Customer Reviews

The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet: A Simple 3-Part Plan to Lose the Fat, the Wrinkles, and the Years

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INTRODUCTION:

Over the last 2 months, I have lost over 40 pounds in fat. I have gone from 220 lbs to 180 lbs. In addition, I am walking 90 minutes a day or jogging 4 miles a day along with a variety of other activities. Essentially, I've changed my lifestyle, both in terms of diet, supplementation, and exercise. A large part of this weight loss and lifestyle change I attribute to many of the strategies I adopted by watching Dr. Perricone's PBS special, followed up with, of course, completely absorbing the information contained in Dr. Perricone's book, "The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet".

BOOK SUMMARY:

Dr. Perricone starts in PART i by making his case to you the reader, for the "Inflammation-Fat Connection", laying down basic principles that establish micro-inflammation as the root cause of the problem, and obesity simply a side-effect to this problem, along with various other aging ailments. He establishes that his strategy to deal with weight loss, is by dealing with micro-inflammation, the root cause, through diet, exercise (and other lifestyle changes), and supplementation. By attacking micro-inflammation, you not only achieve success with the battle of obesity, you also achieve success on a variety of other aging fronts. Essentially, Dr. Perricone presents this argument as an anti-aging program, focusing on weight loss as the emphasis for this book.

In PART II, the core of Dr. Perricone's book, he presents his 3 step program: Food, Supplements, and Lifestyle. In Step One, 10 specific food groups are presented to focus on, and these groups will surprise you. This is not a rehashing of the government food triangle by any stretch. The foods range from wild Alaskan Salmon, to Avocado and Acai, to Spices, Red Chile Peppers, and Yogurt. Each section provides a description of the food "supergroup", the factors that contribute to weight loss, the top choices, and the runner-up choices. In Step Two, Dr. Perricone provides his top 12 nutritional supplements that contribute to the reduction of micro-inflammation, the reduction of insulin resistance, the balancing of blood glucose, etc. Each section lists and describes each supplement, along with tips, and dosage recommendations. Step Three, describes the lifestyle changes to be implemented, including the benefits of exercise, fact sheets, safety tips, etc.

Part iii is called "THE PLAN", and this is where Dr. Perricone provides his 14 day weight loss diet. This section attempts to bring together the information from Part 1 and Part 2 with a sample program for weight loss. Various tips, suggestions, and reminders introduce the plan, followed with a rigid 14 day regimin, an ecclectic recipe section, a thorough Appendix that covers dieting questions, a complete Resource Guide, References, and Index.

PROS:

1. EXPERTISE
This is not an ordinary dieting book. Dr. Perricone is a leading researcher on the subject of anti-aging, and his theories, approaches, and research represents the cutting edge of modern thought on the subject. Every claim he makes, is backed by thoroughly researched scientific data. His reference section speaks volumes. Not one claim is made in this book, without completely documented case studies from reputable resources and noted scientific peer journals. If you are interested or curious on the subject of aging, when Dr. Perricone speaks, you should listen.

2. APPROACHABLE
This book is completely approachable. Dr. Perricone gives you 10 food groups, and 12 supplements to learn. That's basically it. The solution is elegant in design. You read the section on the food or supplement you're interested in, and learn not only what it is, but WHY it is important to your weight loss goals, what it does to your body physiologically, and what studies prove its positive properties.

3. COMPLIMENTARY
This book compliments all approaches to weight loss. It is not really just a diet. Moreso, it is a strategy. Dr. Perricone takes weight loss from a different point of view. Tackle the inflammation problem, and the weight will come off. Various foods, supplements, and lifestyle changes approach this objective in a synergistic fashion. This means that each positive thing you do, compliments all of the other positive things you are doing with your body. Each anti-inflammatory, each antioxidant, each metabolic or thermogenic enhancement in your diet or lifestyle, works with all the other changes you are making to yourself. So, Dr. Perricone is not reinventing the wheel. He is simply presenting some basic food and lifestyle change recommendations, with modern science to back up his reasons why these changes are good for you. You can implement this strategy on its own, or, use it in conjunction with other diets or programs that appeal to you. Dr. Perricone is simply teaching you, the reader, 10 foods, 12 supplements, and an anti-inflammatory lifestyle that you can focus on in order to make your body the youngest and healthiest it can be.

