Customer Reviews

No-Grain Diet

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

As a regular visitor to Dr. Mercola's website for some time, I eagerly awaited the arrival of his book. While Dr. Mercola's big-picture objective -- weaning the average American off of poisonous food, poisoning medical doctors, and a poisoned environment -- is noble, his small-picture book renders an easy, common-sense diet too complex to follow.

In Mercola's defense, neither the writer, Levy, nor Dutton editors did much to clarify and communicate his vision. The writing is stilted and humorless, the organization an afterthought. Readers will balk at the confusion between Phases and Food Plans. Inconsistencies abound: Foods allowed on one page are nowhere to be found on another. For example, oranges are allowed on the 8-meal Booster Start-up plan on page 68; yet, inexplicably, the same list (lots of duplication in this book) eliminates oranges on page 106. Without explanation, the plan itself is reduced to six meals on page 136.

With better editing and organization, and fewer contradictory menus, the entire tome could have been reduced to half its size, with twice the clarity. It's a prime example of how too much information -- right down to how to cut one's bacon! -- can spoil a vital health education.

If you can find a way to get past the book's choking design flaws, please do: The good doctor's prescription for real health is both impassioned and well-documented, eclipsing all other "diets" out there, past or present.

Dr. Mercola gives his readers worthwhile health explanations and advice but his diet plan is too restrictive and time-consuming to easily follow. Instead, I recommend Going Against the Grain: How Reducing and Avoiding Grains Can Revitalize Your Health by Melissa Diane Smith. It is easier to understand and its diets and recipes are simple, tasty and a breeze to follow. I'm an avid reader of health books and both of these books cover important information for health maintenance. But Ms. Smith's book, Going Against the Grain, deals with a much broader range of health problems associated with grains and is the book I believe people would prefer.

I read in an article that only 25% of the US population are able to handle a high carbohydrate (as in high starch) diet. Their bodies are built to handle it. For the 75%, we are a mixed type or protein type diet. That means that we are NOT able to handle large amounts of starch.

I've read thru this book in the library, and compared it to the ZONE diet. Both diets replace the grains with fresh non-starch vegetables. And you have to eat plenty (~3 cups of vegetables) per meal (even breakfast!) in addition to your protein & fat.

What most Americans don't do is to eat the required vegetables. If you don't eat the vegetables, then you are eating a "protein only" diet, which can only spell disaster for anyone's health.

As for grass fed beef, organic chickens, what is wrong with that? If you can afford organics, organics are always better for your body, because there are no preservatives, no hormones, no antibiotics, no pesticides, used in raising the animals. The organics produce are slowly coming down in price. I suggest you check around.

For people like me, who can't afford organics all the time, I try to buy as much organic as my budget allows.

I follow an Asian diet now, and replacing 90% of grains with fresh vegetables that either I eat raw, or simply stirfry.

So for people who can't have starch, eat the best protein you can afford, the best vegetables you can afford. Go check out your local asian grocers. Their vegetables tend to be cheaper and better in quality, simply because of the volume they sell.
They also have a greater number of vegetables. Have people tried pea sprouts, pea shoots, water convolvus, chinese mustard greens, baby mustard greens, daikon sprouts, gailan, youchoy, yam leaf, perilla (aka shiso, ooba), hot mint, hot basil, purple basil, thai eggplants, chinese eggplants, japanese or chinese cucumbers, daikons, kabocha, nagaimo (aka wild mountain yam, chinese yam), soybean sprouts, fresh water chestnuts, fresh lotus root, fresh lotus seeds, lily bulbs, and the unbelievable number of veggies that Asians eat on a daily basis?

As a diabetic and a severe alleries, I've been able to keep both under control without medication, with the large amounts of leafy greens and fresh veggies I eat every day, and good proteins, and good fats. I'm not vegan because I'm NOT one of the lucky ones who can eat lots of starch.

A real change in your life requires a life style change. If this works for you, then it is something you should do for life.

