Customer Reviews

The Metabolism Miracle: 3 Easy Steps to Regain Control of Your Weight . . . Permanently

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When you prominently use such a strong superlative word like "miracle" within the title of a diet book, then you had better be confident in your ability to deliver the goods. Registered dietitian Diane Kress has done her homework and identified a unique issue that inflicts upwards of 60 percent of the population and many of them don't even know it. It's called Metabolism B and requires a way of eating that isn't exactly embraced by the nutritional gatekeepers of our day.

How many of us have gone on diet after diet for years without ever keeping off any weight that has been lost? I've done it way too many times to count, but Kress explains that for some people it may not be our fault that we have struggled so much. And the unsightly belly fat is the worst all the while walking around too tired to exercise, hungry almost constantly, and wondering if this is the best life has to offer you. It's a depressing state that nobody should endure.

People with Metabolism B are different because we (yes, I'm one of them!) cannot eat an excessive amount of carbohydrate without packing on the pounds. Kress is also a Met B, so she understands the struggle just like we do and has developed an effective plan for combatting this once and for all. It's not calories in, calories out, it's not eating disgusting low-fat and fat-free foods, and it most certainly is not mustering up the willpower. There's a three-step process outlined in this book that give you all the tools you need to lose weight and keep it off for good!

Basically, you go through eight weeks of what Kress calls "Carb Rehab" as a means for giving your pancreas a chance to slow down on insulin production, heal and detoxify your liver, and allow fat cells to begin shrinking. You do this through an intense low-carbohydrate nutritional plan which will produce weight loss, improved health markers with your cholesterol and blood pressure numbers, and energy like you've never experienced before! Sample menus and food ideas are included in the book.

My only concern with what Kress shares in this book is her insistence on using "lean" meats, egg whites, low-fat cheese, and such. It's almost as if the registered dietitian in her won't allow her to see there are health benefits to consuming the fats contained in these foods as a regular part of the low-carb regimen for people with Met B. While Kress appreciates the work people like Dr. Atkins have done to promote low-carb principles to the public, she believes their ideas are antiquated since there has been so much research to come out in recent years. Unfortunately, I think she cherry picks the science that makes her case regarding saturated fat and isn't acknowledging the wealth of fresh new data that is out there.

The second part of the plan includes an eight-week or more "Transition...To Carbs" where "healthy carbohydrates" are added back into the diet to "gently restart your rested pancreas and liver." This was an odd change of gears since Kress has already identified that over half of people are walking around with an aversion to carbs. So what exactly is "healthy" about them that you need to put them back into your diet again? She says the carbs aren't the culprit, but it's their Met B condition that needed to get back into balance again. Eating the "low-impact carbohydrate" (I'll assume is low-glycemic load) is what will make that happen. But I think this is a recipe for falling prey to the carb creep that so often befuddles low-carb dieters.

The final phase is the "Lifetime Weight Maintenance" plan that adds even MORE carbohydrates into the diet along with the low-fat foods I previously mentioned as well as a few "treats" here and there. This is where you are supposed to live for the rest of your life, but how does this differ from any other high-carb, low-fat plan out there? What about people like me who are so sensitive to carbohydrate that they cannot tolerate more than 30-50g carbs daily? How does plan help lose weight and then keep it off forever adding back in carbohydrate no matter what their "impact" is?

As much I love the concept of Metabolism B and the low-carb solution that it offers people who are afflicted by it, I think Kress is still somewhat stuck on the idea that fat is somehow bad for you and carbohydrates play a necessary role in metabolism. Neither is true and that's unfortunate. Her insistence on things like eating every few hours, drinking lots of water, exercising 30 minutes a day for five days a week, and other typical dogmatic diet dictates shows she still hasn't caught on to what the latest studies are showing and is relying on her nutritional education to still guide her. I think she is on to something good, but it's not quite all the way there yet.

For years I tried all kinds of diets saying to myself they should work if I really follow the rules, but they didn't. I thought I failed. Yet deep down I knew there was more to it. I'm not that lazy, yet the scale said otherwise. Then I learned about The Metabolism Miracle...and it is a miracle. In very clear language Diane Kress explains why my physiology doesn't fit the mold of all those other diets. She tells me why I am different and why those other diets will never work for me; something I knew but didn't understand. And it's backed up by fact based on Diane's research and physiology of the human body. A lot this has been known for a long time, yet no one has put the puzzle together like Diane has before. The book is full of information on how my body's metabolism works. The book explains each phase of the program in easy to follow steps and how your body will react to each step and it's full of data supporting each phase. In reading the book it seemed like there was an answer to each possible question - what if I slip (there's a plan to get back on track); what types of foods can I eat (not only are there sample menus, there are pages and pages of recipes); what do I do if I go out to eat; etc, etc. The book will be a reference book for me for years to come. I really am excited that I've found where I belong.

