion, which has led me to stop fighting the logic of my body and I've never been happier. This book is an absolute life changer.

Author Jon Gabriel lost 220 pounds and morphed from an uninteresting fat guy into Mr. Yummy, a lean mean muscle machine with 6-pack abs. This book explains his weight loss techniques, which he calls The Gabriel Method. According to Gabriel, permanent weight loss is less about diet and exercise and more about the mind-body connection.

The basic idea is that your mind must be used to undo the default fat program your body is following. Participants have to be willing to invest considerable time and energy in visualization exercises, meditation practices and other mind work. They also need to be prepared to make changes to diet that include eating whey protein and drinking wheat grass juice. This is not the book for the person who wants to take off 10 or 20 pounds in a hurry. The Gabriel Method would most appeal to a seriously overweight person who has tried everything else without lasing success.

That said, any book that gives me a living, breathing role model and a few useful ideas is worthy of my reading time, and The Gabriel Method easily meets this minimum quality requirement. For example, Gabriel advises putting your mind into SMART (Super Mental Awareness Re-education Training) mode to eliminate the non-physical causes of obesity. This is an alpha or transcendent state of mind where fears are released, worn-out dysfunctional ideas are changed, and new ideas can firmly take root.

Gabriel also talks about the importance of living with purpose. "Meaning and purpose are soul food and many of us are starving for this essential non-physical nutrient." He says the ultimate cure for frustration and hunger that cannot be satisfied is to follow your heart and do the thing you're afraid to do. I absolutely love this idea!

Unfortunately Gabriel does not always fully develop his excellent ideas. Rather than going deeply into the direct relationship between lack of purpose in life and lack of care for self, he provides us with a provocative snippet and no clear direction about how to implement the idea. This abbreviated writing style occurs repeatedly throughout the book, and we end up with a mishmash of things to consider that can overwhelm a potential participant and block further action.

Gabriel also talks incessantly about the "FAT program," where the word FAT always appears in full caps for extra emphasis. Putting so much attention on the condition that isn't wanted gets very confusing. I wanted to hear about the SKINNY program, not the fat one! More than once I started wondering what the chapter was about and where it was taking me.

And lastly, Gabriel's eating and exercising direction is too vague for my personal taste. I would prefer more concrete, authentic advice that explains exactly how Gabriel eats and exercises on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis. Instead, he gives an undiet variation of the eat when hungry/stop when full message - one of those platitudes that sounds easy but isn't. Gabriel also does not share his personal exercise routine and he downplays the importance of exercise. This is highly suspicious because his 6-pack abs didn't get that way by magic.

Bottom line: 1 thumb up; 1 thumb down. There's good stuff in here, but you have to dig for it.

I've done my share in the past 30+ years of losing weight by dieting and gaining it back. The current advice to cut calories and exercise just hasn't worked well for us. At some point you have to realize that what you're doing isn't working. I finally gave up on dieting, and in the past two years I've lost over 30 pounds.

This isn't just a book about "thinking yourself thin." It's a fantastic compilation of advice that covers the mental, spiritual and physical aspects of body identity and nutrition. And it's all very simply presented and easy to execute.

Gabriel offers so many wonderful suggestions that include eating grass-fed meat and living fruits and vegetables; drinking water; consuming omega 3s; exercising like our ancestors; eating earlier in the day rather than later; chewing food; conscious eating; the role of enzymes and bacteria; and spending time in nature and in the sun. He discusses how the body uses fat cells to safely store toxins and how drugs and other items ingested affect our bodies.

Equally important to diet is understanding how our thoughts affect our body image and possible psychological reasons as to why we are fat, such as using fat as a barrier to intimacy or control by others, or consuming foods as replacements for love or security. No weight loss can be sustained without addressing these emotional factors.

Gabriel also discusses the role of physiology and the reptilian brain inherited from our ancestors that controls the level of fat we retain based on inherent survival needs--the classic fight, flight or freeze.

And the icing on the cake is the New Thought use of the mind to change physical reality, popularly known as manifesting. Visualization of the desired body and faith in its eventual manifestation not only affects reality but prompts different choices. If you're sitting in front of the TV getting depressed thinking you'll always be a fat slug, you'll be much more inclined to eat a bag of potato chips in resignation than if you're looking at a picture imagining you're thin and active. Using our mind to imagine our future is a powerful tool for change.

