Stop Your Cravings: A Balanced Approach to Burning Fat, Increasing Energy, and Reducing Stress [Hardcover]

Jennifer Workman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2001

Complementary medicine nutritionist and Ayurveda instructor Jennifer Workman's new and sensible approach to dieting has helped countless people to understand and work with their natural cravings to achieve and maintain their ideal weight. As the first Western nutritionist to make the ancient Ayurvedic principles practical and applicable, Workman explains why certain foods, including simple spices and culinary herbs like cinnamon, cocoa, cardamom, turmeric, cumin, basil, ginger, and wasabi can have a beneficial effect on weight-loss efforts, digestion, and health. In Stop Your Cravings Workman shows how eating the right combination of foods and flavors for certain body types and lifestyles, along with yoga and exercise, can diminish cravings to the point that food is no longer an issue of stress and worry.

Using a weight-loss and management program enlightened by the basic principles of Ayurveda, the five-thousand-year-old Eastern medical system, Workman guides readers in restoring the body's natural balance to improve overall health. By understanding the basic components of Ayurveda, which Workman introduces through simple examples, charts, and a self-test, readers will learn how their food choices (even the ones they thought were "healthy") can exacerbate health problems, including gastrointestinal disturbances, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, weight gain, arthritis, acne, headaches, menopausal symptoms, and PMS.

Most experts now agree that not everyone should eat the same thing or do the same type of activity because each person's metabolism and genetic makeup are different. Using the Stop Your Cravings self-test, readers can identify their own body and personality type and learn to understand what their body needs and how it responds to food, to the weather, and to everyday events in their lives. The Balanced Approach is a personalized nutrition/eating program of "clean" proteins, "good" fats, and non-gluten carbohydrates that emphasizes the sensuality of spices and flavors that add taste without adding calories.

A wise and sustainable program that improves health and longevity, Stop Your Cravings is ahead of the curve as more and more of us turn to holistic approaches to living.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With more than 50% of Americans overweight, our $50-billion weight-loss industry clearly isn't working, insists Workman. A dietician and founder of Balanced Approach, a nutritional consulting company, Workman advocates Ayurveda, an ancient Indian health system that offers a holistic approach to eating and health maintenance. Central to this system is good digestion (largely ignored in the U.S., where "taking a Tums is the appropriate conclusion to every meal," Workman laments). The trick to good digestion is understanding one's constitutional type (there are three, characterized by certain eating, sleeping and exercise habits) and eating accordingly. Foods are divided into six tastes and six qualities, and Workman shows how one can find a constitutionally appropriate food to satisfy any craving. "Broccoli isn't necessarily good for everyone and chocolate isn't necessarily bad," as long as balance and moderation prevail. Workman also recommends stress-relieving techniques to break the binge cycle, advocates Yoga over more punishing exercise, exhorts readers to listen to their "natural intuitions," and calls for support of organic and cruelty-free farmers through controlled, conscientious spending. To this end, she includes healthy recipes and a resource guide. While some readers may find living by their intuition harder than Workman makes it sound, for the most part this is a simple, accessible guide to better nutrition and overall health.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

For those desiring a holistic approach to eating, nutritional and diet consultant Workman incorporates Ayurvedic principles into a healthy weight-management plan. She addresses not only diet but also strength training, achieving emotional balance, and supplements. This could be heavy sledding for neophytes, but those already in tune with holistic health practices will find this useful.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (October 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743217055
• ISBN-13: 978-0743217057
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #371,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cravings are a GOOD thing!, January 8, 2002

By 

KonaGal "KonaGal" (Lakewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Stop Your Cravings: A Balanced Approach to Burning Fat, Increasing Energy, and Reducing Stress (Hardcover)