All you have to do is look around to realize that people are different. If you're a pear, you gain weight in the hips and thighs. If you're an apple, you gain weight around the middle. I know someone (the husband of one of my friends) who first gains weight in his face! The fact is while we can be classified into general categories, we are all really quite different from one another in every way, including our metabolisms.

It should be no surprise to anyone that metabolisms come in different models. Many of you have friends or family members who can eat whatever they want and maintain a healthy weight, while you may have been fighting your weight your entire life.

For example, take my sister and me. No one in the world is as genetically close to me as my sister. Same mother, same father, same height, same eye color, same hair color, and only 15 months apart. That's about where the similarities stop. I'm a pear; Cindy's an apple. I'm 58 years old with no signs of diabetes or prediabetes, while at 57 Cindy has been trying to manage her type 2 diabetes for nearly 20 years. So close genetically and yet so different.

I didn't buy this book for me ... I bought it for my sister, but I have been reading it so I can help her. I now know why we are so different ... I have Metabolism A; Cindy has Metabolism B. If you have a roll around the middle and gain weight easily, you may have Metabolism B like my sister. If you do, you need to order this book today!

Diane Kress, who struggled with her own Metabolism B, has come up with a three step program which will teach you how to live a life in harmony with your own unique metabolism.

Step One is carb rehab. You need rehab because carbs cause your pancreas to overreact and to release excess insulin to handle the rise in blood glucose. Your brain then gives you the signal to load up on more carbs in order to quickly raise the blood glucose. You are going to have to go through rehab to break this cycle.

Step Two is transition, a healthy path to carbs. Once you have completed Step One, your overactive pancreas has rested, your liver is functioning better, and your Metabolism B is ready to be reprogrammed to process carbs normally.

Step Three gives you the tools to keep the weight off for a lifetime. First you will identify your carb range, and then learn which carbs you can eat and how far apart to space your allotted servings. In this chapter, you'll find all the tools you need to continue your success ... charts, lists, and even tips on what to do when you slip up.

You may have Metabolism A, like me, but chances are you know someone with Metabolism B. About 45% of the population is afflicted with Metabolism B. When you see a young slender body with a small roll around the middle, you are probably looking at a person whose future includes weight-related health issues due to Metabolism B. While The Metabolism Miracle can help anyone, those with Metabolism B will benefit most. What I like best about the book is that it appeals to vegetarians and vegans, as well as those who eat meat. Many books appeal to one or the other, but not both. I also love the real-life stories of people who have been helped by Diane. I highly recommend this book to anyone who personally is struggling with excess weight, especially around the middle, or who wants to help someone else in that predicament.

My wife has been a client of Diane Kress for almost a year. I can tell you first hand that this program really works. She looks fantastic and feels great. It's not just another diet book on the market. My wife tells everyone she knows about it. We purchased copies of the book as gifts. My wife wishes that she met Diane years ago. It changed her life. The book is a must read. It is very educational. A completely different approach to weight loss. Once you learn the plan, and see the results for yourself, you too will be a changed person.

I'll keep this brief since I even get a little side tracked reading lengthy reviews. :)
I'm vegan, insulin resistant and hypothyroid. I run nearly every day but am still 20 pounds overweight. I've worked with a local nutritionist with minimal success for over a year. I've read the insulin resistance diet and although it was good, not near the caliber of this book. Frankly, I learned more about why I am the way I am in this book. And I learned how to finally do something about it.
I've read many negative posts about being a meat diet and that can't be true because I'm doing it and feel great. It isn't just another low-carb diet.....it really explains why my body doesn't metabolize a bagel the same way my friend does. And why she is skinnier than me even though I work out 5 days/week and she never does. I finally feel like i have true direction and CAN do it. I had seriously given up and was ready to just accept whatever happened but not anymore, I'm thankful I purchased this book.
The kindle version for the arrow charts are hard to read but are printable off the books website, so don't worry....everything else reads fine on the Kindle.