Forget low-calorie diets, shakes, pills and procedures, and get to the root of your weight problem by following the advice in this book. Highly recommended.

I am not an overweight person but I'm not thin either. I am in the normal weight range for someone of my height. That said, I am only 5'1" tall so for me, gaining even 5 pounds makes a big difference. I got this book not because I wanted to get skinny overnight, but rather, learn why, after 18 years, I can't seem to lose these last 15 pounds. I eat right, exercise moderately and drink plenty of water. So why do I have these love handles and why do my thighs rub together when I walk?

For me, having an extra 15 pounds on my frame means the difference between having PCOS or not. It's enough to slow down my metabolism and cause me to gain even more weight. It's enough to make exercising painful. It's enough to make me feel tired all the time. I've tried diets and exercise but I always gain the weight back. It seems my body is set at staying this weight, no matter what I do.

Now, after reading The Gabriel Method I understand why my body is holding onto these extra 15 pounds of fat. All of the lifestyle changes I made in the past were physical, none were psychological. I realized that the change has to happen in my mind for it to happen in my body. I am seeing amazing results so far and I've only been using the method for a month. The first week my appetite reduced and my thirst increased. The second week I began feeling better about my body and gaining confidence. The third week I began exercising regularly. I've never been this consistent with my workout routines. (I now run 4-5 times and week and will begin swimming soon.)

I've learned why depriving myself of the foods I love can backfire in the end. I learned why diets don't work. I learned why counting calories doesn't work. I've learned to love my body. And best of all, I've learned patience. I was so desperate to lose weight before, I would give myself a deadline and I'd torture myself with dieting and exercising and when I didn't see the results I wanted quickly, I'd give up. Now I understand this process is going to take time. I'm not going to expect immediate results. I tell myself that I will see the body I want in a year's time. I have a clear picture in my mind of what that will look like. I could not see that image before, and that explains why I failed so many times.

The mind is a powerful thing. If your personal philosophy is: "If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it", then you will love this book!

This is not a fad-based quick diet, but rather a way to transform your body by understanding science and human history. It made sense to me, and helped me see weight-loss in a whole new way.

The everyday stress that people deal with is "alarming but not immediately life threatening." Early humans that felt stress were often responding to either famine or harsh weather, which triggered their bodies to add extra fat. This is a different kind of stress than, say, being chased by a wild animal, which would signal the body to be lean and fit and capable of running away. The trick is to convince your body that the stresses it feels are not due to FAT -- Famine and Temperature -- so it doesn't need to pile on extra poundage.

Author Jon Gabriel used this realization to lose 225 pounds. That's an inspiration. In The Gabriel Method, he lays out his reasoning and gives you a blueprint to follow his example.

Here's the chapter list:

Introduction: My Own Transformation

Part I: The Principles
1. The Fat Programs: The Real Reason You're Fat
2. Jessie's Law

Part II: Nonphysical Stresses that Activate the FAT Programs
3. Mental Causes of Obesity
4. Emotional Obesity
5. Eliminating the Nonphysical Causes of Obesity Using SMART mode
6. Using Positive Emotions to Turn Off the FAT Programs
7. Creating the Body of Your Dreams
8. Easy Applications of the Principles in Part II

Part III: Physical Stresses that Activate the FAT Programs
9. Why Diets Don't Work
10. The Essentials
11. Vitality: The Zero-Calorie Essential Nutrient
12. It Doesn't Count Unless It Enters Your Cells
13. Other Forms of Starvation
14. Fat and Toxins
15. Easy Applications of the Principles in Part III

Part IV: Positive Forces that Make Your Body Want to Be Thin
16. The Positive Stresses
17. Success Profiles: The Gabriel Method in Practice

Part V: Make it Happen for You
18. Creating Your New Body
19. How Quickly Will I Lose the Weight?

Appendix: The Chemistry of the FAT Programs

(Today is June 10, 2009. I have been following the plan for 4 months. I do not know why the date is showing March on the review!)


I read Jon's book around the first of March 09, and have been implementing all the advice Jon gives in the book ever since.

