Diet Library

I have developed quite the diet/healthy lifestyle library over the last several years.

My little library currently includes:



Bob Green The Best Life Diet

You! The owners manual

You! on a Diet

Superfood Rx: 14 Foods that will save your life

Beck Diet Solution

South Beach Diet

South Beach Diet Cookbook

Omega Diet

Ultimate Fitness

Secrets of a Former Fat Girl

My 2 cent reviews
South Beach Diet/South Beach Diet Cookbook (purchased spring 2003)
This jump started my healthy eating lifestyle. I feel like I learned a lot about how my body processes foods. I lost and kept off about 15 lbs while exercising and following South Beach. I went from about 183 to 165. I was slowly gaining the weight back, then I got pregnant. Post pregnancy I haven't been able to drop back down to my pre-preg. weight (172), just about 5 lbs shy of that goal. But just before I got pregnancy I was 7 lbs higher than my lowest post South Beach weight (165). My ultimate goal weight is 140 to 145, so I have a way to go.

Omega Diet (purchased summer 2003) I found this book to be very informative and had some great recipes. They have a wonderful healthy granola recipe. I would eat 1/4 cup with some yogurt and it would keep my satisfied until lunch. I came across this book when my father in law was having heart surgery. The hospital was advertising this book. I thought that if a book a hospital advertising it, it must be healthy. It taught me a lot about the benefits of canola oil and eating whole grains, veggies and fruits. It also helped explain why when we eat meat from grain fed cows we are just getting more Omega 6's but if we buy grass fed beef we get more of the good Omega 3's. There was so much good stuff in this book for me.


Superfood Rx: 14 foods that will save your life (purchased sometime in 2004) I think I heard about this book on Oprah, as you can tell I did with many of my other selections. It was very insightful on the health benefits of eating certain foods. I learned how good for you blueberries, pumpkin, nuts, wheat germ and spinach can be for you. I have tried to incorporate more superfood into my diet ever since.

You! the Owners Manual (2005?) I have to confess, I don't remember too much about this one. I read most of it but I think it is more of a reference book for me now. If something is wrong with me I go to this book to see my body should be working. I do like to learn about how my body works and why it does the things it does.

You! on a Diet (2006?) I think I need to go back to this one more. I have tried to eliminate the bad ingredients this book mentions. Most notably high fructose corn syrup and enriched flour. Hubby and I threw out most of our pantry after reading about this stuff. We are label readers now. One thing this book suggests that I liked and need to follow more is repetition. Dr. Oz suggests eating the same breakfast and lunch everyday and then changing things up at dinner. I also liked that they focus on your waist measure and not just the scale. It was something else I could use to see if I'm at risk for certain chronic diseases. The part of the You! books I didn't like were their use of silly pop-culture references. In ten years those jokes will not make any sense.

Bob Green's the Best Life Diet (2007) I liked parts of this book, but didn't like the way it would always refer to his website and pay eating plan. It turned me off. I do believe that stopping eating 2 hour before bed time can make a big difference. I still try to follow this rule. I like the idea of being active by just taking more steps in a day. I bought a pedometer and wear it all the time now. It helps me gauge how active I have been on any given day. I've only hit 10,000 steps twice, but I do feel a sense of accomplishment when I hit over 6,500. A normal day at the office barely gets me 3,000.

Beck Diet Solution (April 2007) This one really helped me. It was like a breakthrough. Finally a book not about what to eat, but about how to change the way I think about eating. I really think that is the key for me. If it was as easy as just saying no then I would be a size 2. But why can't I seem to say no! that was my question.

Secrets of a Former Fat Girl (Summer 2007) SFF for short. SFF was very similar to Beck Diet Solution, but it was one girls personal journey. I could identify with what she had to go through to lose her weight. The changes she had to make forever in her life. She has been able to keep habits forever that I have tried to establish in myself. Her ideas parallel the Beck Diet Solution so I think these book compliment each other well.

I'm always looking to read more and learn more about healthy eating and living. If you have any book recommendation, please let me know.