You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management

You On A Diet The Owner's Manual for Waist Management by Mehmet C. Oz (based on 701 customer reviews)

(Hardcover)
Edition: 1
Author: Mehmet C. Oz
Publisher: Free Press

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Most useful review as voted by customers:
286 out of 310 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/2/06

Impressive, well researched and highly recommended

I was waiting for this book for a very long time and was keeping an eye on everything related to it. I am pleased with the depth, scope, wit and overall value of this book. It takes you on a journey through all those important organs, substances and processes in the body that eventually make or break successful weight loss. I am glad that although the book is written in a light and entertaining style, it is serious, detailed, well researched and effective. After all, these are the most important things in a weight loss program. If you are a man and must slim down in the fastest and easiest way, I strongly advise you to pair it with the simple, individualized, yet stunning "your scientific diet for men". I agree that you: on a diet is more than just a diet and this makes it even more valuable and recommended read. The two doctors are well known and trusted experts and this is reflected in the book. I liked the questionnaires, busted myths and witty things that make the book hard to put down from start to finish. I think that the 2 week long reboot program is ok in terms of difficulty and needed time and I hope to direct my body in even more positive direction. Overall, I am very satisfied with the result from the obviously long, hard and dedicated work of two big names nowadays and it is one of the few books that I highly recommend.

235 out of 243 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 2/5/08

Food, water, sex, sleep

Food, water, sex, sleep - this is what we need to live happy, long and healthy life - at least according to the authors of this book. Provided, of course that we do not overindulge in any of this. Too much food is as bad as too much sex or too much sleep. Or even worse. Obesity is a big problem in America. In fact it should be treated as an illness. In extreme cases a surgery is necessary. In milder cases a change of lifestyle brings about very good results. According to the authors we should avoid all and any products containing hydrogenated oils, sugar, and bleached flower. At the same time we should make sure to intake Omega-3 fatty acids. In effect this means no packaged, pre-finished meals on our table. They should be replaced with fresh foods that we prepare in our own kitchen. The books clearly names all ingredients that we need to avoid and the nutrients that we need to have. In addition we need to exercise and sweat (walk, cardio and strength workout, stretching, etc). It sounds all so simple, yet it is needed to be said once again, and these two doctors have a great way of doing that.

I am well aware of the obesity problem as I have a friend who used to weigh almost 300 pounds. His motivation to lose weight resulted from a simple question asked by his doctor: "What are you planning to do with your short life?" His doctor made it very clear to him that with his obesity problem there were not many days left in his life. Was that a good motivation? He decided to shed 100 pound. After 9 months he lost 68 pounds so far, and I see that he will definitely achieve his goal by the year end. He changed his life around. New lifestyle? Definitely, although he calls is "New Life Standards". He goes to the gym each day, swims 3 times a week, I am not sure what he eats, but he strictly follows advice he found in another book titled "Can We Live 150". He is 67 now and just started diving lessons that he takes in addition to his swimming at the pool. He plans to live at least another 67 years, and I wonder what else is possible...

218 out of 245 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 3/18/07

A WONDERFUL book - Highly Readable, Informative & Entertaining TOO - What, you want more?

Let's face it. If you are reading a book like this, then in your world you have an issue with weight control. If this is true, and has been true a while, than this is probably not a sudden issue. It is one that has been ongoing for years, perhaps decades. YOU NEED HELP, and this book is going to give it to you, but help is not just a list of do's and don't. Each of us probably already probably knows what the do's and don't are. Some of us may know them better than the doctors who wrote this book. You'll like this book for the following reasons.

1) It's COMPARTMENTALIZED into FOUR main parts
The first part deals is "What a Waist"- It deals with how your body should be working smarter, not harder. There is one sentence that tells you the tone of this book, "No matter how hard you try not to eat, some hidden force deep inside is always prying your mouth back open, making it impossible for willpower to win." What this is telling you is that the authors, Drs. Roizen and Oz are sympathetic to those that suffer from this malady, and don't kid yourself, it is an addiction.