CONS:

1. RIGID DIET
To be honest, I actually think the first two parts of this book are amazing, but the diet is seriously lacking in approachability, usability, and flexibility. I was surprised that Dr. Perricone, who clearly spent a tremendous amount of time organizing his data for the first two parts, sort of dropped the ball on the last part. The diet is really nothing more than a 14 day sample menu.

2. NOT USER FRIENDLY:
The recipes are fabulous, and the food suggestions are useful in seeing how one person might incorporate the Food and Supplement suggestions, but the diet isn't really very user-friendly. You can choose to follow the rigid 14 day plan if you wish, however, most of us don't work like that in terms of going to the store, making choices, cooking food, eating it, and in some way, continuing on with our lives. Most of us don't have the time or energy to spend making plans to follow a rigid 14 day menu. I would have preferred more in Part 3, of what we got from Part 1 and 2 of this book.

3. MISSING DIETING BASICS IN PART 3:
in PART 3, I would have liked to have seen Dr. Perricone focus on more dieting strategy in this section, perhaps going back to dieting basics such as portion control, food balance, calorie controls, etc. The 14 day diet works great as a SAMPLE, but not as a template. In this, the book leaves me wanting more.

MY TIPS:

Here is a list of some things that I think you'll find useful, that I can provide as someone who has actually used and implemented many of the resources from "The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet":

1. It's true that Dr. Perricone sells his own supplements, but he never suggests in this book that you are required, or need, to go through him for your needs. Every supplement is available from your local health food or vitamin store.

2. Don't "dive in" tommorow and make massive changes to your diet and lifestyle. Take it one step at a time, changing perhaps one or two things a day. Overdoing it is a mistake. Start with a basic vitamin, adopt and emphasize one or two food groups in your daily diet. When I started, for example, I began to use vitamins, and 2 or 3 antioxidants, along with creating a dinner menu that focused on barley, beans, veggies, and salad. After a few days, I introduced more foods, and more supplements, so as not to overwhelm my body or my psyche. Taking a "one change a day" approach seemed to work very well for me.

3. Learn the reasons "WHY" modern anti-aging scientific research points to the benefits of each food or supplement Don't just learn what each one is. Dr. Perricone gives you substantive reasons for changing your diet with 10 specific food groups, and supplementing with 12 specific products.

4. This is not a magic bullet. This is a book that you add to your library of knowledge. Detractors will tell you that Dr. Perricone is simply re-hashing the glycemic index, or overstating that you should "eat naturally". For those that say Dr. Perricone's information is "nothing new", I'd just simply point out that of course it isn't. This is not a fad diet. Dr. Perricone is providing meaningful backbone to an anti-aging growing body of science. He is providing us with an approachable guide to some specific, easily accessible items in the grocery store and at the health food store, that can make a deep impact on our lives. It is backed by countless research studies, peer journals, and good, hard science, with a thorough, well documented reference section that points any researcher to the already established body of knowledge out there in the scientific community. No, this is not a new, innovative way to lose weight. Instead, Dr. Perricone is organizing this information in an approachable format. Use this information with your other resources. Don't think of it as a dieters bible. Think of it as a textbook in your ongoing studies of your own body.

SUMMARY:
Like I said in the beginning, I've lost over 40 pounds in 2 months. I've made many changes, of course, to my lifestyle, that accounts for this weight loss. But every night, while eating dinner, I am perusing through "The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet", learning something new about the things I'm doing to my body, that are positive, and why I am becoming leaner and younger each day. Every clove of raw garlic I eat, every ALA and Astaxanthin supplement I take, is making a difference, 60 days later. There is a glow to my skin, an improvement in my daily living, a decrease in my waist line. Dr. Perricone is not the only reason why I've lost this weight, but what I give him is Kudus for providing me with strategy, reasons, and backbone to making life-long anti-aging changes which have clearly made a direct impact on my life.

