Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing Your Hormones for a Hot and Healthy Body! [Paperback]

Jillian Michaels (Author), Mariska van Aalst (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 27, 2011

Does it feel as if you’re fighting your body to lose even one pound—or just to maintain your current weight? Respected health and wellness expert and bestselling author Jillian Michaels has been there, too. So she consulted top experts in the field of metabolism and discovered that she’d inadvertently been abusing her endocrine system for years. After “fixing” her own metabolism, she decided to share what she learned by devising this simple, 3-phase plan that engages all the weight-loss hormones (including the friendly HGH, testosterone, DHEA; and the not-so-friendly: insulin, cortisol, and excess estrogen).

In Master Your Metabolism, discover how to:
•REMOVE “anti-nutrients” from your diet
•RESTORE foods that speak directly to fat-burning genes
•REBALANCE energy and your hormones for effortless weight loss

Michaels offers a wealth of information throughout, including: shopping lists and online shopping resources, hormone-trigger food charts, how to eat “power nutrient” foods on a budget, smart strategies for eating out, quick and easy recipes, as well as mini-programs for addressing PMS, andropause, metabolic syndrome, PCOS, and menopause.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Michaels (Making the Cut; Winning by Losing), the strength trainer for television's The Biggest Loser, here addresses the influence that hormone balance—affected by estrogen, insulin, testosterone, cortisol, epinephrine, leptin, and others—has on weight loss. Various internal and external influences can cause hormones to over- or underproduce, resulting in not only weight gain but serious illness. Michaels's plan emphasizes natural foods, organically grown and unprocessed. She describes which foods affect which hormones and how plastics and pollutants in our air and water and additives in many different products can also cause imbalances. She makes a good case for not using bioidentical hormones. Michaels claims that most prescription drugs should be eliminated but does recommend doing this under a doctor's supervision. This generally responsible program is bound to be popular with the public. Not an essential purchase, but a good one if you need this type of material.—Susan B. Hagloch, formerly with Tuscarawas Cty. P.L., New Philadelphia, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

JILLIAN MICHAELS, best known as a strength trainer and life coach for the NBC hit series The Biggest Loser, is the author of the bestselling Making the Cut and Winning by Losing.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 Reprint edition (December 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307450740
• ISBN-13: 978-0307450746
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (400 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Women's Health > General

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,407 of 1,458 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Master Your Metabolism July 4, 2009

By Social Media Convert

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Interesting book though far, far too much science in it for the average person (BTW - I have a Master's degree and a former college roommate is now a registered dietician so I've been around related books and discussions and still found this hard to follow).

Also, it's far too extreme for the average person. For example, we can't all afford 100 percent organic all the time nor can we completely avoid plastic wrap and related carrying containers. Also, the book contradicts itself in a lot of places. I suspect the editor was MIA when it came to cross referencing.

The bottom line in this book is to stop eating all the fake food that we currently put into our systems and you'll lose weight. Since reading this book, I've significantly cut processed foods loaded with chemicals (yes, that means the Activia yogurt, low calorie jello and pudding, cool whip and other so called low calorie snacks that actually make you gain weight). I've replaced a lot of food staples with organic and have seen a big difference in my weight and disposition.

For the person who wants to get smarter about the way 'the man' is ruining our diets and making money through cheap, processed foods, the core elements of this book could have been better addressed in a 500-750 article along the lines of 'Top 10 Ways to Lose Real Weight and Keep it Off.' Here's some key tips from the book to save yourself the time and expense of reading it:

1. Stop eating chemicals because your body doesn't know how to process them, therefore, you gain weight.
2. Choose the real food (real cheese, for example) over the lower fat because you'll eat less and feel more satiated.
3. Go organic when possible.
4. You can still eat chocolate and drink wine but everything in moderation.
5.... Opt for glassware over plastic to cut down more chemical absorption.
6. Those 100 calorie snacks are pure marketing and chemicals.
7. You still have to work out, people. And really work out to break a sweat.
8. The amount of chemicals that have snuck into our food system has reached an alarming rate. Makes you wonder about the rise in cancer, diabetes and auto immune diseases.
9. Think twice about OTC drugs as they also contain chemicals.
10. Eat better/eat right and you can cut down a lot of health issues and drop a few pounds while you're at it. Read more ›

865 of 900 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Weight is finally coming off after months of ZERO!! April 22, 2009

By R. Sar

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

FINALLY seeing progress again! Wasn't sure to purchase this book or not but the points seemed to fit my situation to a 'T' so I gave it a shot.
I'm not an organic person and never avoided anything processed before. So this is all a HUGE jump for me.

