Customer Reviews

Living Low-Carb: The Complete Guide to Long-Term Low-Carb Dieting

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My husband and I love to cook and entertain, and both needed to lose weight. We are now living low-carb, thanks to Fran. Her recipes for mashed potatoes (made from cauliflower) and fettucine (made from zucchini) are SO good, we make them and serve them at dinner parties, without even telling people we are on a low-carb diet. And EVERYONE asks for these recipes! I have given up low-fat eating, dropped weight, watched my cholesterol drop, and am amazed! My husband never thought he'd be able to give up pasta or potatoes, but he says he prefers Fran's recipes using substitutes! I have e-mailed Fran with questions and have gotten answers quickly. She is a writer who truly believes in what she is writing about, and like so many Americans, struggles with her weight. This is a wonderful book. And she is a wonderful writer and an even better cook!

My book arrived yesterday & I was up half the night to finish it! I have quite a few Low carb books (including her previous cookbook) and this one is really great. There are tons of useful tips, stories of actual people succeeding with low carb, and a lot of interesting nutritional information. All of this is presented in an extremely readable and straight forward style. The recipes, for the most part, do not have huge ingredient lists which is really great and seem to be fairly simple to prepare! I can't wait to try them! McCullough's "this is not a one size fits all" approach is very refreshing when one finds each low carb diet book to be written in a "do it my way" sort of style. There is great info on stocking your kitchen, web resources and phone/mail sources for specialty products from foods to kitchen equipment. Great Book!

I really enjoyed reading and frequently refer to Fran McCullough's previous low-carb book, The Low-Carb Cookbook. This second book on the subject is already proving just as useful to me. The excellent information in it is completely accessible because the author's writing style is smooth, down-to-earth and as pleasant an experience as a chat with a good friend. Another major plus is that the layout of the book itself as a whole is extremely well organized. There is a clear table of contents, an extensive list of sources for low-carb living (many conveniently on the Web), a bibliography and an index. The first four of the book's six segments deal with living the low-carb lifestyle:(1) Why are we doing this anyway? (benefits of low-carb living); (2) Secret weapons (for maintaining the low-carb lifestyle); (3) Troubleshooting (blowing it, planned indulgences, snacks, eating out, holidays, on the road, hitting a plateau, thyroid troubles, etc.); (4) Special situations (vegetarianism, diabetes, pregnancy and nursing). The fifth section contains extensive information about what to have in your kitchen (spices, food labels, bread, soy, fake sugar). The final section is 240 pages of new recipes to add to the excellent ones in her first book.

I agree with the other reviewers that one of the most refreshing things about Fran McCullough is that she is not posing as a diet guru. She is an "ordinary" person in that she is not a doctor or nutritionist who came up with a particular diet and is hawking it as the salvation of all. She has tried the diet herself over a long period of time and found it has conferred many benefits to her health. And as a writer and cookbook editor, she has read carefully and analyzed the latest books and studies on the subject of low-carb living. She reports on her findings and conclusions about these books and studies clearly, concisely, and extremely helpfully. I found her section on thyroid especially useful. It was one of the best and most accurate statements of thyroid information I have read in the recent past (it is a subject I read about extensively when a very near relative of my age developed a serious thyroid problem).

I believe low-carbers, either new to this diet or old hands like me, will find this book well worth owning, a ready reference to which you will refer again and again. I have taken extensive notes from the book listing for myself suggestions she gave I found extremely pertinent to me for food, supplements and sources for both which I plan to follow up on in the very near future.

This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone trying to live a low-carb lifestyle and hoping to stay on it longterm. The tips, insights and secrets alone are more than worth the price of the book....and then there are all those great recipes! Yes, some of the ideas & ingredients are not found in your average store, but she makes sure you know how & where to find everything you need. And the recipes are not the same recipes that are in her previous book, The Low-Carb Cookbook...also a must have. I keep this book on hand, ALL the time!