If it doesn't work for you in 14 days, there's no reason for you to keep doing it. The food plans are simply not for you. It doesn't mean it's bad.

We are all the same on the inside, but due to our diets (eating only processed food, or lots of premade meals or not even eating), we all have DIFFERENT reactions from the same foods.

May you all have great health!

In "No grain Diet" Dr. Mercola provides a three-step program for losing weight and keeping it off. His experience is based upon research and his work as an Osteopathic physician. He's also the Director of the Optimal Wellness Center in the Chicago area. In other words, he's got the resumé.

Dr. Mercola is one of a growing number of physicians that conclude that the current USDA nutritional food pyramid is not conducive to our bodies' needs nor optimal health. In fact, it's flat-out not healthy. To Mercola, significant or excessive amount of carbohydrates are the major causes of weight gain, a number of diseases, illnesses, and disorders. However, this is not an exclusively anti-carbo diet or regimen, but simply a reduction. And, for the good, this is not an absolute no-grain diet. After some time on this program people can introduce grains back into their diet. What's new here is that Dr. Mercola is also not a proponent of the high protein diet programs that have become so prevalent in recent years.

There are three phases of this eating and living method. Three-day, fifty-day, and the long-term maintenance plan. Achieving the optimal weight and being healthy is the goal of this diet program.

You can learn a lot about foods and what they do to us. This seems to be more balanced and healthy than a lot of other programs out there today.

There is a huge amount of resistance to the idea of eliminating grain from the diet, because one visit to the grocery store reveals that most of its contents are comfort foods based on grain. Who wants to give up all those goodies? I sure didn't. I was addicted to all sorts of things which I had on a daily basis in small amounts. But a lot of health things were increasingly bothering me, some of them digestive, and I had gotten to the point where I thought nothing agreed with me. I have had about 15-20 excess pounds I simply could not get rid of, even though I'd eliminated most sugar, ate very little bread and cereal, minimal dairy, exercised 5-6 days a week. The excess weight just would not go. I think I've tried every diet known to man, and oddly, the only one where I lost weight was Atkins, which I only stayed on for about 6 weeks. But I never put 2 and 2 together when I did that diet.

After a scary dizzy incident a few weeks ago on a day where I had eaten a LOT of wheat things, I started researching gluten sensitivity (celiac disease) because my mother has it....and I found two very valuable books "Dangerous Grains" and "Going Against the Grain." Everyone should read those two books, by the way! I had this "No Grain Diet" book in my vast library of health/diet books, but had initially rejected it as too extreme for me to consider, and well, I was resistant to his ideas.

Now I'm reconsidering. Two weeks ago I implemented a diet very similar to what Dr. Mercola suggests: strictly no gluten/grain, no dairy, no sugar, increased veggies and low-glycemic fruit in limited amounts, lots of water, and somewhat increased lean protein intake. After just this 2 week period here are the results: bloating & gas gone, weight coming off, asthma symptoms and chronic cough GONE for the first time in 20 years, all digestive problems gone, headaches gone, joint aches and pains gone, and tons of energy. I feel better than I've ever felt, with virtually NO cravings for any of the junk food that I used to love. Did I say the bloating went away and the weight is dropping off at a very good clip!!

Now there have been some naysayers reviewing this book as junk science, but the fact is, there are many of us out there who cannot digest grains. PERIOD. One negative reviewer said most people don't get whole grains, so that's not the issue. WRONG! I actually reacted WORSE to refined grains....cakes and white flour things would make me sick and nauseated. I don't know why that is, but I always knew such things would give me great digestive upset for a day or two. Another naysayer mentioned the Egyptians eating grains....in "Dangerous Grains" the author discusses who the Egyptians started having obesity and all sorts of health issues which coincided with the grain consumption in their societies. The connections are too strong all over the world to dismiss them.