Let me first sum up my situation: Lost 50 pounds in the last 2 years and still need to drop another 50 pounds. I was eating between 1200 and 1400 calories a day and working out EVERYDAY for 45 minutes cardio/weights. I was doing everything right and everything that went in my mouth went in my food journal. There was no cheating and no excuses. According to my calorie intake and calorie burn I should have dropped 2 pounds a week consistantly. And every week when I got on the scale it was up 2 pounds or didn't move! Total frustration and wanted to just SCREAM!

Then I see this new Jillian Michaels MASTER YOUR METABOLISM and the point of the scale not moving no matter how good you ate and how hard you worked out. HEY what did I have to lose!?

So it has been 10 days on her program and sticking to it faithfully and the weight is just pealing away! Down 8 pounds in just 10 days, like my body has finally said "OK... time to let it go". I haven't changed my workouts, they are still constant. I am following her main guidelines for eating and am consuming WAY more in volume of food and the calories I'm keeping at the 1200-1400. I feel soo full, never craving any junk. And I think, no way I'm going to lose weight because I feel soo bloated but in the morning.... the scale shows another drop!

It works for me and I'm not going to go back! 3 months of perfect work and no results VERSUS changing to a healthier eating plan and more food volume with RESULTS!... Took about 5 days before the scale and my body agreed to start releasing the pounds. Read more ›

305 of 324 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Endorsed by a licensed M.D. endocrinologist, very thorough and easy to read... April 7, 2009

By M. Benson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have read a lot of books on physiology, more specifically hormones and metabolism, written by people with board-certified medical degrees. This book explains almost all of what the others do, plus more recent research, in a much easier to read format with helpful charts and references. I was very surprised a book of this quality could come from a non-degreed personal trainer. I have a new respect for Jillian Michaels for passing along medical researched-based facts (many pages of peer-reviewed medical references in the back if you want to check the sources) and dispelling myths like working out on an empty stomach, and the problems with soy and other substances interacting with hormones. Her own story is very interesting and there is a very thorough section explaining hormones and their interconnecting roles in our health. I've already started cleaning out my fridge and cabinets.

283 of 310 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars In a nutshell - this is about going organic April 7, 2009

By yungmom

Format:Hardcover

Let me first say that in the past year I have increasingly been drawn to basic foods (without all the packaging etc.) and have loved it. My favorite breakfast is a hot cereal made of oats, millet, quinoa and other grains. My husband makes bread in our house. We've increased our fruits and veggies. Still I think that many people take "organic" too far for our family.

Jillian starts out with her experiences of her childhood and her connections to food and then goes on to her youth where she started to get fit and healthy. Still everything was a struggle for her. Then she found her hormones were out of whack.

Jillian talks about a number of different hormones, what they do and how they affect your body - weightwise and other ways. She helps you to identify the hormones that may be giving you problems.

Once she does that she goes through the 3 steps of her program which include getting rid of all the foods with additives of different kinds (she tells you just what to look for) and then gives you ideas of organic foods you should look for. It isn't just foods though - she talks about other items in your house that may cause problems such as cosmetics and plastics.

I love how much information was in the book and that it was easy to understand. She has a ton of resources listed in the back.

If you want to learn more about how your hormones affect your weight you might like this book (I do wish though there was more that talked to type 1 diabetics directly though as I've had a number of questions for myself). If you're ready to go organic the book may be for you. If you're not ready to go organic you will probably find some good information anyway. If "organic" annoys to you no end I would pass on the book....

Personally, I will be able to use some of the information, but won't be going to the extremes she suggests. Read more ›