| On the left is one small, fat-free, no-sugar-added muffin. On the right is a cornucopia of food--several pounds of fruit and a pair of whole-wheat rolls. The calorie counts are identical: 720. There sits Dr. Howard Shapiro's point: dieters imagine that they're saving calories by eating the "virtuous" snack on the left, whereas in reality they're depriving themselves of the mountain of food on the right. Dr. Shapiro believes that there are no bad foods, no right or wrong reasons to eat, no perfect number of meals in any given day. He doesn't believe in telling clients at his weight-loss clinic in Manhattan when they can or can't eat. Some of them are celebrities and corporate executives with such busy lives that mealtimes are often unpredictable. So Dr. Shapiro reassures them that a calorie is a calorie, whether you eat it before or after 9 p.m. He helps them lose weight by showing them different foods, set side by side, and how the seemingly healthier choice might actually be equal to or greater in calories than a bunch of foods that would seem to be off-limits to someone trying to lose weight. In Picture Perfect Weight Loss, he uses photos of foods to demonstrate these choices. Thus, a "healthy" carob bar is shown to be equal in calories to 10 scoops of Italian ices. A 10-ounce loaf of crusty bread is shown to be equal to a tiny dish of Chex Mix. Two ounces of reduced-fat cheese are shown to be equal in calories and fat grams to two ounces of salami. The photos pit all types of snacks and many meal choices against each other, and account for sugar, salt, and starch cravings. The text--easy to read even when discussing scientific principles that scientists don't fully understand yet--covers everything from exercise to nutrition labels to menus from some of the world's top restaurants, with the healthiest food choices highlighted. Regular dieters, though, might want to skip all that until they've read the appendix explaining why the most popular fad diets--from the Atkins diet to Suzanne Somers's--are unhealthy, overly restrictive, or just based on misunderstood science. That alone might be worth the price of Picture Perfect Weight Loss. --Lou Schuler |
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 Dr. Shapiro changed my life -- buy this book! |
| Review Date: March 24, 2000 |
| Reviewer: , |
| Five years ago, I walked into Dr. Shapiro's office with over 40 lbs. to lose and was literally at the end of my dieting rope. I had subjected myself to every diet from Optifast to Jenny Craig to Dr. Atkins to Richard Simmon's deal-a-meal and was successful at losing weight, but as soon as the diet was over, all the weight came back.... and then some. From the moment I walked into Dr. Shapiro's office, all the dieting rules that had been drilled into my head were thrown out the window. He and his team of nutritionists taught me that I was actually setting myself up for failure with diets that were based on deprivation and control. I learned that I was actually sabotaging myself with some of the dieting techniques I had been taught over the years. Almost every dieting counselor/coach/sadist that I went to forbid me to eat fat, sugar, and salt, so I was trained to eat only low-fat, low-sugar, low-salt (and low-taste) "diet" foods. Every morning, I choked down a waxy, low-fat muffin or a plain bagel, sometimes making it more palatable with a smidgeon of low-fat cream cheese because I thought I was being good. In my mind, I was a model dieter.... but yet, I GAINED weight. How could this be! And the frustration just led to more eating. The first and most poignant lesson I learned from Dr. Shapiro was that a bagel has the same calorie content as the three-egg deli breakfast I avoided like the plague. No wonder I wasn't losing weight! This book is full of simple strategies like this that help you to understand what you are eating and enable you to make better choices. There's no starvation, no weird or embarrassing dieting tactics and no suffering involved. Throughout the entire time I was losing weight, I ate most of my meals at restaurants, traveled extensively, and never felt like I was on a "diet". It took me a year to lose those 40 lbs and I've kept the weight off for four years. My Dad started seeing Dr. Shapiro 6 months ago and has lost 35 lbs. I am thankful to Dr. Shapiro and his staff for literally changing my life. Read this book and follow Dr. Shapiro's advice and it can work for you too! |
Well-written, well-illustrated, definitely worth your time/$
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| Review Date: April 18, 2000 |
| Reviewer: , Somewhere in New York, USA |
| Dr. Shapiro's book demonstrates very succinctly how to make some simple yet profound changes in your eating styles/food selection and how these choices will ultimately lead to maintained weight loss. The biggest factor working for him is the fact that this is not a "diet" -- i.e., replete with complicated and stringent eating rules and regulations -- he simply shows you that by increasing your consumption of fruits/vegetables and decreasing your consumption of other foods (not necessarily eliminating them however) you can eat a good deal of food (even interesting food) and still lose weight/maintain weight. The only thing I wish he had added to the book: 1. more info on better meat choices (i.e., lean chicken etc.) 2. ideas for people with seafood allergies (i.e., he includes many examples of low cal meals based on shrimp, scallop, clams, etc- - but if you're allergic to seafood this part can be somewhat disheartening). Overall, as I mentioned in the title of this review -- it's a well-written, well-illustrated book and it is worth a read. |
Immediate change
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| Review Date: April 3, 2000 |
| Reviewer: Harry T. White, Wisconsin |
| Dr. Shapiro's book turned me around overnight. I've never gone on a diet before -so I don't know how the others work. I was simply ignorant of how many calories were in different foods. I just ate what came before me, including junk foods at the convenience store. After ,looking at the sensible pictures (well done, by the way), I changed my eating routine immediately, with no regrets. I simply eat stuff that has less calories- without having to diet. Every now and then I have a "treat" if I feel like it. My pounds are lessening and I have done nothing but made the right choices. I feel great! Thanks Dr. Shapiro! |
It really works!
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| Review Date: June 8, 2000 |
| Reviewer: , |
| I was sceptical when I frist heard about the premise for this book, but I had read the reviews and figured it was worth trying. I'm always entertaining for business so I eat out at a lot. As a result 'traditional diets' are almost impossible for me to follow. Dr. Shapiro's book is not a diet plan, but rather an alternate way of looking at food and eating. He gives many examples of restaurant menus and what would be good choices to make. This is reinforced by the pictures. After looking at the pictures a few times I realized I was starting to make the better choices -- this was not a concious thing, either. Something about this book really clicked for me. I guess I needed to see and not just read or be told what I 'should' eat. After 3 weeks I have gone down one dress size. I would definately recommend this book to anyone who has tried everything out there. |
Finally a weight loss book that makes sense!
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| Review Date: April 22, 2000 |
| Reviewer: Todd J. Gray, San Francisco |
| I have purchased many weight loss books over the years. This is one of the few that I actually read and not just skimmed. It makes sense and is easy to follow. I lost 23 pounds using the Zone Plan a year and a half ago. All but 3 pounds are back. Ask yourself if you can envision being on a certain eating plan a year from now and if you cannot answer yes, don't bother with it because as soon as you go off of it, back comes the weight. This plan I think I can live with. I laugh when I listen to a co-worker lament about how she can't lose weight even though all she eats for breakfast are two bagels. I'll have to show her the bagel comparisons in the book! |
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