2) Part II - The Biology of Fat
This section includes the "Science of Appetite", "How food travels through your body", "Inflammation", and "How you can burn fat faster", among others. I was particularly impressed with the author's understanding of fat. Very few writers on dieting understand that fat itself takes on a life of its own. Fat is, as the scientists like to point out, metabolically active. What this means is that it does not just exist as an extra 20, or 30 pounds on your belly. It becomes totally involved with all your life processes, and biology. It changes everything that goes on in your body, and you need to know this.

3) Part III - deals with the Science of the Mind
You will learn about the connection between your feelings and your food, as well as what the doctors refer to as the "Psychology of Failed Fat". You might be aware that there are good fats, and bad fats. Not everything is black and white.

4) Part IV - is the "Oz-Roizen version of a diet combined with an ACTIVITY plan. I have highlighted activity because in the end the difference between taking it off, and keeping it on involves your activity levels. I liked the use of the word activity as opposed to exercise because, as human beings we are programmed via evolution for activity. We are not programmed for exercise and therein lay a world of difference.

You are aware, there are literally hundreds and perhaps several thousand books on dieting on the market today. Every year, a new guru comes along with a different slant on an old topic, and winds up making a fortune for himself, or herself, and causes the rest of us to yo-yo 20, or more pounds, before we move on to the next guru.

It is my belief after covering this book from cover to cover that you just might be able to KEEP IT OFF THIS TIME. These two doctors are not experts on this topic. They do however have great expertise in this topic and there is a difference. Dr. Oz is a nationally prominent heart surgeon, while Dr. Roizen is Professor of anesthesiology and internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. There is no way that either of these two men could be experts in dieting, the way others are who spent their lives in the field.

This is not meant to bring discredit to them. We must acknowledge that the so-called true experts in the field have FAILED to prevent a SURGE in obesity levels in the United States over the last four decades. This obesity epidemic happened at the same time, and in spite of the fact that we developed tens of thousands of pages of research reports giving us a 100 times the information we previously had on dieting, weight, nutrition, and so forth. The problem we all face persists in spite of all our efforts to lessen, or eliminate it.

You could argue that in the final analysis, we are ON OUR OWN, when it comes to trying to attain the IDEAL LOOK, and proper WEIGHT for our bodies. Reading this highly encouraging, informative, and SYMPATHETIC book by two wonderful doctors is a fabulous way for you to start your own education, and lifetime battle against obesity. This disease robs us of our health, outlook, self-esteem, and perhaps just the desire to feel good about ourselves. Good luck and I know that with work, and desire, you can attain your goals. They are within your reach. Just keep trying, one more thing, never, ever give in.

Richard Stoyeck

125 out of 143 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/20/06

Elite humor and science. More educational than practical.

Loading a book with humorous caricatures, myths, and factoids is a risky undertaking, when readers expect doctors to remain "formal". But, the authors have opted to present hard science in simple artistic format and succeeded in rendering it palatable, at least for the segment of readers interested in the mechanics of disease. The gamble with caricatures added a legendary aura to the book that will endure for future generations.

The main contribution in the book, beside its educational style, is emphasizing the "waist size" as a reliable index for healthy living. The authors advanced their argument through physiological reasoning. They focused on the omental and skin fats and intestinal infection and inflammation in relation to waist size. Thus, the smaller is the waist size, the lesser the inflammation and the depot of fat that hinders health.

The book falls into an introduction, 12 chapters, and three appendices that could be summarized as follows.

Introduction: "You: On a Diet. Work Smarter, Not Harder" introduces the reader to the main idea of the book. That is management of waist size through understanding the biology of eating. It tests the reader's common knowledge through a multiple choice test that targets the various aspects of the history and science of eating

Chapter 1:" The Ideal Body: What Your body Is supposed to Look Like" discusses the interplay of genetics and environment in shaping our physique.

Chapter 2: "Can't Get No satisfaction: the Science of Appetite" describes the rule of the central nervous system in controlling satiety through hormonal feedback from the stomach, intestine, and fat. It simplifies matters through two hormones: Leptin for satisfaction and Ghrelin for hunger.