As a low carb dieter who has only successfully lost weight with this type of plan (13 pounds/8.5" since June of this year), I'd like to congratulate Fran for an absolutely great book. The best parts in it are the hints she gives for handling cravings, emergency techniques and supplementation advice from one who has been through it, I could not believe all the helpful tidbits she offers fellow low carbers!! Also the receipes!!!!!! I am personally proud of Fran for her weight loss to date, and her courage to write and share of her personal experiences, especially since she is still on her journey. She is a REAL person, like most of us, and willing to share things that might work with the rest of us! I am so glad to have this book to help me as I continue eating low carb, it will certainly make the road a lot less bumpy!

I read the whole book in one go. Fran helped me stay on the plan in 1997 with her first lo-carb cookbook. Her new book's tips are sensational and anecdotes and information hit at the heart of the matter. I don't know how anyone could be long-term successful without her information (which is a lot more user friendly than the dr's. books). Only thing that would be a great improvement is to provide calorie info for those of us who can't eat unlimited fat and also need to know calorie counts for real success.

Fran's latest book has a place of honor in our kitchen - right next to her first! Both books help you eat low-carb but with "real food". There are even recipes to fulfill my chocolate cravings! Truly a "must-have" if you plan on eating this way long-term.

I'm really impressed with the breadth of knowledge Fran McCullough presents in the book. I wish she'd cite her sources. One sidebar about the effects of sugar says that normal body cells require oxygen and a little sugar to function, but cancer cells require lots and lots of sugar. I was pretty impressed with that little factoid. But where'd it come from?

LIVING LOW-CARB is enjoyable to read; it's like she's right there. I find it hard to put down when I go back to review.

In a valuable section called THE LOOKING-GLASS WORLD OF FAKE SUGAR, she gives great information on all the low-carb and non-carb sweeteners on the market, as of the date the book was published. That was really, really helpful. I'm looking for an alternative to Splenda because of that section (possible health risks and the fact that she asserts that all powdered sweeteners are cut with actual sugar ... Splenda in the box contains maltodextrin as its first ingredient, which apparently does affect insulin).

Another section called DEALING WITH BREAKFAST is equally reassuring and informative. It's about how to come up with a decent low-carb breakfast on the run, which, I take it, is the bedevilment of most low-carbers' lives.

Oh, one recipe is great: corned beef and cabbage. The cabbage is really as tender and tasty and she says. The intense custard is delicious and easy to make. The root beer wiggle, on the other hand, is less than delightful. (Diet root beer and gelatine.) McCullough's tastes run a little gourmet and expensive, but not excessively so. She sure knows the market of low-carb foods, and if she weren't a gourmet, how could she give such thorough information about the market?

I'm really hoping for a new edition, because the information about products and scientific findings could be outdated by now (hint, hint). But following the principles she outlines, I am losing weight. I follow a low-carb diet with about 80 percent faithfulness, and I'm losing weight at a moderate pace (about 30 pounds in a year), which satisfies me.

I found myself relating so much to Fran's account of struggling with her weight. She is someone who loves the pleasures of life, and I'm right there with her. I just wish the first part of the book was longer, with more information about living the low carb life, and fewer recipes. She is such a good writer that she could write a whole book on lifestyle, and it would definitely keep my interest. I hope she writes more books filled with lo-carb information.

When I first started to read this book, I thought some of the author's ideas were off-base, and considered selling this book used. However, a few months later, I read about the South Beach Diet, and also bought that book. I had lots of luck w/the diet, and feel great. I then looked at this book with new eyes, and think it really compliments the South Beach regimen. McCullough's book is nice because she adds touches to recipes that are lacking from the South Beach book. She also has an infectious enthusiasm, and obviously loves food and cooking--a fellow chow hound! Generally, I've found the recipes easy to make and have most of the ingredients on hand at home. There have been a few disappointments, but those have been far outweighed by the recipes I like. I made the Mexican soup last night (it only took 30 minutes), and plan to make the walnut soup later this week. She has some amazing recipes for salmon, and unusual (and incredibly delicious) vegetable recipes, including one for zucchini. I will definitely buy other books she has written.