Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight for Everybody [Paperback]

Donald Hensrud (Editor), Mayo Clinic (Producer)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

A comprehensive, quick reference guide from the world renowned Mayo Clinic offers sound, easy to follow advice on how to manage, achieve, and maintain a healthy weight. This work features: a full colour insert featuring delicious recipes; tips on shopping smarter; advice on how to maintain weight loss; and detailed strategies for devising a fitness plan.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Don't think you'll get the Mayo Clinic Instant Weight-Loss Diet in this book--there's no such thing. Instead, you get the information that the esteemed Mayo Clinic physicians and dietitians give their patients about weight control. There's no doctor-speak here: every point is explained simply and clearly, organized with frequent bold headings for easy skimming, and illustrated with helpful charts.

Mayo Clinic on Healthy Weight is divided into three parts: "Getting Motivated," "How to Lose Weight," and "When You Need More Help," including medications and surgery. The information is highly individualized, encouraging you to identify your unique challenges, eliminate your overeating triggers, and try new foods. The authors set the record straight about low-carb diets ("people do not gain weight on high-carbohydrate diets unless they are eating excess calories") and low-fat diets ("low-fat does not necessarily mean low-calorie"). They prompt you instead to use the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid to eat moderate portions of a varied, nutritious diet, emphasizing lower-calorie foods that make you feel full because they contain fiber and/or water.

Mayo Clinic on Healthy Weight has plenty of extras that make the book interesting and instructive: how to read a food label; recipe ingredient substitutions; eight luscious-looking, illustrated recipes; the number of calories burned during various exercises; and tricks for changing bad habits.

The Mayo Clinic is one of the country's most prestigious medical institutions, with more than 2,000 physicians and scientists in Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; and Scottsdale, Arizona. This book doesn't offer shortcuts or fad diets--just the truth about weight loss, as the experts understand it. --Joan Price --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From Booklist

Mayo Clinic in the title may draw eyes like flies, but note that the full title isn't The Mayo Clinic Diet. There is no such thing. The book is instead the clinic's well-thought-out, realistic perspective on how to control one's weight. It is for the seriously motivated, however, who want to improve their health and lives, and not for those who just want to look better. Its information and message are based on the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid, which proceeds from the standpoint that unhealthy eating is usually the result of bad habits, and habits can be changed. The text tells how to ascertain whether one is overweight, how obesity can damage health, and how to eat properly. Its detailed advice includes practical methods for changing attitudes and actions, guidance on healthy eating, and realistic counsel about physical exercise. Sections on medications for weight loss and possible surgical procedures conclude this useful, unsensational book. William Beatty
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mayo Clinic; 1ST edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893005348
• ISBN-13: 978-1893005341
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last!, January 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Mayo Clinic On Healthy Weight (Paperback)

I have been fighting excess weight all of my life, and have lost the same weight numerous times (then gained it all back, plus more). I have been on every "diet" known, I think, belonged to 3 different organizations that claimed to help me lose weight, and had finally given it all up as a lost cause, when I came upon a review for this book in my job as a librarian. Herein, if one chooses to follow them, are the most commonsense, easy-to-understand guidelines that I have ever seen--and I've read ALL of the books and tried many of their schemes. This distinctly NON-diet approach is healthy and, I am convinced, will work.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Takes some dedication, March 8, 2006

By 

Julie M. Hale "Julie" (Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight for Everybody (Paperback)

I've fought my weight my whole life. I've always been afraid of "fad" diets or diets that exclude one particular food. I think they are not a healthy way to lose weight. Everyone kept telling me to "eat a balanced diet" but no one explained what that meant. People talk about saturated fats, trans fats, etc and I felt like they were speaking a foreign language. My friends would count calories or carbs and would become frustrated. I didn't want to do any of that.

I bought the "Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight for Everybody" when we moved and I had plenty of time for a "project". It is a 12 week program designed to get you into the habit of eating healthy. The first three weeks were a lot of work and took a lot of dedication. I had to weigh and measure everything. After the first three weeks, my eyes adjusted and were able to do the measurments without the scale and cups. Some of the recipes are a lot of prep and there is a lot of cutting of vegi's and fruits. My husband and my 2 teenage kids didn't mind the changes (except brown rice) so after the first 3 weeks "learning curve", it all worked out well. I lost 25 lbs in 12 weeks and I never even got into the exercise part. After the 12 weeks, I stopped tracking my number of servings for 3 months. I still ate the same foods and made sure I didn't eat "A LOT" or high calorie foods. I stopped losing weight but I didn't gain it all back either. I have started tracking my servings again and have started working on the exercise. I have set my goal to lose another 25 lbs in the next 12 weeks.

I agree with everyone else here that the information is presented in a way that is easy to understand and explains it all. The book gets indepth but it is presented in a way that if you don't care what "trans fat" is, you can skip that part. I've even gien this book as presents to friends and family. I bought the cookbook too but I don't like that one.

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Eat less, exercise more" and Believe you can do this!, June 22, 2004

By 

Soaring Heart - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mayo Clinic On Healthy Weight (Paperback)

I love Mayo Clinic. To me, they are some of the best in the world in giving wanted information in an easy-to-read and enjoyable style and format. HEALTHY WEIGHT is divided into three parts: Getting Motivated, How to Lose Weight and When You Need More Help. At the beginning of each chapter there are about ten short sentences in bold print the key you in on the main points of the chapter which are very helpful and motivating.

Here are some key points that I have gained from reading that I'd like to remember and share:
"You have to cultivate a positive attitude about making lifestyle changes."
"Muscle burns more calories than fat does."
"Strength training can help burn calories at rest by maintaining muscle mass."
"There's evidence that being satisfied may be more strongly determined by the volume and weight of food you consume rather than the number of calories. In other words, fruits, vegetables and other high-fiber foods are bulkier...and fill you up better without the extra calories."
"If you focus on your health, then you'll develop healthy habits. If you develop healty habits, then the pounds will take care of themselves."
We could learn a lot from the Chinese: "The Chinese in Asia consume significantly more calories than do the Chinese in North America, yet they get a much smaller percentage of their calories from fat, weigh less, and are leaner. Their diet is predominantly plant-based, and the get about 90 percent of their calories from nonanimal sources. They also spend more time in vigorous activities."
"To limit calories, go easy on portion size and high-sugar and high-fat foods."
"Eat half the amount of food you normally eat, and eat more slowly."
"Eat when you are physically hungry, not when the clock says it is time to eat."
"Eradicate the "D" word...maintaining weight loss requires permanent change in activity levels and nutritional habits."
These tips are from just the first five chapters. (!) There's a wealth of information for all so enjoy reading this book and learning great tips to help you lose weight and maintain your loss successfully.

Soar!