Chapter 3: "Eater's Digest: How Food travels through Your Body" describes, in an educational style, the journey of food from mouth, tongue, stomach, intestine, colon, to liver, heart, muscles. Its humorous caricatures make it invaluable and entertaining.

Chapter 4: "Gut Check: The Dangerous Battles of Inflammation in Your Belly" describes the first battle of digestion between the body and food intake within the intestine. The outcome of digestion affects the liver, skin, and general health. Its main hostile participants are inflammation and infection. Omental, skin, and liver fat replete from the ingested food. It considers the intestine as the second brain by virtue of its millions of neurons and 95% of whole body serotonin.

Chapter 5: "Taking a fat Chance: How Fat Ruins Your Health" dwells on the omentum fat, described in chapter 4, and extends its effects to arterial narrowing and mechanical hindrance of breathing and mobility. Arterial narrowing deprives the whole body of its health causing cancer, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Omental fat is claimed to be more ominous than subcutaneous fat because the omentum lies on the solid vital organs while the subcutaneous fat is peripheral and remote.

Chapter 6: "Metabolic Motors: Your Body's Hormonal fat Burners" describes how metabolism is managed by hormonal signals from the adrenals, thyroids, and gonads.

Chapter 7: "Make the Move: How You Can Burn Fat Faster" discusses the effect of exercise, weight lifting (strength) and aerobics (stamina) on developing the energy management system by: increasing metabolism, burn energy, release endorphins (pleasure stimulants), and unclog blood vessels.

Chapter 8: "The Chemistry of Emotions: The Connection between Feelings and Food" discusses the relationship between behavior and neurotransmitters: norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, gamma aminobutyric acid, and nitric oxide. It thus relates eating to emotions such as anger, depression, anxiety, stress, jealousy, and loneliness.

Chapter 9: "Shame on Who? The Psychology of failed Diet" deals with the thought process of dieting versus the action process. It describes three areas of personality tests: eating pattern, exercise pattern, and coping pattern.

Chapter 10: "Make a You-Turn" describes strategies for accomplishing healthy body through eating, exercising, and coping with failure and recovery. It makes the waist size its critical index for success. Here where academic reasoning addresses the universal suffering from distended bellies in contemporary subjects.

Chapter 11: "The You activity Plan: Physical Strategies for Waist Management" is where the authors default. They suggest three-20-minute sessions per week of strengthening and stretching exercises. Those range from shoulder rolling, crossing, clapping, forward bend, push up, yoga poses, crunches, to dumbbell squats, lunges, and rowing. Here, the reader senses the detachment of academics from real advancement in workout experience.

Chapter 12: "The You Diet; The Waist-Management Eating Plan" recommends three meals plus snacks daily and dessert every other day. It prohibits sugars, simple carbohydrates, fructose, trans fat, saturated fat, and flour. It also has extensive menu and advices on how to choose among fast food if you have to. The forty pages of menu is a total waste, as people do not trust medical books in preparing their meals (personal opinion).

The three appendices deal with drugs, plastic surgery, and digestive surgery for overweight people.

The major drawback in the book is the exercise recommendation and meals menu. Those show the aloofness of the authors from modern America. The web is rich in better ideas on exercise and nutrition that work and get results. The book should have limited its scope to what the authors know best: applied physiology.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

102 out of 124 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/13/06

Yo-Yo Dieters Dream!

I have done many diets over the years, even losing 45 lbs. with Weight Watchers and becoming very close to my goal weight. Now I find myself larger than ever. I know what food is bad for me, but somehow I keep gaining weight, losing weight, and repeating. I know I am not alone. Thin people will never understand it is not really about a lack of willpower. This is because you aren't really eating "normally" on most diets. Your body confuses a diet with a time of famine and is trying to keep you alive. Your body doesn't know that you can afford to lose the weight, and that the "famine" is self-imposed. It explains the role that chronic low-grade stress (work, relationships, etc.) plays on weight gain.