After I downloaded this book to my Kindle. I was dismayed to discover that the most important information, the foods that you are allowed to eat, was on an "arrow chart" that was totally unreadable on my Kindle. Perhaps owners of the new, larger Kindle can read that chart, but for those of us with Kindle I or Kindle II it looks like a dot matrix picture of arrows. As I continued to read, I found bits and pieces of the food plan throughout the text, but I'll never know if it contains all the information found in the vital "arrow chart" unless I buy the print edition. If the most important part of a book cannot be translated to Kindle format, perhaps that book should not be made available in Kindle edition without a disclaimer.

I'm also disappointed in the diet information itself. There's not much new information for folks who have already tried carb counting diets such as Atkins, South Beach, Sugar Busters, Carbohydrate Addicts or Protein Power.

OK, This is going to be a short review. I bought two books one for my daughter and one for myself. She lost 60lbs in about 6 months. She went from a size 18 to an 8. I lost 38 pounds and went from a size 14 to a 6, and I am 61 years old. My husband age 60 lost 40 pounds and went from a size 40 to a size 34. We weren't big eaters, but we found out we were eating the wrong foods...pasta, grains, and starchy vegetables were our enemies. My husband and I live on 20 acres and believe me we are hard workers. We certainly couldn't classify ourselves as couch potatoes. Although, I guess we looked like them. Hey, bottom line...we have different bodies and some of us can't tolerate a lot of carbs period. If you are struggling with weight..I suggest you pick this book up and you will have an eye opening experience. It can change your life..it changed ours. Oh, and keep educating yourself read everything you can to help keep you motivated and then being able to wear smaller jeans just keeps you smilin'.

This woman understands nutrition and the role of carbs in weight gain and diabetes. Her recipes are great...wish I could find soya flour - the search goes on.

A more uncomplicated way of going about this is to calculate how many carbs you can consume per day while still losing weight, maintain that count, and divide them up among three meals and snacks. I'm with her on the supplements, particularly the calcium and Omega EFAs. I'm not with her on the detox process, and feel it could be harmful if practiced by the wrong person. Unless you are a total and complete carboholic, you will feel fine by day three by just cutting carbs, without the irritability, etc. There are charts available online for items that aren't marked.

I'm a registered nurse.

This diet has been the only diet that has ever worked for me. I lost over 20lbs within the first month and a half. The book makes it very easy to apply the diet to your regular life. The recipes are also great, simple and delicious! The chocolate brownie muffins are so good that you can even fool the most addicted chocolate-lover in to believeing that they are regular chocolate muffins!

If you're ready for a new healthy lifestyle and the bonus of looking good, then this is the book and diet for you!

This is a diet book addressing what the author terms "Metabolism B", also known as insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, syndrome x, syndrome w, and pre-diabetes. On the surface this seems like just another low-carb diet but as someone who actually is insulin resistant and who has actually tried this diet for two weeks at the time of this writing, I can say that for me it isn't just another diet. It is working.

The author herself discovered that she was "metabolism B" and set out to discover why the standard weight loss plan she learned as a registered dietician was no longer working for her and some of her clients. This book is the result of her research and personal experience and does a good job explaining the syndrome, what is going on physically in the body, and how to turn things around.

The first eight weeks, step one of three, as recommended is quite strict in that carbs from breads, pasta, fruit, sugar, flour, starchy vegetables, etc., are pretty much taboo. The premise is that doing this gives the pancreas and liver a chance to rest and allow the insulin levels to normalize. The first couple of days are a little hard but I really didn't have much of a problem and I don't have any carb cravings now. I used the suggestions in the book for this first eight weeks as a guide but tweaked it to work for me in daily life. I have not gone as low fat as recommended and probably eat more (reduced fat) cheese than what is allowed, and don't eat at the exact intervals suggested, but still have lost almost 5 pounds and 1 1/2 inches from my waist. But more importantly, my fasting glucose has been 100 or below (anything below 100 is normal), down from the low one hundred teens and twenties last month.

Steps two and three add more carbs back into the diet so readers aren't asked to give everything up forever. My only contention with this book and most other diet books is that it promotes the use of artificial sweeteners or sugar-free products that use them, something I avoid. There are some recipes included for each of the steps.

I'm not sure if someone who actually has type 1 or 2 diabetes would benefit as much from this diet as someone who has metabolic syndrome, but overall it seems to be a healthy plan with plenty of lean protein, some dairy, and lots of vegetables initially with more whole grains and fruit added later on.

I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher but the opinion of it is my own and was not solicited nor required. If I didn't like it I would say so.