Customer Reviews

Healthy for Life: Developing Healthy Lifestyles That Have a Side Effect of Permanent Fat Loss

5 star:		(22)
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3 star:		(2)
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I read a borrowed copy of Releasing Fat: Developing Healthy lifestyles that Have the Side-Effect of Permanent Weight Loss. It wasn't until after I ordered a copy for myself AND and copy of Healthy for Life... that I read the blurbs about them on Dr. Strand's website. You can't tell on the Amazon site that the books are virtually identical. The only difference is that Releasing Fat includes Usana products (meal replacements, snack bars, and vitamins and minerals) in its meal plans. Healthy for Life just has low-glycemic foods in its meal plans. If you want only one copy, you just need to get one or the other, not both. HOWEVER, I wasn't bothered by having two copies of what amounted to the same book because I've learned so much about insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, killer (abdominal) fat, carb cravings, cellular nutrition, and the benefits of a low-glycemic diet that I wanted to recommend it to all my friends and relatives.
There are a lot of low-gycemic diet books out there now, but this is the only one I've seen that goes into such detail about the specific negative health effects that result from the way most Americans eat and how a change to a low-glycemic diet will counteract those health problems.

I've been studying health and nutrition for the better part of a year, reading countless books, experimenting with different foods and vitamins.

I evaluate the efficacy of a given health protocol by comparing it to Maimonides' Rules for Perfect Health, elucidated in his writings.

Dr. Strand's advice fits the Maimonides Protocol quite nicely.

1. Although he is an M.D., Dr. Strand recommends drugs only as a last resort, because every drug is a brute-force device that upsets the natural balance of the body and may trigger harmful side effects.

2. Dr. Strand always tries gentle lifestyle changes first--coupled with nutritional supplements--if the patient is willing to cooperate and apply the necesary discipline. This approach actually cures the problem at its source by restoring homeostasis. The body is encouraged to heal and re-balance itself permanently.

3. Dr. Strand uses good common sense, combining natural methods with the latest medical technology. He is very practical.

4. His book is very readable and suitable for the average layperson. It's fun to read, with many illustrative anecdotes.

Buy this book now. In fact, you should buy 10 of them, and hand them out to people you care about.

Excellent book! I have bought several and shared with friends and family. A real eye opener on insulin resistance and why diets don't work. Dr. Stand's book includes a Healthy for Life resource page of desirable proteins and desirable carbohydrates and a Phase I & Phase II meal plan. He also holds a one hour teleconference the 4th Saturday of each month to speak on diabetes, obesity, and exercise, which is excellent.

I have read dozens of books on wellness over the past 20 years, this books ranks as one of the best if not the best.
The well documented imformation in this book gave me a real wake-up call on what my lifestyle was doing to my health and how it was going to impact my future. After reading the first five chapters I was ready to make some serious changes to my lifestyle. I skipped back to chapter fifteen for some common sense solutions to prevent further damage to my health and to reverse the negative health cycle I had created. One last thing; I found the lifestyle changes to be very doable and this book gave me the motivation to follow through and produce the positive changes.

It is essential that Americans learn why they are addicted to carbs and why this leads to insulin resistence, fat middles, and many health problems. This book finally made me understand why I had trouble losing weight in the past and made it easier for me to make good choices. My cholesterol has lowered and my cravings have decreased. My waist went from 40 inches to 34 and I feel much better. I bought only one book at first but ended up getting 4 more for my dad and brothers and a friend.

I have enjoyed the writing of Ray Strand in the past, and his being the author of this book was partly instrumental in my decision to purchase it. The title seems to imply that the subject matter would cover a variety of concerns and indeed, the first quarter of the book deals with the generalities in lifestyles and health. However, the main thrust of this book appears to be the effect of high glycemic foods on the present, almost epidemic occurence of diabetes in the general population, from children and adolescents to adults. If this is your area of interest, this book is quite thorough and covers a lot of territory regarding the effects of glycemic overload and what can be done about it. I find the author's inclusion of several weeks of sample, remedial menus to be very helpful. This book would be beneficial to everyone given the present state of America's health trends and Dr. Strnd writes clearly and in depth about the subject.

Excellent book for all those interested in wellness and/or weight loss. Dr. Strand presents the technical reasons for weight loss in very interesting and understandable language. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in health, wellness, and/or weight loss.

I have purchased 4 books to give to family and friends, who either have diabetes or have struggled with weight loss, as I have. I have done what my title states-thrown out all my other weight loss books because this one explains in laymens' terms insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and other metabolic processes that lead to the major deseases. Dr. Strand uses scientifically documented solutions that are practical and easy. After reading this book the first time I looked at foods that spike blood sugar markedly different. In Part 1 he explains the glycemic index and the glycemic load and how one becomes addicted to carbs. Part 2 he explains the Heathy For life Program as a guide for developing a new lifestye that is doable. In Part 3 he talks about why other diets do not work for long term and how they harm you, how to choose foods, the power of exercise, and then goes on to address oxidative stress and the solution- which is cellular nutrition, i.e supplements. In Part 4 he finishes with some notes, his resources, recommended food lists and menus that have a variety of foods that are foods one can find at a general grocery store. I love to cook and it is fun to convert my recipes to make them less high on the glycemic index. This book is vast in detailed information. My husband and I have been living this "lifestyle" for almost 4 months and we never see ourselves returning to our old eating habits because we feel much better-more energy mainly, no bloating, no fatique after eating and no hunger! This is not a diet-as diets don't work, but simple lifestyle changes that break carbohydrate addiction.

Dr. Strand nails it when he describes why so many of us are overweight, and it makes sense. I lost 6 pounds, plus 2 inches off my waist and 2 inches off my hips in the first 4 weeks of starting this program! I highly recommend this book and the Healthy for Life program.

With all the diet fads and marketing hype claiming quick cures for all that ails us, I found this to be one of the best books I have read. I found it easy to read, with good explainations as to why we have trouble loosing weight but no problems gaining. Dr. Strand makes good sense and provides guidelines not for a diet but for a lifestyle change that will make you healthy for life. His book Releasing Fat is also very good.