The book explains how to eat well for your body so that you are satisfied, not hungry, and in a way that your body knows it is OK to shed pounds. Your goal is to remain satisfied or pleasantly full throughout the day. The other part of the book that resonated with me is that variety is what is killing us. The authors suggest that you automate your breakfast and lunch, eating the same thing or from a small group of things every day. This takes the guesswork out of things. Then you should eat a handful of nuts before dinner, so that you do not overeat. It also explains the effect that "bad foods" have on your hormones and brain chemistry vs. the effect that "good foods" have - other than just the extra calories that you are intaking. This was most interesting, and what sets it apart from other diet books or plans.

The difference between the You Diet and any other that I have tried is that there was no 2-3 day period of feeling terrible or having to adjust. Just a clean-out of highly processed foods from our kitchen and a trip to Trader Joes for some healthy foods and lots of label reading. Now I just feel better and better the longer I do it. It is amazing how tasty whole grain foods can be and how much more they fill you up than processed carbohydrates. My husband is even enjoying the foods I am making!

I know many people will say how common sense this is. With the obesity epidemic in this country, obviously eating right AND being satisfied is not common sense to the majority of Americans. I think this book taught me that you can (and should) eat well AND be satisfied without calorie counting, food scales, points, or zones! I am very optimistic that this program is exactly what I need to reach my weight goals and be healthy for life.

100 out of 117 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 12/28/06

Intelligent and Charming

I must first warn you that every second or third sentence in this book is a joke or pun. While I personally find this book to be highly amusing and entertaining, others may find the dosage of humor to be excessive. The negative reviews here are essentially, I believe, a result of personality clash. Not everyone can appreciate humorous reading, let alone interwoven with profoundly intricate (and serious) information about how the body works. I find the mixing of the two elements an unusual presentation. I think it works...IF you have a good sense of humor. The illustrations mirror the spirit of the text. They are as detailed as they are amusing.

Missing out on reading this book would be unfortunate. I must reiterate that the insight this book offers on how the human body works (relative to weight) is to an extent of detail that I (and probably you) have never read anywhere else. You'll learn from a cellular chemical reaction level WHY you shouldn't eat that jelly doughnut. I greatly admire that psychological and even spiritual issues are gently presented, as well.

No boot camp mentality here. The authors are not above the use of pharmaceuticals or weight-loss surgery for someone to reach their goal. Even cosmetic surgery for after the weight is gone is discussed. They don't seem to hold any illusions.

Yes, I read the deodorant theory. I don't have an intimate companion, either. Don't sweat the things that don't necessarily apply to you. What does and will apply to you can be IMMENSELY useful! The plan is not difficult to implement. Even if you use an eating plan other than the one presented in the book, read the book anyway. There's some really good information on what affects a person's weight, and you can use that information to your benefit.

91 out of 105 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/15/06

Can You Make Dieting Fun?

If anyone can, these two doctors do.

This book contains a lot of the same information you get with other healthy eating books, and more. The "more" includes reasons why your body acts the way it does, diagrams to show you what's going on inside, and extra helps for sticking to the healthy diet presented in the book, all written in a pretty entertaining fashion (though it can get a little wordy sometimes). And the diagrams remind me of "Mad" magazine cartoons, which add to the non-threatening, you- can- do -this attitude of the book.

There are recipes included that actually taste pretty good, and there is an exercise plan included that doesn't require any extra weights or equipment, just your own body. The exercise plan begins with walking 30 minutes a day. Then, the authors add on to that a small amount of exercises to do the rest of the week. It doesn't require life changing committments, just some adjustments.

The best part of this book, for me, is that after reading it, I feel very kindly towards my hard working body. I want to take care of it, sort of like a friend. That may be the best incentive I've ever had to eat healthfully and exercise. Instead of being angry with my growing waist, I'm feeling a little protective of it. Any book that can encourage those feelings deserves 5 stars.

77 out of 101 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/3/06

The best information on a customized approach to dieting.