I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of this book, and make it an integral part of your home library.

Although I have lost nearly 200 pounds following a low-carb weight loss program that worked for me, I still remain an active student of health, nutrition and dieting. Regardless of what your weight is, it is imperative that you keep educating yourself about healthy lifestyle choices and learn what it takes to keep your body working as God intended by referencing the truly imaginative innovators and researchers of our day.

One such person in the year 2006 is Dr. Nicholas Perricone. Although he is a board-certified dermatologist, he stumbled upon something in his research of complexion problems that even startled him. He found that there was invisible, undetectable layer of inflammation occuring beneath the surface of our skin that was causing our bodies to literally fall apart. One of the results of this inflammation, Dr. Perricone quickly found, was the body's inability to get rid of stored fat.

That's the underlying basis for The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet. Although his previous books on wrinkles and complexion problems have been instant bestsellers, Dr. Perricone wanted to devote one book solely to the topic of weight loss to help the tens of millions of people who carry around excessive amounts of weight.

For fans of Dr. Perricone, some of the concepts in this book will be familiar to you. But whether you have read his books before or if this is your first time, I have no doubt that you will be able to apply The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet principles to your own life.

Ever since I lost my weight by livin' la vida low-carb, I am always apprehensive about any new diet book that I pick up. Actually, I wasn't sure what I would read in Dr. Perricone's book. But imagine my surprise when I noticed much of his weight loss advice matched up perfectly with what I was already doing as part of my low-carb lifestyle:

1. Eat more good fats, especially ones found in fish.
2. Increase your intake of Omega-3 fatty acids.
3. Stay away from sugar, starch and white flour.
4. Consume berries.
5. Cook with extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil.
6. Add fiber to your diet with seeds and nuts.
7. Protein-up your body to keep your hunger satisfied.
8. Exercise 30-45 minutes per day.
9. Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily.
10. Eat sugar-free chocolate made with real cocoa butter.

But the more I read through The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet, I realized that there were areas of my diet that could stand to change and this book convicted me of my need to make a few subtle changes.

For example, Dr. Perricone encourages people to eat more fish, specifically Wild Alaskan Salmon. This is a naturally low-carb food and would be an excellent frequent addition to my healthy low-carb lifestyle. He also urges readers to use stevia or erithyrtol more in place of sugar and other sugar alternatives. Dr. Perricone is adamantly against using aspartame.

There was something else that intrigued me in this book. The concept of eating your protein first, then your fiber, and finally your sugar -- in that order! I had never thought about this before now, but you can actually slow the rate that your body begins absorbing and using the sugars in the foods you eat if you load up on the protein and fiber first.

I hope Dr. Perricone or somebody will conduct a study on the effect of this food order on the body. The experiment could compare the results of weight loss efforts of people participants eating the exact same meals except one group eats the protein first, another group eats the fiber first and the last group eats the sugar first. Which one would lose the most weight? I'd love to know the answer to that question, but I suppose Dr. Perricone would be opposed to people eating the sugar first since it increases inflammation and causes the blood sugar to quickly rise. That's an important lesson The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet teaches you.

Let me warn you -- this book can get technical in some places, but Dr. Perricone attempts to break it down step-by-step to keep it from going completely over your head. He gently explains various terms and provides real-life examples of people he has helped lose weight using his 14-Day diet plan.

There are many supplements that Dr. Perricone believes people should be taking to give them the essential vitamins and minerals that their bodies need to function at their best. He calls these "superstar supplements" and also suggests ten categories of "supergroup foods" to minimize inflammation so you will be on the road to weight loss success.

