The Structure House Weight Loss Plan: Achieve Your Ideal Weight Through a New Relationship with Food (Paperback)

by Gerard J. Musante (Author)
Key Phrases: unstructured eating, habit busters, exercise component, Structure House, Explore Lifestyle Change, Maintain the Structured Mind-set (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
According to author Musante, admitted food addict Oprah Winfrey has lots of company: millions of people in the U.S. don't realize that they eat not to satisfy hunger but to deal with loneliness, stress, boredom and feelings of inadequacy. Founder and director of the 30-year-old Structure House Center for Weight Control in Durham, N.C., Musante believes these emotional prompts are behind many bad eating habits and, therefore, a huge factor in the U.S. epidemic of obesity. Understanding one's relationship with food is key to Musante's approach, which emphasizes overall health and fitness, and he lays out a proactive plan to do just that, without sticking to a diet or worrying about weight: "Weight loss is important but...I'm talking about changing how you view yourself, your relationship with food, your choices about how to live your life." Musante offers common-sense strategies that have worked for thousands of Center-goers, such as identifying one's food triggers and developing coping methods for each. He also includes easy-to-follow menu plans and ways to stay on track while eating out or on vacation. Both more and less than a traditional diet, this plan proscribes a lifestyle overhaul that appeals to mind, body and spirit.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"The Structure House Weight Loss Plan is purposeful, thoughtful, and rich in useful content on every page. If you have weight to lose, health to gain, and your life to reclaim and reorient toward a better destiny, then you definitely can, and most certainly should, try this at home!" -- David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P.M., F.A.C.P., Yale University School of Medicine and medical contributor, ABC

"A life-changing program from the world-renowned weight loss center, The Structure House Weight Loss Plan provides thirty years of wisdom from a pioneer in the development of effective weight management strategies. Highly recommended. A no-nonsense approach that can help you take charge of your life once and for all." -- John Foreyt, Ph.D., Baylor College of Medicine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074328691X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743286916
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,852 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last THE sensible book on healthy eating is here., April 30, 2007

By	T. Talkowski "T. Talkowski, M.D." (California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Structure House Weight Loss Plan: Achieve Your Ideal Weight through a New Relationship with Food (Hardcover)

Finally, Dr. M. has put his program into a book. I've been to Structure House many times. The book not only conveys the Structure House program in detail, it also captures the experience of being there. This book provides a great review for participants after they leave and find themselves back in a toxic food environment again. It also provides new additional materials on motivation that I found very helpful. For those that have not yet invested the time and money to visit Structure House you should know that although it is easy and pleasant reading, it is not a quick fix, not a fad, not a diet. It is not a way to starve and dehydrate yourself, or to temporarily fool the bathroom scale. It is simply healthy eating, 3 meals a day, 365 days a year, and no snacks. There are no forbidden foods, just keep track of your calories and make better choices to reduce the fat calories in your daily routine. You plan all meals in advance. When unexpected schedule changes require you to think on your feet, you not only practice making good choices, but also keep records to go back, review, analyze and improve your decision making process. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles with body weight issues, or unhealthy eating habits.
T. Talkowski, M.D. California

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It's not "just like being there...", June 23, 2007

By	nancy in ri "take every opportunity for trans... (Barrington, Rhode Island, rhode island USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Structure House Weight Loss Plan: Achieve Your Ideal Weight through a New Relationship with Food (Hardcover)

I, too, have been to Structure House many times. I credit it with my sanity and with being able to keep off nearly 100 lbs., but find it hard to satisfactorily describe how it works to others so I was very pleased when the book was finally published. I must say it is a disappointment. It is too dry, too predictably menu-oriented, too concerned with the basics that any dieter knows. It fails to capture the real depth of wisdom that SH offers, glossing over the critical differences that make SH work. I had been to Duke Diet and Fitness program, also in Durham, many times before going to SH - Duke's program is a medical-model with an overlay of behavioral approaches. What SH offers is the same medical knowlege and benefits as an undercoating for the teaching of the behavioral and attitudinal skills that truly determine the success of anyone with food abuse problems. It is at SH where I finally learned that being harsh and judgemental about my 'failures' was a sure way of never keeping off the weight that I lost. This is the key element to the SH approach, but it is not treated as such in this book. Learning the SH approach to "unstructured eating" is what I credit for the success I now enjoy. This book does not give enough time or emphasis on what actually produces change. It certainly isn't the actual 'diet.' Too bad. Dr. M, write another one. Don't be afraid to be creative in your presentation, either --- SH is a kalidescope of 'news you can use,' and a book that takes a multidisciplinary approach, even in its structure, would better represent the impressive program you founded and sustain.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, all the material you need in one place!, May 31, 2007

By	John J. Pembroke (Park Ridge, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Structure House Weight Loss Plan: Achieve Your Ideal Weight through a New Relationship with Food (Hardcover)

Thank goodness that Dr. Musante has finally written this book! I have been to Structure House on 5 to 6 occasions since 1985, and I tell folks the key three factors that keep me coming back:

1. I understand that, generally, only 5% of the national population that diets is successful at maintaining the weight loss, and that no other program claims a "success rate" of more than 20-25%. At Structure House, 67% of the participants keep the weight off or continue to lose after they return home. They've got some answers no one else seems to have.

2. Everything that Structure House has taught me is well grounded in science, provable in a lab or in rigorous medical studies. When a participant finishes the program, (or thoroughly reads this book), he or she is armed with everything they need to be an expert on the issues affecting weight loss, and keeping weight off. I have shared the information I have learned at Structure House, which is also contained in this book, with my circle of friends and family, and all have confirmed that what I have learned is medically correct.

3. As a result, the classes at Structure House have taught me that I am and can be in control. Even though the problem of excess weight seems intractable at times, if I do what they say, I am doing everything I can to lose weight. It also gives me the courage, and knowledge, not to be swayed by my internal emotions, or those messages popularized in the media from time to time, i.e., the latest and greatest, that bombard one with what ultimately proves to be misinformation.

This book gives the reader what I have learned over the years at a cost of thousands of dollars, and is invaluable. Not only buy it, but take it to heart, and re-read it time and time again, until you master the information, implement it in your lifestyle, and you are successful in your weight loss goals. I know I will. And remember, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle that makes sense, without the necessity to be come an acolyte or "believer" in anything other than oneself.