As for no foods being available without having to be cooked, I disagree. I have followed the guidelines, but modified the suggested meals to the foods I enjoy, just keeping in mind a good balance of protein, fat and carbs. If I go over by a few percentage points in one area or another on a given day, it's not a big deal. I do spend more time in the kitchen, but it's only because I'm not ordering from restaurant carry-out.

The program is working for me.


More than just a pep talk   March 2, 2002
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

Lean Bodies is one of the best "diet" books that I have read. It is no nonsense and to the point. The author basically has the following message: If you want to lose weight and lose it fast, eat only lean protein, complex carbs and vegies. No sugar, no fat, no white flour. You don't get "cheat days". You either eat right and lose weight, or you don't. The choice is yours, but the information in the book is so complete that you WANT to follow the 7 week plan simply because it makes sense.

This book is absent of pep talks, which I personally found refreshing. It is full of information on how you body processes different food to effectively burn fat. He is not pushing pricy GMC products (unlike his Body For Life cohort) and does not have any cheesy before and after pictures of people who have finished the program. I found this book appealing because it spoke to my intelligence. I want to eat this way because I understand how the food will work for me. Ultimately, my eating habits will change for good thanks to these logical explanations.


Why do these reviews sound like infomercial testimonials?   May 11, 2001
 23 out of 36 found this review helpful

Something is wrong here. This diet is neither easy to follow nor something a person can remain on for life. The first major problem is that the suppliments recommended (which make up a significant portion of the program) are 1. imossible to find and 2. disgusting to eat. For example, MCT oil (if you can even find it) is absolutely revolting and yet you're supposed to eat it up to 3 times a day.

The second major problem is the sheer amount of beans and hard to digest foods that you have to eat. Every day I was on this diet, I either had diarrhea or gas (to be blunt). The worst thing is that you are supposed to add more and more of this type of food over the weeks -but I could barely eat what was there in week one.

The third major problem is the over-reliance on meat. Over eating meat is not healthy for the body, and has been shown to raise homocystine levels in the blood - contributing to heart disease. Too much fish can lead to high blood levels of things like mercury and persticides. The diet has to be balanced. It can't be so heavy in animal protein. Vegetarians do live 7 years longer on average, after all.

Also, I do not find that I had more energy on this diet whatsoever. If anything, I was perpetually weak, hypoglycemic, moody, and unstable. I couldn't sleep at night because I was starving - even if I ate a dozen egg whites - I was still starving.

Further, you have to cook virtually everything. If you work very long hours or travel constantly, it's impossible to just eat lean protein 100% of the time. Unless you have no job or a live-in chef, it's not possible to constantly cook and clean 5 pots and pans per day.

Also, this diet takes away the enjoyment of food. I really like to cook and go out to restaurants, but I was reduced to preparing bad tasting, hard to eat meals. In restaurants, I came across as either anorexic or insane for saying "no oil, no sauce, only the chiken, no white bread" while everyone else at the table were eating like normal people.

In conclusion, I will say that I lost about 4 lbs and went from 20% to 18% body fat in about 3 weeks - but I was also working out 4 times a week (for the previous month and the month that I was on the diet) as opposed to 0 times for the previous year. I don't think the diet had too much to do with it.