[.ca] Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight loss: The Visual ... (ISBN 0446691313)

From Amazon.com:
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

What?:
800 calories for a low fat muffin? Ridiculous!

Neither fish nor fowl:
It's not quite the Atkins Diet, it's not quite the Zone Diet. I don't know quite what to think of it other than some of the pictures were pretty startling showing the calories in a cup of cashews compared with a bunch of pineapples and some such other items. But it didn't help me lose any weight. I will admit, however, that I'll stay away from cashews.

Helped me get on track:
I bought this book back in December 2002 to read when I was bummed about my weight. I found the examples enlightening and simple to understand. I was also pleased to read the stories of other folks with my problems. Since then I've lost 55 lbs. Bottom line - it didn't loose the 55 lbs for me (exercise in combination did) but it sure helped me get on the right path.

Great idea, not so great execution....:
First off, I think using pictures is a great idea. It is a fact that some people learn better from pictures than words. However.... With rare exceptions, there are no portion measurements, either by weight or volume. The pictures can be really deceptive--how large IS that bagel that has so many calories? What constitutes a "small" cantalope? and so on. I think the veggie pictures were "enlarged for detail" somewhat.... Also, few pictures have detailed ingredient lists. Potato salad can be made with three ingredients or 10 ingredients, definitely changing the calorie and fat content. Unless you make it yourself or have a nutritional brochure (rarely available at regular restaurants), how can you make an intelligent choice between options just using a picture? And ordering fresh fruit in a restaurant is dicey--often it is underripe or past its prime. Better off to buy fruit at the grocery or farmer's market and take it with you. There are NO recipes in this book. The restaurants he profiled menus on were all New York-based and looked to be very pricey. He also relies very heavily on low-fat items which contains lots of sweeteners, and promotes soy products while virtually ignoring all the other beans out there. And yes, white instant rice isn't so great, but what about brown rice? I found it contradictory that he would on one page say it didn't matter if you were genuinely hungry or not when eating, but his food journal page contains an entry for you to rate your hunger. This book is no substitute for reading food labels, getting a scale and a good set of measuring cups/spoons. The pictures alone will not do it, unless you decide to become a vegetarian, more or less, which is fine except that it conflicts with his assertion that you can eat anything you want. You need to practice a while with scale and measuring cups. Eyeballing amounts isn't going to work here, you have to be exact, or you're going to eat too much. Buy used if you can't get it at your library.

Dazzled... at first:
When I first bought the book, I could not put it down and read it cover to cover. It was fascinating, beautifully done, and the concept unique, fresh and interesting. The calorie information, photos, and "choices" were awesome. I loved seeing how much Chinese food one could consume and promptly went and ordered that menu at a local restaurant! Dr. Shapiro is a chiropractor, not an M.D. or Ph.D. His explanations of the "other diet programs", especially Atkins were weak, like he doesn't really understand the theory. I wish people well who try Dr. Shapiro's approach. However, I don't think most Americans will eat cheeseless, veggie pizzas, and tofu burgers instead of "the real thing"... or can give up bagels, meat and chicken. I think portion control is more realistic. I highly recommend it as an inspirational reference book, and I'm glad I have it on my bookshelf.