First off, let me say that I really enjoyed the book, it is very readable, I read it in a couple of days.

I started adding the foods Jon recommends and taking the supplements he advises you to use (there are just a few supplements - like flaxseed oil - nothing drastic or overwhelming). The foods he suggest you add to your diet are foods you probably already eat, but make slight changes to, such as eating organic eggs, meat, and dairy - rather than non organic.

Jon was right in the fact that once you make these changes to your diet, you will not want to go back to your old way of eating! I feel really healthy and I absolutely love the way I am eating now and do not feel deprived (or hungry) in any way!

As long as you include the foods he suggests in your diet everyday, you can eat whatever else you like - if you want it. It is such a relief to not have to worry about not eating this or that, or worrying about how much you eat!

So.... I feel great, love the way I am eating, and can not imagine going back to my old way of eating..........however...... and now for the downside........

Although I have been staying off the scale for the most part, the last time I weighed myself, about week ago - I had not lost one pound!

I was really devastated when I did weigh myself, as I was sure I was losing weight! I want to lose 20 pounds and this is of course why I bought the book.

I still plan of sticking with Jon's way of eating and also doing the simple visualization exercises he recommends (this takes about 10 minutes a day) because I do feel very good!

I just hope I will be able to update this review in a month or so and let you know that I have in fact lost weight!

I simply cannot express in mere words what I think of Jon Gabriel's method. My title is a 100% sincere- I am a guy that has struggled since I was 2-3 years old, with eating issues. Refused to ask girls on dates my entire teens, and never believed in myself. At around my 20, I started researching, like Jon, but no where near as extensively, WHY I was the way I was with food- I craved and ate only rice, potatoes and lentils till 13 yrs old, then added meat at almost an abusive level, and only started eating 'some' vegies at around 20-ish. To counteract this inner, uncontrollable love/hate relationship of food and its consequences, I started to exercise 6days a week, and discovered some (but not all!!) the things JG has so thoroughly research and presented. The exercise though started to wear me out and after getting married at 30, I stopped training and the food got me overweight again. I cannot BELIEVE it is me in the photos I see of myself! I had to search the whole city not too long ago for a suit that would fit me! And the shock is that in my mind there is NO way I am this chubby guy! I feel like I am a 75 kilo, athletic guy, till someone reminds me I am just over a 100 kilos. It is completely freaky. In addition, I cannot remember a day when I havent eaten junk food- all my money went on that for years (lotsa years). And while I prided myself on trying religiously, and knowing every diet inside out, not ONE of them ever worked (save that period when I ate everything and worked so hard in the gym, sports etc). The worst part is that the cravings have basically been the very core of my life. FAT has been at the forefront of my frontal lobe forever. I have hated myself for failing so miserably, yet KNOW how hard I have tried...and the cravings, oh man the cravings...they controlled my 24 hrs each day and have been a gorrilla on my back. There had to be an answer...

This is the answer! Jon, is a revelaton. His method is a revolution. I am bursting, brimming with excitement at what I KNOW to be the greatest and ONLY way to do this whole thing that is so easy, so ridiulously genuine and sincere, that I have wiped away the pain and stress of those former 34 years...and all it took was for me to try! As a professionial musician, I stopped singing because of how I perceived people would feel looking at this fat man performing, simply coz I didnt want top be a one man freak show. So I have hid behind my instruments and subdued my personality to not draw attention to myself. All that is history now!!

I started the method soooooo nice and slow and easy and I give you my sincerest testimony, that within a couple of weeks, I wasnt craving anything bad...but instead C-R-A-V-I-N-G good things! And I swear i had nothing to do with it- no exhaustive willpower, no stressful counting of this and that. My body made the decision all my itself and for the first time ever in my life, everyone around me was amazed. My firend has leaned down 12 kilos since he started and has become the most relaxed person- he no longer, like myself, has to spend precious mental resources on thinking about 'fat' constantly.

This is just the beginning- I eat what I want, but I confidently know that I have come to the end of my search. Thank you Jon, for the most wnderful effort, most brilliantly researched and scientific approach which as should be, has come together with and walks parallel with common sense. This is it- I wish I could give it the 10 stars it deserves.

And Jon, if you ever read this, thanks for the email- I am singing again, I promise.