Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review: “The Blue Zones” by Dan Buettner

10 Monday Feb 2014

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week92As long as I can remember, I love to travel. Getting on a plane and taking off is a pure rush for me as much as exploring a new destination and meeting fellow travelers and residents. This is greatly due in part to my father who was a world traveler. Traveling was his biggest passion and it mine as well.

Another love of mine is nutrition and I can get never enough of learning more about it. What are the latest news, trends, and change of thinking? Hottest diet? I read about it and perhaps dabbled. Controversy over a vitamin – too much or too little? I can weigh in. Calories over volume? Tried both. This side of me is hands down inherited from my mother who has studied and practiced good nutrition her entire lifetime. Her findings put into her eating ways have been to her great benefit and good fortune, as my mother will turn 90 years young this year.

Needless to say what a joy it was to find and read a book that combines both of these two passions of mine, travel and nutrition.

In Dan Buetter’s “The Blue Zones,” he globe hops around the world to explore the homelands and secrets of how to successfully live a long healthy life from centenarians – from what they eat, how they exercise, and ways to cope with stress – and then shares his findings with his readers.

A National Geographic explorer and researcher, Buetter is an award-winning author and writer who had a deep interest in demographics and longevity. How one can turn back the biological clock, or better yet, beat it? He wanted to learn this and know how people remained mentally and physically vibrant as they aged, how they lived longer and lived better. So he formed a team of physicians and demographers and began traveling to the “blue zones” of the word, regions with the longest life expectancy, disability-free life expectancy or concentration of persons over 100.

In his book, Buetter takes you Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; and the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rico where you’ll meet a 94-year-old farmer, a 102-year-old grandmother, a 102-year-old hiker and others who share their daily healthy and lifelong habits. By observing their lifestyles extensively, Buettner’s team of professionals identifies critical everyday choices. These choices are practical tips for living long and well and include a diet of plenty of fresh fresh, unchilled fresh water, lots of fresh vegetables, limited red meat, limited fats and sweets, and a commitment to hard farm work or exercising. This is all in addition to having a richly entwined family life and close group of friends as a support system.

Buetter’s book is an interesting read, one you will find yourself dog-earing page after page. It provides the essential components of a healthy lifestyle, reinforcing life choices and priorities you may already practice – eat less, exercise daily, banish stress, and make family a priority – and others you have not. He has shared his “Blue Zone” research and discoveries on national level as well, through the media, including with appearances on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, NBC Nightly News, Oprah Winfrey, and David Letterman plus delivering over 500 keynote speeches.

To learn of more of Buetter’s research and discoveries, pick up a hard or digital copy of “Blue Zone.” It’s a must read for all those who are health conscious and want to discover new ways from the old and wise as to stay young and healthier as well as live life longer.

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana

Book Review: “The Fat Flush Plan” by Ann Louise Gittleman

04 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by in Book Review, Diet, Health and Wellness, Metabolism

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I love to read. Give me a good book and I will be lost in it until I finish reading it. Then for days afterward, I may relish in the storyline if it’s fiction, reflect on what I have gained if it’s non-fiction.

There are different types of books I tend to read. I have well over 200 cookbooks, dozens of fitness and health books, business reads, self-help books, travel guides, pictorial coffee-table books, my children’s storybooks, and a ton of literature. All of Tess Gerritsen’s works. Numerous Danielle Steele, Mary Higgins Clark and John Grisham novels. J. K. Rowling, V. C. Andrews and E. L. James. I can’t leave out Nicholas Sparks, Dan Brown and James Patterson. And one of my very first authors I adored, Agatha Christie. All stored in my floor-to-ceiling bookcase that graces one complete wall in my family room and categorized by genre.

One of my favorite healthy eating books is the international best-seller “The Fat Flush Plan” by Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D., C.N.S. I remember distinctly one I first learned of this author, American nutritionist and detox proponent who is named one of the top 10 nutritionists by Self Magazine and author of over 30 books. I was coming home from skiing in Mont Tremblant, Canada and chatting away with a fellow skier, Sue Simms. She was sharing with the wonderful results she had while on diet of the “The Fat Flush Plan.” Since I am the forever learner who is always tinkering around with my diet to find out what works best with me, I was eager to pick up this book and give it a read.

Eat healthy foods, cleanse your liver and lose weight was the underlining message of Gittleman’s book which has sold millions of copies and is on the The New Times’ bestseller list. Not that I want to lose weight, but I am always interested in learning ways to eat even healthier and was interested in “revolutionary diet” claims that eating a certain way will also reduce and/or eliminate cellulite. Not that I have much, but what little I do have I wish was gone! So I thought I’d put the words of this book into action and try the tips that supposed helps to melt fat from hips, waist, and thighs in only two weeks plus will help to reshape your body while detoxifying.

The book starts out discussing the basics of what are the five hidden weight gain factors that prevent weight loss followed by an overview of actual plan itself which has the goal of increasing your metabolism with nutritional supplements, flushing out bloat and speeding up fat loss while also helping you to kick the caffeine habit if you have one. The diet is based on the belief that essential fats are absolutely necessary for rapid weight loss, longevity and good health. The diet relies on a unique combination of 40% healthy essential fats, 30% balanced proteins, and 30% low-glycemic carbohydrates from fat flushing fruits and vegetables to provide the weight loss results you want. The Plan also heavily relies on its liver cleansers – cranwater, “Long Life Cocktails” to start and end your days, hot cups of water and lemon juice plus an array of fat burning, water regulating, and insulin controlling herbs and spices.

Next, the three phases of The Plan are shared. Phase One includes a two week, “cleaning out,” fat flush strategy, requiring the elimination of wheat, dairy and sugar and a diet of only 1,100 to 1,200 calorie per day. This stage is the jumpstart to your weight loss. And surprising whatever fat you do have starts to melt away and bloating disappears. You can stay on this phase of the program for longer if you have more fat to lose.

Phase Two is for people with more weight to lose and allows the person to have a variety of food choices a more diverse diet which even includes carbs. Daily intake is now 1,200 to 1,500 calories. You can stay on this stage until you hit your desired weight. The book also includes meal plans and recipes and tips for eating out.

The “Lifestyle Eating Plan” is for to sustaining and maintaining your desired weight is discussed in Phase Three. This is the maintenance stage of The Fat Flush Plan and allows you to eat 1,500 or more calories per day. Certain carbs, grains and dairy products are now allowed.

Does this detox diet plan work? For me, yes. I personally dropped 14 pounds following this plan, an amount too much for my body build so I gained back five. And what little cellulite I had diminished. To this day, the “Lifestyle Eating Plan” is the basis of my diet. I still drink the cranwater and have added the Fat Flush Plan smoothies. I eat very little carbs and never any white ones. I incorporate lots of fresh vegetables and fruits plus nuts and daily servings of fish or poultry. And flaxseed is now part of my daily diet.

“The Fat Flush Plan” is as groundbreaking as it claims. By going on The Plan and committing yourself to its guidelines, you will submit yourself to one of the most complete processes of weight loss and detox you’ll ever experience. There are also several subsequent books by Gittleman, including: “Fat Flush for Life,” “The Fast Track Detox Diet,” “The Flat Flush Cookbook” and “The Fat Flush Foods” among others.

Gittleman’s “The Fat Flush Plan” is worth the read. And if you up to the challenge, go for the diet!

Be Fit. Be Strong. Be Well.
Adriana