Admittedly when I read the introduction to THE SEVEN SECRETS OF SLIM PEOPLE and found out that the authors did not have the same type of weight problem which many Americans have but rather were 'survivors' of eating disorders, I was less than impressed.
But as I read on further, I got more and more delighted with the book.
Hansen and Goodman have obviously done their homework well.
For example, the book details the devastation diets do to the body
(all statements are well documented from medical or scientific studies):
A few pages later, the authors state that one man, Bob Schwartz, realized that putting people on a diet was the most effective way to cause TOO THIN people to GAIN WEIGHT!"A diet creates an artificial famine...since you are feeding it less calories, it compensates by lowering your metabolism as much as 40 percent." "You may have normally burned 2000 calories a day. If you only allow yourself 1200 calories a day for a while, your body will start reducing the number of calories it burns to keep you alive.... If you go back to 2000 calories a day you used to eat, 800 will be stored as fat until your body adjusts to the fact that there is now more food and raises your metabolism back up...THIS ADJUSTMENT MAY TAKE UP TO A YEAR AFTER ONLY ONE DIET" (the emphasis is that of the author's by the way).
In another place, the authors point out that the current weight goal for women to look like super models is very unreasonable.
"There is only 1 in 40,000 women who has the capability of being a super model", the book states.
I would like to add that 39,999 of the 40,000 think they are that one.
Diets are a SCAM, Hansen and Goodman tell us:
SEVEN SECRETS is well organized and easy to read. It provides real life solutions to normalizing one's eating habits and building up metabolism. (The constant dieting many women do, demolishes the metabolism, the authors state, and it can take up to 14 months to restore it.)What a fabulous SCAM. Diets don't work for anyone long term, but the system of dieting itself never gets blamed. You take the blame because 'it worked when I stuck to it'. Would you take your car to the same mechanic to have your transmission repaired, if every 30 days it broke down again and he BLAMED YOU? You aren't that gullible. But with diets you are!
The book offers several good stategies for dealing with the problem
of gaining weight. The authors maintain that you can eat anything you want
but suggest six small meals a day and no more than a fistsize of food at
each meal. Not denying yourself a food you really want to eat and stopping
the endless dieting will cause the individual to stop binge-ing, the book
states. I have basically found this to be true in my experience also.
Some of the suggestions in the book might not work for all people. For example, the authors suggest learning to stop eating when you are no longer hungry. However, I've discovered that there are certain types of food which taste so delicious, I tend to eat for fun rather than for hunger. So, in my program, I've found that limiting or cutting out those types of foods really helps me to stay on track.
Another drawback to the book may be the underemphasis on the importance of exercise, both for health and weight control. The authors suggest at least 12 minutes of exercise daily which is not enough to get a person up to target heart rate and fat burning zone. Most experts suggest 40 minutes of aerobic exercise, 5 to 6 times a week.
However, there is so much good information contained in this book, I
would highly recommend it as benefiting anyone who reads it.