I'd actually suggest reading the two books I mentioned above and then read this one. You'll find your resistance to these ideas melting away very fast. Just because so many bad foods exist on the supermarket shelves certainly doesn't mean they are good for you. And the parallels are too strong to ignore when you look at the rates of increased grain consumption in the U.S. compared to the increase in obesity, heart disease, diabetes and many other disorders. You can put your head in the sand or you can read to educate yourself. Finally, the "proof is in the pudding" so to speak. If you have the courage and willpower to go on a restricted diet for a couple of weeks, you'll see--you'll FEEL for yourself what the results are.

As for Dr. Mercola's "sales" of items, a whole boatload of nutritionist writers do this, virtually all of the big names. I find this a bit irritating too, but you don't have to buy any of the products, and you can always find similar enough items for less $$. I wouldn't hold it again them necessarily or deny the information they provide. Everyone has to make a living.

I'm a fan of Dr. Mercola. I've had a myriad of different problems from my lungs and sinuses to acid reflux and joint problems. After being sick for an ENTIRE winter I finally decided I'd try anything...including "gasp" changing my diet. Stumbling on the websight mercola.com, I was sucked in. It just makes sense. Back when we were wandering around and evolving all we could eat were vegetables above the ground and protein we killed. Also, we didn't sit down for three meals a day, but ate when we could and when we were actually hungry.

As far as the guy talking about the Japanese he must be kidding. I lived in Japan for two years and what he said is a GIANT misnomer. Sure they eat rice, but they don't eat the sweets, and ultra over processed foods like we do over here. It isn't that we eat grains so much is we don't eat enough vegetables and on top of it we eat the wrong kind of grains.

Japanese live longer because they have a much more balanced point of view on life, eat more fish protein (balanced Omega-3 to Omega-6 count) and plain out eat healthier. I dare you to even try to compare the school lunches here with there. Fresh fruit, fish, milk, and a bowl of rice vs. mexican pizza and chocolate milk.

Need I say more?

I really didn't want to believe Dr Mercola. I LOVE pasta and all the things I shouldn't have. Go figure! But by eating the way I was..diet after diet, and believe me I have tried it all, this works! I have been tested for adrenal exhaustion and thyroid exhaustion..sure enough..I'm trashed. Why? My eating habits mostly. I have terrible asthma, always have sinus trouble to name a few of my health issues..not to mention being over weight. Going off grains has been amazing. I don't even take medication for asthma or sinus anymore. My weight is coming off. My thyroid was exhausted supporting the tired out adrenals. While I am still working on the recovery of this, what is interesting is that if I am to eat a grain or food that is not okay I can now feel my thyroid actually swell. I can feel symptoms that were before masked under all the other health problems.
As for the removing electric razors and alarm clocks etc..I found that I am sleeping much better than I ever had. Did I want to change..not even. It took me being 'scared straight' with my health no longer being forgiving. The only thing that pulled me out of it and on the way to being healthy was this NO GRAIN diet and methods in his book. Bless Dr Mercola. Medicine wouldn't have saved me. This did. Bravo!!! And thank you very much! I feel soooo much better and look forward to my new life ahead! Buy the book!

Many people, including myself, find low carb dieting a way to maintain weight and keep from getting overly hungry. But many low carb diets don't focus on the quality of the food you eat. Dr. Mercola takes a holistic approach and really reasons out WHY grains are associated with weight gain, and what a low-carb diet could look like if you believe organic vegetables and meats are important, and that artificial sweeteners may be causing you difficulties.

This is a more difficult path in some ways than buying boxes of low-carb sweets and bread mixes, and eating salads from the cellophane packages. Dr. Mercola encourages green vegetable juicing (no carrots or apple) with the pulp of the vegetables stirred back in, raw organic eggs, whey protein and chlorella algae to make a green breakfast shake to start your day. This is rugged stuff. After buying a dozen fresh eggs from the farmer down the road (living in a rural area has some advantages) I dug out the juicer and hand blender and whipped up one of these pea-green smoothies. I drank it down, humming the theme from "Rocky" to get up the nerve. It wasn't delish--but I did get a burst of energy that lasted well past what would have been lunchtime.