The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet is a unique theory in the battle of the bulge and should be in the collection of anyone and everyone who wishes to keep their weight under control for life. If you apply the Perricone principles, which are surprisingly compatible for people doing low-carb, then you will be able to lose weight, keep it off, look and feel younger than you ever thought possible, and exude with energy beyond your wildest dreams.

A 2-week meal plan and delicious recipes are located in the back of the book to get you started on the right foot. There's little wonder why The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet has followed it predecessors to the top of the bestseller charts.

It is scientifically-proven to work and Dr. Perricone believes it can help anyone. Even YOU!

After giving birth to twins, I struggled for 2 years to loose the extra 15 pounds I had gained during pregnancy. I tried many diets including the south beach, which made me loose 10 lbs at first then made me gain 15 lbs around the 3rd phase. And the first 2 weeks of the south beach are very difficult, I felt deprived and constipated all the time.
Dr Perricone diet is the only diet that not only helped me loose the weight but also helped me keep it. As Dr Perricone says, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle. and I have adopted that lifestyle. I have more energy now than I ever did before and I can exercise 5-6 times/week and I run lot faster and longer now than I did before. And most importantly, I love the food! The 2 week diet recipes are very delicious! My whole family loved the food. while I was on the 2 week diet, my husband kept asking me if I was really dieting because my plate was always full. I did not feel deprived at all! The recipes were so delicious, I even bought the book "stop the clock cooking"!
The only downside about this diet is that it involves a lot of cooking but how can you get good, wholesome food unless you cook it yourself? I cooked on weekends and froze a lot.It's lot easier now, I don't have to follow the diet line by line anymore. I know what to eat and what not to eat and I can prepare a meal really fast.
My only problem was the supplements. They are very pricey and since I wasn't overweight, I was wondering if I really had to spend all that money on supplements. I decided to buy only some of them, the ones I thought will be most beneficial for me. Of course it included fish oil, Glutamine and a few antioxidants.
And one more thing, my skin is also glowing now. Everybody tells me I have beautiful skin. I did not have wrinkles before and I hope I won't have them soon...

Thank you Dr. Perricone for coming up with this healthy, healthy diet everybody should be following.

After following the program outlined in the book for a month, I have lost 18 lbs., I feel better, and look better. My wife has lost 11 lbs. and really looks great. Eating lots of fish is difficult for us, so we have substituted more lean chicken and it still seems to work.
UPDATE: It's now been about 10 weeks since we started the program outlined in this book. I have lost 33 lbs. (half of my goal) and my wife has lost 23 lbs. In addition to the weight loss, our health has improved. I was taking 3 blood pressure medications which were barely keeping it under control. With my doctors OK, I have cut the dosage on one med 50% and stopped another completely. My blood pressure now stays below normal and I expect to be off medication completely. My cholesterol is way down and I also stopped taking my cholesterol medication to see if the diet, exercise and weight loss will keep it down. I have never been a believer in herbs, amino acids, vitamins or other supplements. However, we bought the 12 suggested supplements outlined in the book from online sources at reasonable prices and believe they are helping. None of the many diets we tried have ever worked this fast, improved our health, or were this easy to stay on without cravings.

For me, I think the biggest point about this diet is that if you eat the foods he recommends, it suppresses your appetite like crazy!!! You can eat just a small meal and it will keep you feeling VERY full for hours and hours. He recommends one food after another that has antioxidants, fiber, reduces inflammation, increases insulin sensitivity, and reduces blood sugar. When you eat multiple foods like this, then it really has a huge effect on your appetite and your ability to feel satisfied on a small amount of food. On the other hand, when you eat normal, unhealthy American food, it's often impossible to feel satisfied and you just keep eating and eating until your stomach is in pain from being so overstuffed. That's because of unhealthy ingredients such as flour, sugar, corn syrup, and monosodium glutamate. These things destroy your health and make you unable to feel satisfied and full from eating.

