Customer Reviews

Slim for Life

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a terrific book. The information is given in a no nonsense
manner. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a realistic and
entertaining resource. I have not only lost weight, I feel fantastic.
I no longer have heartburn and my headaches are history. Gillian
delivers on her promises. ONE WARNING: it is time intensive to follow
the plan. I was strictly a heat and eat on the fly person. This book
requires gasp...cooking and prep and planning! Still I grudgingly have
learned how and it is sometimes even fun. Did I say it was a teriffic
book? It really is.

I love Gillian McKeith's show and her whole philosophy towards eating. However, the calorie counts for her meals are quite low--between 900 and 1000 cals/day--due to my rough calculations. I've had to supplement some of the meals with extra protein like a chicken breast or salmon. I'm also working out a lot more than the folks on her show do--I do about an hour of hard cardio/day, 6 days/wk. Plus, 4 of those days, weight training is incorporated into my workout.
I don't miss not eating bread, pasta, sugar and the like and I do feel better--after i adjusted the diet to work for me. And, yes, I did lose weight-plenty of it.
Before starting this diet, really do your homework. Be prepared to feel light headed the first few days and drink plenty of water. Oh and instant miso soup is a god send. Good luck!

Slim for Life is Dr. Gillian McKeith's 28-day ultimate health and detox plan. In four stages, the author provides step-by-step meal and snack plans to wake-up your consciousness, detox your system, and achieve a slim for life diet. The text includes menus, recipes, exercises (both physical and mental), and inspiration to break old habits and form new ones. This is a time-intensive program, but only for the first month of re-framing your nutritional thinking, after which the reader will be on a road to long-term success at weight maintenance.

Includes lush full-color photography. Recipes are in U.S. units (cups, oz, tsp, etc.), not metric units as suggested in other reviews.

THE BAD:

1. I live in a large City (Chicago) with every kind of store you can think of and I still had a hard time finding some of the ingredients used in the recipies. So you spend a lot of time shopping.
2. You will spend a lot of time chopping and cooking. If you hold down a job, you must be very organized.
3. The cost of most of the ingredients (organic) are very expensive. But the cost goes down once you get stocked on the staples, but is still more than I usually spend.

THE GOOD:
1. Most of the recipies are very good to great. (a few are not).
2. You will enjoy eating a variety of different tastes.
3. You will never be hungry. (I have a hard time eating all the food).
4. You will feel more energized and healthy.
5. Best of all , you will lose weight even if you are a postmenopausal woman like me. I lost 12lbs in 25 days.

This is the way I will eat for the rest of my life. I have never said that with any other diet or way of eating before now, and like most of you, I've tried everything.

This is the 3rd of Dr. McKeith's books I've purchased with the cookbook on it's way and I'm browsing through Slim for Life for the 3rd time. My husband's even paying attention now. I'm eating beans and grains that are new and interesting and above all delicious. Low fat diets never did much for my system aside from a few pounds and dull hair and thin fingernails. Protein and veggies was next choice and lost substantial weight but missed fruits and melons like crazy. This plan, protein from beans and grains and nuts is heavenly. We live in a small Southern community where many of her ingredients aren't available. Health Food Stores are also not available. But substitutions can be made and recipes altered a bit to give variety. After 2-1/2 weeks I've lost nearly 10 lbs, my clothes are loose but best of all my heartburn is gone, GERD is at bay and sinus headaches have said good bye. Can't say there aren't still days of wistfully eyeing my co-workers' hush puppies or donut, but truthfully? No inclination to toss Snickers bars into my basket at checkout any longer and a few bites of ice cream last week wasn't all that great. Before the change in eating, I could down a pint without hesitation and go "mmmmmm" the entire time. My salads are full of more ingredients these days, VERY green, with seeds for protein. A few of my favorite middle eastern dishes are also allowed - Hummus with veggies instead of bread and stuffed grape leaves with brown rice instead of white. It's been a fun experience and when the cookbook arrives, I'm sure it will be even more so. The books themselves are beautiful and being a lover of books, entice you to keep going through them even though you've memorized the gist of the plan. Dr. McKeith isn't the first person without "MD" credentials who knows good nutrition. A dear friend of mine tried to get me to eat this way when I was in my 30's. Too bad I waited so long. Just turned 63 and in this short period of time, feel better, sleep less, sleep BETTER, and look forward to eating. Kudos Gillian! this is a great way to take hold of your diet.

This is a good additional reference for anyone tyring to follow Dr. Gillian's program. A few of the foods I had to look up on the internet. They call them different things in England. Also, all recipes are in metric. Get out your conversion table.

Okay, I give her kudos for a beautiful, magazine-type book. And I LOVE her show, but was sorely disappointed in Gillian's diet recommendations. I should have known by what I've seen on her show, but Gillian's diet is really nothing more than a close match to a macrobiotic diet. She recommends lots of beans, rice, veggies and very little fat & animal protein. She will allow some meats in the beginning stages, but encourages you to cut those out as soon as possible. I am sure anyone following this diet will have success in the short run, even an advancement in health due to cutting out processed foods & sugars and increasing nutrient-dense foods. However I don't know if this diet holds enough protein nor cholesterol/fat for most people. Some do very well on a vegan diet, but most do not. Plus, the rigidity of the diet would probably make it impossible to adhere to long-term and could possibly trigger a diet/binge disorder (or worse).

For an example, I'm including her Day 6 menu suggestion.

Bfast: 2 c warm water w/ lemon; 1 c dandelion tea; smoothie with 3 plums, 3 nectarines; 3 pears.
Snack: ripe banana
Lunch: yellow pea soup with avocado & broccoli salad (recipes included)
snack: 4 endive leaves with hummus & tomatoes
dinner: mighty mung bean casserole (recipe included)

Some days she does allow tuna steak but could you live off of the above, really LIVE, long term? If the answer is no, then look elsewhere. The only truely workable diet is one that you can adhere to for life.

I was very pleased that I ordered this book. I am a fan of Gillian's tv program on BBC America "You Are What You Eat".
This is a health and detox plan with all the recipes in American Standard measures. It is very simple and straight forward.

It has a day by day plan for 28 days. This book is divided into four sections.....titled "the wake-up call", the ultimate health plan", The Dr Gillian detox", "slim for life" and of course her final word.

She asks you to be honest and keep a food diary and examine what you are doing now and then all you need to do is put forth the effort .
It has some less common things like dandelion tea, nettle tea and miso soup. All available at health food stores. I am looking forward to trying out the menus. I love fresh fruit, veggies, grains and beans but, I do love my chocolate and sweets too. I am looking forward to losing 10 lbs and enjoying her recipes.

This book is full of great recipes and information about how different foods effect you. I have tried quite a few recipes and enjoyed every one of them. It's amazing how fruits and vegetables can change how you feel. It's a right now good feeling. It's wonderful. Actually I feel as if a huge load has been taken off my shoulders. The foods good and I feel good...it's all I can say. This is a must have book.

This a very good book to help you detox and change your eating (and living) habits for the better. I disagree with people that it's a "diet" book. It's a lifestyle book. That being said, I can't give it 5 stars because there are some issues with the book: I wonder if all of the recipes were fully tested (some of the items took 2x longer to cook than listed in the recipe, like the risotto), there are inconsistencies in the measurements (majority are American, however, several recipes are in metric). Finally, it would be more interesting if the plan was a little more "mixed", meaning if you didn't have to have miso soup for two days straight for lunch or salad with a some kind of bean toping for 3 days back-to-back. I would recommend this book to anybody trying to change bad habits and begin a new, healthy eating lifestyle.