It's the new year. Time for those annoying resolutions - the `fridge at work is jammed with co-workers' lunches who have decided to eat healthy, the fitness club is jammed with new people lifting weights and trotting on treadmills. And the bookstores are jammed with "new you" diet books, everybody claiming to have the ANSWER that we need. Don't make the mistake of lumping Jennifer Workman's book in with the others; it simply stands alone in its own special category. At its heart is Ayurveda, a 5000-year old Indian medical practice. You can't go wrong with something so timely. Combine that with a solid fitness and nutritional background, and you have someone who can help us make it in the modern world.
The book does focus on food but it's more than that - understanding why we grab certain foods, why some foods may not work well in some situations (cayenne aggravates someone like me in the dead heat of summer while a good friend thinks it's just fine), and why certain kinds of exercise don't get the weight off and why yoga does help a lot. The food is all do-able --- from the ginger, lemon, and honey-laced green tea (OK, I gave up coffee as the first thing to my lips in the morning) to kale sauteed with garlic and onions. What we don't want to give up is taste and Workman beautifully explains how to integrate the basic principles into daily eating. Nobody looks at my lunches and exclaims, "Oh yuck! WHAT are you eating now???" It's easy to move in and out of restaurants making interesting yet delicious choices based on my metabolism and genetic makeup without even thinking about it. Yes, chocolate is part of the plan! No guilt. Just good food.
The book takes on new meaning with all the stress inflicted upon us after September 11. How do we make everything stay in balance without stressing out and gaining a few tons? Jennifer's program isn't just about eating - it is about whole life, encompassing the mental, emotional and spiritual parts, too. Everything truly does work together. Lofty? Not really. It makes sense that at the end, she addresses the big picture and world hunger. How many diet books are concerned about that? Better hang onto this one.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book, September 26, 2002

By 

Squirrelly - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stop Your Cravings: A Balanced Approach to Burning Fat, Increasing Energy, and Reducing Stress (Hardcover)

I've been looking for something that goes beyond traditional Western nutrition--the dogma of the macronutrient wars that we're all so familiar with (high carb/no fat, low-carb, etc...) and focuses on my individual needs, which can change. I checked out this book by chance, and was pleasantly surprised--it really just made sense of everything.

This is truly an East meets West approach to healthy eating--it combines the best of both approaches and makes the more unfamiliar Eastern approach very accesible. I think that the title "Stop Your Cravings" may not catch enough people's attention--it goes way beyond that. Don't be put off that this has an Ayurvedic slant--the menus and recipes span the globe from Indian and Asian to Mediterranean and even American cuisine. It's refreshing to see a diet book acknowledge that everyone is different and that some people (such as myself) will thrive on a lower carb/higher protein diet while others do better on a higher carb diet... dairy is fine for some but congestive and mucus forming for others... and high-gluten grains (which include the overrated "whole wheat" products) should be reduced for most people (not completely avoided) and low-gluten grains (rice, millet, quinoa) are favored.

I also like the exercise recommendatioins based on your Ayurvedic type--it really helped steer me in a direction where I now feel like I'm getting the right exercise for me. The fact that one of the most respected people in strength training endorsed the book (see Charles Poliquin's comments on the back cover) really made me give this book a serious look--and I'm glad I did.

Basically this book ackowledges (even celebrates) individuality and doesn't prescribe a rigid "one size fits all" regimen of diet or exercise. It's WAY beyond the typical diet and exercise book--it gives you the information to make choices that will help you achieve lasting health and weight loss based on your preferences and constitution.

I can't recommend it highly enough.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally! Someone puts it all together in 1 book, April 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Stop Your Cravings: A Balanced Approach to Burning Fat, Increasing Energy, and Reducing Stress (Hardcover)

This one is a keeper! Take it from someone who has read 20+ books lately on diet and nutrition and holistic healing. Jennifer Workman puts it all together in one volume. This is a comprehensive approach to your total health; mind, body & spirit.

Her dietary recommendations around sugar and highly refined carbohydrates are in agreement with many others - don't eat them except in very small quantities. There is a quiz to determine your Ayurvedic type - Vata, Pitta or Kapha, with specific recommendations for each type from food to exercise.