As for Perricone's recipes, I don't bother to follow them. I just eat the foods he recommends with the minimum of preparation, because I'm eating for health, not enjoyment. For example, I just cook the lentil beans in water with no seasoning or anything. Also I try to eat as many foods raw as I can so I can get more enzymes and other nutrients from them. I believe in eating whole, unprocessed foods. Besides the foods Perricone recommends, I also eat additional fruits and vegetables. Canned wild salmon is the primary meat I eat. It's fairly low-priced.

I've lost 15 pounds so far. Besides the diet, it's also important to do some exercise. It's also critical to stop eating several hours before you go to sleep. You should eat breakfast every day. Lastly, don't keep any junk food in the house and don't use any kind of excuse to buy junk food.

As for the 12 supplements he recommends, I've tried some of them. I think they help a little bit, but eating lots of raw fruits and vegetables helps far more. The only one that's absolutely necessary is fish oil for omega 3 fatty acids. It doesn't actually seem to make a noticeable difference in how I feel, but I'm sure it's important because it is something that is present in large amounts in wild meat and humans evolved to eat and require this substance. And since we don't get it in factory-farmed meat anymore, we need to eat wild salmon and fish oil pills. However, the alpha lipoic acid, carnitine, acetyl-l-carnitine, and coenzyme Q10 do seem to be improving my energy and overall health in a subtle way. So I think I will keep taking them. On the other hand, I can get a big energy boost just by eating a large raw salad with high-nutrient veggies like spinach, carrots, red bell pepper, and red beets.

My skin does seem to have improved on the diet. The skin on my face is tighter and my face isn't so puffy anymore. It's also more radiant. I think I'm looking younger and better lately.

My mood has improved. I generally feel happy and calm and have good energy all the time. When I ate unhealthy food, I felt very irritable, depressed, and exhausted all the time.

Overall I think the Perricone diet is awesome for your health, your life, your mind, and your career success, not just for losing weight. I highly recommend it. This is the only diet book I've read, but I think it's probably the best one. That might sound funny, but I can't imagine a better diet book than this one. The one thing this book lacks is addressing psychological issues, so it might be helpful for you to read self-help books for any psychological problems that have been driving you to overeat and not take care of your health. Personally I have done a lot of work to overcome the psychological damage that was done to me.

Yes, Dr. Perricone has expensive supplements. That is why he only gets 4 stars from me. I have never used his particular brand, but have been a devotee of his diet for months, and I am a changed person! I get many of my supplements from Trader Joe's (very inexpensively), and I have seen them at Target and Walmart, too. I didn't buy into his "infomercial", but I cannot ignore the results I have had in the last few months that I have followed this diet, even loosely.

You will eat lots of fish, chicken, turkey bacon, almonds, olive oil, berries, yogurt, eggs, herbs, and lots of other fruits and vegetables. It is similar to the new Mediterranean Diets popping up out there...no bread, no sugar,etc. I am a believer in cheating on my diet often, and I have still watched in awe as weight dropped off my stubborn frame, with very little effort.

What I really love is that this diet is easy to follow in restaurants, on the road, and at home. Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and just about any other grocery store carries fantastic pre-made salads and foods that are made with the all-natural ingredients he recommends. His recipes can be a little strange (edamame guacamole?), so I have made up lots of my own, and it has been very easy.

The best part of this diet is the weight loss, but the added bonus of clearing up 10 years of adult acne is something that I would have paid a lot more for. Can you tell I love this book?

That may sound a little over dramatic, but it's true. I borrowed the book from the library. I was skeptical and didn't want to spend any money on the book. I have about 25 pounds to lose and nothing else was working so I decided to give Perricone's plan a try.

Besides being overweight, I had been seeing a doctor for over 6 months for extreme achiness and fatigue. My doctor ran all kinds of tests and xrays and could find nothing wrong with me. I was also experiencing extreme brain fog and had a hard time thinking clearly. This went on for months and I was getting scared that I was suffering from some exotic disease that my doctor could not diagnose.