There is a new epidemic spanning the globe. It's been silently growing over the last few years -- only now is it reaching dramatic proportions. If current trends continue, more than one quarter of adults will have this disease by the year 2010. This new epidemic is obesity. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz have recently made significant discoveries, which can help in treating obesity. What should we do to keep off the pounds? One thing is certain. Willpower alone won't stop the epidemic of obesity; however, new research suggests there may be an easier way to fight the flab than joining the gym. In the follow-up to their best-selling You: The Owner's Manual, Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz draw on current research trends in stressing healthy dietary and exercise choices that can lead to sustained loss of dangerous abdominal fat. In Part 1, you'll encounter a quiz and personalized body ideal parameters, then overviews of relevant organs:
* The intestines.
* Chemical messengers, hormones.
* Organ/chemical interrelations.
The book's second, more approachable half translates the above material into pragmatic guidelines for specific exercise and eating plans and contains sound advice on personal dieting-aid decisions:
* Weight control drugs, surgery.
* A glossary for complex terminology.
* A resource list for cataloging "others":
--diet plans.
--professional/medical organizations.
--informative web sites.
You: On a Diet: The Owners Manual for Waist Management dispels many of the myths found in so many other health guides. Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehmet Oz have compiled a fascinating, informative read which the reader will find useful for its unique biomedical basis and adaptability to any lifelong plan.

75 out of 95 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/1/06

Excellent Book

Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz are highly accomplished physicians and do not seem to have a profit motive. Individuals keep buying their books because of their accessibility. Everyone knows why individuals gain weight - you eat more calories than you expend, with the exception of thyroid diseases. This book is a well-informed plan that will teach individuals how to live, what to do when you go "off" (which the authors acknowledge as an inevitable human action) as well as explains how your digestive system works both physicall and emotionally. The "YOU" Books should be required reading...

15 out of 16 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/15/07

To really understand what goes on with your body and food...

While at the library the other day, I happened upon the book You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management by Michael F Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. The title looked intriguing, and I know this book has been a best-seller. After reading it, I can see why. It's a common sense approach to dieting and exercise, and explains what's really going on in the body when it comes to food.

Contents:
Part 1 - What a Waist!: Introduction - You - On a Diet; The Ideal Body
Part 2 - The Biology of Fat: Can't Get No Satisfaction; Eater's Digest; Gut Check; Taking a Fat Chance; Metabolic Motors; Make the Move
Part 3 - The Science of the Mind: The Chemistry of Emotions; Shame on Who?
Part 4 - The YOU Diet and Activity Plan: Make a YOU-Turn; The YOU Activity Plan; The YOU Diet
Appendices - The Medical Options: This is Your Fat on Drugs; Skinny Skin Skin; The Extreme Team
Acknowledgements; Index

The first thing to note here is that this book isn't into fads or strange eating combinations or controversial health practices. The dieting and activity information is pretty basic, and is based on eating foods that won't throw your body into chemical and hormonal overload. In fact, I'd venture to guess that most of what they have to say will be stuff that you've heard before. What makes it different this time around is that the doctors go into detail about how your body functions with the food you take in. And it's probably the most understandable text I've ever seen on biology...

They don't shy away from explaining things like NF-kappa B and norepinephrine. But surprisingly, it's all understandable. They converse with you in plain words, supplemented by plenty of cartoon illustrations that put chemical and bodily functions into relatable images. And while you may not *need* to know what serotonin does to your body when it comes to fat, it sure helps when you wonder why your anti-depressant medication is making your weight loss efforts more difficult. I also appreciated the fact that they realize that no one will be 100% successful with each and every choice they make. The recommendation is to acknowledge the slip, get back on track with the next choice, and don't beat yourself up over it.

If someone were to ask me who this would appeal to most, I'd say it would be the person who wants to be more fit, while understanding how the body really works. Even the most complex topics are entertaining, and you'll finally know the "what" behind the "why". I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone on a diet, as well as anyone looking to improve their nutrition...

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