Mercola doesn't like soy (toxic to thyroids? has female hormone-like effects on men? Is this true?) and he really limits even favorite vegetables like carrots (too sugary) and beets (same deal.) However, he recommends you eat organic beef, ostrich, buffalo, organic chicken, fish, lamb. No pork. And plenty of good vegetables like dark leafy greens, cucumbers, fennel, spinach, celery, mushrooms and such. And organic eggs. This is not all bad. As you reduce weight, you can add in some fruit and mild sweets like barley syrup and maple. De. Mercola has some compelling arguments against aspartame, sucralose and saccharine.

While more severe in the types of foods you can eat, Mercola claims that your health will improve. On the psychological end, he advocates "EFT" --a sort of tapping that takes about three minutes, starting with acupuncture points from head to torso, and is designed to talk you out of eating that piece of Devil's Food Birthday Cake that is tempting you in your office or the doughnut shop on the way home. Three minutes of tapping on points, or if you are needing discretion there is a shortcut after much practice, and you can hold your nose high and walk past the cheesecake. Hey --if it works, I'm all for it.

I like the book for the fearsome Green Drink and the list of healthful things to focus on in your diet. Dr. Mercola always tries to support his claims, and I am a reluctant fan. We call him "The guy that HATES everything" at home, but he does like good healthy fare and reducing cravings. It's sad that grains are a no-no, but they sure make me gain weight and make me sleepy and hungry. So maybe Dr. Mercola is on to something.

Well, I've read the "One Star" reviews of this diet by others and I have to ask: Did you try it? I've tried many diets in my life not to mention what I affectionately termed a "Lifestyle Change" in my early 20s. It resulted in 60 pounds of weight loss, but at the same time I was miserable because it required 25+ miles per week lopping along on a treadmill. That wasn't how I wanted to live the rest of my life. As soon as I stopped, I gained it all back, slowly but surely. I've also Zoned, but never tried the Atkins Diet. The Zone didn't work for me because it was really difficult to maintain the many concise meals per day. I believed in the concept, I just didn't have a personal chef to make my Zoning dreams come true, as Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston do (faithful Zoners). I've been on the no grain diet for over a month now and I have to admit, it works. I think laying down the basics for EFT (the Emotional Freedom Techinque) is the greatest gift to be found in this book, though. The No-Grain Diet provides a way whereby people not only have a chance to change their physical body, but also change their lives in so many ways through the use of EFT. I'd give this book 10 Stars if I could. Thank you, Dr. Mercola.

This book is basically about conquering what amounts to an epidemic of unhealthy eating. Cakes, donuts, rolls, pastries, fried chips, fries, breads, cereals, pastas have formed a cornerstone on modern diets...and have wreaked havoc. Modern grains have high levels of phytates, or phytic acid, which not only leaches important minerals and nutrients out of the body, but make these grains difficult to digest. In addition, excess carbs cause unhealthy spikes in blood sugar, which leads to obesity, sluggish metabolisms and can cause degenerative diseases.
I was addicted to carbs, craved all of the foods, and fed my hungers. But in hindsight, I remember years of feeling sluggish, fatigued and like I had been somehow drugged; even after a full night's sleep, a breakfast of several bowls of extruded cereals, toast and huge servings of fast-cooked instant porridge, I felt like going back to bed as if I'd taken sleeping pills.
No longer. For the first time in my life, I feel no cravings for carbs. Even free cookies, donuts and cake leave me indifferent. My grain intake consists mainly of about 1/3 cup of Food For Life sprouted grain cereal (the only cold cereal one should eat, because the sprouted grains remove the harmful phytates; and the cereal, baked at low temperatures, is not made from flour), and occasionally, their sprouted 7 grain bread (I have no affiliation with Food For Life). Living a virtually grain-free existence, my weight levels have stayed their most stable, and my energy levels are consistent.
This book will provide relief from a persistent, chronic problem. Thanks to Joseph Mercola for am important book.