After only a week on Dr Perricone's program, including omega-3 supplements I bought at Costco and multivitamins, not only did I lose weight but I suddenly had my energy back and the brain fog lifted! It was like magic how much better I felt. I am so grateful to have stumbled on Dr Perricone's book, which by the way I did go out and buy. It was money well spent! I feel like I have by life back. Oh, and it's nice to have perfect strangers come up to me and tell me how clear my skin is.

I don't know if Dr Perricone's theories about inflammation and all that stuff hold up in the science community. But I do know that his plan works for me in a way that no other plan has worked.

I was introduced to the Dr Perricone by my manager, who use to be the counter manager at a major department store for this product. At first I thought the same thing, oh here we go again, I have about 20 lbs to lose but more important she could tell that I was stressed and getting redness in my face. The truth is I have never had a problem with acne and have great skin but the things she was telling me about the book made sense, the inflammation, the bloated tummy, so I said what have I got too lose. I did the 3 day starter and too my surprise and everyone around me, by the 2nd day, I noticed a flat stomach and people everywhere I went kept asking, what have you done? what makeup do you have on? etc? I had increased energy and felt great so after the 3 days have continued on the plan. I went off it over the holidays and boy, did I notice how bad I felt. But after 3 weeks lost 10 lbs, so back on it now and will continue to not only feel great but look great too.
This works and I also take the pep powder, and I have tried everything, so the negative responses on this site are just people who think that they can just keep going on doing nothing and the weight will disappear.
I too got a little sick of salmon but only have it a few times a week and do chicken or tuna on your salad.
Buy the frozen salmon at costco and use it as you need it, I put mine on the george foreman grill when I am crunched for time. Also, a secret, dip in olive oil and then in mrs. dash and cook, it gives it a crunchy like breading taste.
So here is to you Doc!

As a nutrition professor, I am usually skeptical of diet fads, but bought this book after seeing Dr. Perricone on Oprah and Larry King a few months ago. It arrived last week (it hadn't been released until then), and I agree with everything he has to say. His approach is unique, as it does not simply focus on how many pounds you can lose like so many others, or follow an extreme regimen of one type of food (remember the cabbage soup diet?!?) - it is a well thought out balanced approach to losing fat without muscle mass, while improving the appearance of your skin. As a nutritionist, it was enlightening for me to see a diet book that explains how to prevent the sagging skin that usually accompanies successful eating plans, especially in older people that lose weight quickly. This book with all its research and references is being squeezed into my fall syllabus, and will be required reading for semesters to come!

I started the Perricone Diet as my New Year's Resolution, and didn't expect to lose weight very quickly because I had been on another diet (low-carb) and had just lost 10 pounds in December (usually I then plateau and don't lose another pound for a couple of weeks).

Well, today is January 9th and I have lost 8 pounds!!! Not to mention that I am feeling so much better, and have quit hitting the snooze alarm in the morning! And I'm not even following the diet he lays out... just the principals he outlines, and taking about 3/4 of the supplements.

The great thing is that I'm actually saving money. After going to the health food store to buy the supplements (which were around $100 for roughly a month, so cheaper than on his website) I thought that this was going to be a really expensive experiment... but if it works...

However, after my first week of cooking I am WAY under what I usually spend on food in a month. For one thing, I'm not hungry, so I'm not making any fast food or restaurant runs, nor am I eating nearly as much as usual. Second, because everything starts out with whole foods, and I buy grain in bulk and lots of fresh vegetables, it is saving me quite a bit. Even buying organic is cheaper than eating canned or frozen it has turned out. I was expecting to have to spend more because the meat is expensive, but compared to doing a low-carb diet and eating lots of meat, I'm now eating normal portions, a bigger variety of foods (and feeling really full), so I end up even saving on that.

Then, to top it all off, people keep asking me if I'm losing weight, changed my skincare, am using different makeup, all of those questions I LOVE to hear.

Anyway, losing weight, saving money, enjoying what I eat... I'd never even heard of this guy before reading this book, but now I'm a convert!!!