Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories [Hardcover]

Robert A. Barnett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 1999

Diet and nutrition expert Dr. Barbara Rolls and award-winning journalist Robert A. Barnett deliver a scientifically based plan that gives everyone what they've always wanted: a way to lose weight while still feeling satisfied. Emphasizing the difference between high-energy dense foods (including pretzels and other low-fat snack foods that are easy to overeat) and low-energy dense foods (like fruits and vegetables, soups and smoothies, which have a higher water content), Rolls and Barnett show readers how to increase food volume without adding calories. This is the core concept in a book that offers a systematic new approach to weight control based on the science of satiety, the study of hunger, and its satisfaction. Effective and easy, here, at last, is a real lifetime approach to eating healthy fully!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Do you overeat because you don't feel satisfied or full? Volumetrics is based on "the science of satiety"--what researchers have learned about the food choices that make people feel full. The authors teach you how to eat low-calorie-dense, high-volume foods so that you feel like you've eaten plenty, even though you've eaten fewer calories. You'll lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived.

Here's an example of how volume affects eating. Raisins are dried grapes. But 100 calories of raisins fill only one-quarter cup, while 100 calories of fresh, whole grapes fill one and two-thirds cups. You'll feel satisfied after one and two-thirds cups of grapes, but if you're eating raisins, you're likely to keep filling your mouth. The point is not to stop eating raisins (or chocolate, cheese, or other high-calorie, low-volume foods), but to realize that you're likely to take in many more calories before your body tells you you're full. If you're trying to manage your weight, eating more low-density foods (lower-calorie foods that have a lot of volume) will make you feel full while you drop pounds.

Barbara Rolls, a respected and well-published food-nutrition researcher at Pennsylvania State University, and food writer Robert Barnett explain energy density and how to use this concept to lose weight. They include the scientific evidence about how low-density (low-calorie, high-volume) foods make you feel satisfied, the best (and worst) foods for a satisfying, lower-calorie diet, a menu plan, an exercise plan, and environmental influences on eating. You also learn which foods are easiest to overeat. This is not a fad diet--it is logical and scientifically based, yet easy to understand and put into action. --Joan Price

Review

VOLUMETRICS... is such a refreshing entry into the crowded weight-loss market. It’s honest-- and honestly motivating...This book treats its readers respectfully, never promising more than it can deliver-- but delivering plenty nonetheless. (Lawrence Lindner, The Washington Post )

“Refreshing. . . .Honest--and honestly motivating.” (Washington Post )

Most Effective Diet of 2011 (The Daily Beast )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (December 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060194839
• ISBN-13: 978-0060194833
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

210 of 212 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Volumetrics Offers the Right Advice, June 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories (Hardcover)

"Volumetrics" is the best weight management book available today. This is the book anybody interested in weight management should read. It is a refreshingly honest approach that refutes a lot of the diet hype books on the market today. The book offers practical advice on how to control your hunger, as well as recipes. It doesn't offer the phony promises of "burn away fat while eating lard" that so many of the blockbuster diets on the market offer. Instead, it delivers a pound-shedding plan to lose excess weight without feeling hungry that is based on years of science research. The general premise is built around research that indicates that people eat the same WEIGHT of food everyday, regardless of the number of calories that it contains. Lower the calorie content, but not the food's weight and you will lose excess pounds without going hungry. It is a very easy book to read and includes recipes for meals, and is easier to follow than other energy density-base books such as the Pritikin Principle. It also appears more thorough and honest than Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss. The book's only weakness is its lack of color photographs and illustrations, which is unfortunate because that will probably hurt sales.

112 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book that provides a real approach to weight mgmt., February 6, 2000

By 

Marc Liebeskind (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories (Hardcover)

This book gave a lot of valuable information in a relatively succinct manner. Understanding this simple theory, and with plenty of examples, food choices, and menu items, following the book made it easy to adjust my food choices to feel full on less calories, and provides an easy approach to managing weight.

The authors also debunk the 40-30-30 method of eating which is very popular right now, and without mentioning him by name, Barry Sears "Zone" approach.

The only real criticism, which does not detract from the subject matter, is the layout of the book. Too many "sidebar" type inserts are included which made it impossible to read the book in a flowing manner. Additionally, much of that information would have been better included in an appendix. You also have to look for the information in more than one place, when a more thoughtful approach would have included that information in one table. For example, dietary fiber content, which is important, is contained in one table, while the number of calories and energy density (the main focus of the book) are in another. This information could have and should have been combined in one table, which would have made the book a much better resource.

If you have food allergies, or sensitivites, or are required to make restrictions for other reasons, you are on your own as to what foods to eliminate from the authors' recommendations. That is something outside the scope of this book.

82 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Evidence-based AND delicious, January 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Volumetrics: Feel Full on Fewer Calories (Hardcover)

I found this book to be a sensible way to approach eating- for life, not just dieting. It contains a wealth of practical advice that is supported by solid research evidence. The meal plans and recipes are varied, not overly burdensome, and the ones I tried were delicious.