Customer Reviews

Suzanne Somers' Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Suzanne Somers did her homework when she went looking for a diet to beat middle-age spread, and enlisted the help of California endocrinologist Diane Schwarzbein. The "Somercize" diet is low-carb but not no-carb like the Atkins program.

The major benefit here is two-fold: Want to reduce refined starches and sugars in your diet? Look no further. The recipes here are mostly low carb and low sugar. You can use saccharine or "Somersweet" --a mix of fruit fiber and fructose that is still sugar but lower in simple sugars than sucrose or corn syrup. Unfortunately, it's only sold on Suzanne's website, but she does provide the alternative of artificial sweetners. The second benefit is that if you don't care about sweets, you can ignore the desserts and head for the main dishes, which are all thoughtfully created with delicious vegetables, meats and seasonings to please the most discriminating palate.

The Somercize diet is a combination of the fad for food-combining; here fat and protein are ok, carbs like vegetables or whole grains are not eaten with fat or protein, and fruits go alone. Some foods are "funky foods" --that is, a mix of carbs and fat or carbs and proteins, and they are verboten until you lose sufficient weight.

Will it work? Possibly. Some people do report great results. But the value here is probably more in the cookbook, which really does have very nice recipes for low sugar, well-prepared meals. And if you do get Somersweet or use saccharine, there are ice cream recipes...so how bad can this be? An attractive book, possibly useful even to Atkins dieters who can navigate those recipes with carbohydrates. And certainly if you are editing sugar out, you won't suffer with this plan.

This past year, I started following Suzanne Somers' way of eating as outlined in this book, and much to my surprise, I found that I went from a size 18 to a size 10 in about ten months. I still have about 20 pounds to go, but I look and feel the best I've felt in my entire adult life! (I'm 42).

My average weight loss has been right around 2 pounds per week. I love the fact that there's no limit on the amount of salad or vegetables I can eat. Also, there isn't any tedious time spent counting things like calories, grams of carbs, or serving sizes. I'm never hungry on this plan, and I can eat until I'm full at every meal (plus snacks!). I've never eaten so much rich, satisfying food in my life! Salads, vegetables, a wide variety of meats, numerous dairy products, and lots of delicous whole grain breads, pastas and cereals.

My health has improved greatly, too. I was constantly bombarded with a never-ending array of colds and flu, but since I've been Somersizing, I've only had one cold in about a year's time. For me, the "Queen of Colds and Flu," that's almost miraculous!

My major complaint with this book is that the recipes were way too fancy and too expensive for my simple taste (and even simpler budget!). If it were possible to drop my rating of this book by half a star, I would've given the book 4 1/2 stars because of the expensive and time-consuming recipes. I've had to do a lot of adapting of my own recipes to make sure I don't go broke with this eating plan. But Suzanne Somers' newest book, "Fast & Easy," has easier and less expensive recipes. I like the way the overall plan is laid out in "Eat, Cheat & Melt the Fat Away" better, but I personally prefer the recipes in "Fast & Easy."

I don't necessarily think that Somersizing is for everyone, but I've had four other friends here in town who started Somersizing after seeing my success and they've all lost weight, feel more energetic, and look wonderful.

This book is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me weight-wise and general health-wise, but I think the eating plan's effects will probably vary from person to person. I really don't believe in a one-size-fits-all diet plan ... but this particular one has been the right fit for me.

I really enjoyed this book. I like ms. somers *chatty* and conversational style of writing. I enjoy the glimpses of her life in the pictures and anecdotes and I like that in one cookbook or another she gives recipes for her pre-made food.

That said, altho this diet worked for many people, it didnt work well for me. In spite of that I enjoy every new book she writes as the recipes are tasty and womderful. They have easy to find ingredients and not over complicated requirements. The *protein* recipes would fit into any low/no carb diet plan as well as some of the most fabulous *diabetic* desserts i have ever seen. Her focus as a sweetener is somersweet which i have never bought due to cost (and shipping on top of that). You can use other sweeteners with little trouble in most cases (except foods that need to caramelize are a bit trickier)

The diet has food combining aspects as well as it being *for most people* a fairly high protwin/low carb diet. It isnt considered by her to be low carb and she encourages healty whole grains and fruit....However.... People can lose wieght eating high protein in an unlimited fashion... The same cant be said for eating carbs. The fewer carbs you would eat on this plan... the faster you would lose weight. The forward is by an MD, dr schwarzbein who has a whole other diet plan... which isnt the same as suzannes...which is a bit odd, i think. It seems she is endorsing 2 ways of eating...fully.

I do have to say that both plans emphasize *whole* foods and getting *hormonal balance* back in your body while trying to manage insulin spiking. But the plans ARE different, so i think her doing the forward is just a bit odd.

With everybook there is a more detailed discriptin of the eating plan and why it works and why it is good for you. In all honesty, alot of people buy all her books and the ever expanding section on the diet is redundant. I wish she would come out with a cook-book alone...with just a brief discription on how to *smersize*... (in the way that weight watchers give a brief discription before their cookbooks) There a a good number of recipes in each book, more and more each book. I think what would be most helpful would be a cookbook, at this point without the redo of chapters devoted to somersizing.

I took this book out of the library on a tuesday, read it and returned it on friday. I understand the concept and I think Ms. Sommers helps to clarify it even better. There is good fat/there is bad fat but sugar isn't good for us. Diabetes runs in my family and I am trying to cut if off before it begins with me. I think the only reason I haven't begun this program is because I have been so brainwashed by this society; (one I might add that is extremely overweight and promotes surgery for weightloss) to believe that I have to eat a certain way. I actually found some of the products she mentions in a whole food store. I have ordered her sommersweet from her website. I think I am going to committe to 7 days of eating in this matter. I have to loose weight but my objective at this moment is to get the sugar out of my diet as much as possible. I would like to feel less stuffed.

Last Christmas, I became ill with a "mystery" stomach ailment. I began to experiment with different types of diets to see what I could tolerate until the docs could figure out what the problem was. I came across Suzanne Somer's book which discussed food combining. I had been researching this topic and I was intrigued by her approach to this type of lifestyle so I went ahead and purchased the book. I enjoyed her simplicity in her writing and her candid sharing of her personal experiences with her own efforts in weight control (although I can't remember seeing her overweight in any pics!). I do agree with some readers that some of her recipes could send a heart patient into cardiac arrest but they are quite delicious and can easily be adapted to individual tastes and dietary needs. In my house, I am the only one who chooses to follow a food combining diet, so I am constantly adjusting the ingredient measurements in the recipes to make 1 to 2 portions for myself. It would be nice to see future books adapted to smaller portions instead of the 6 to 8. Overall, I am satisfied with this recipe book and I would definitely consider purchasing future editions. As a side note, I am better now and I continue to follow the food combining "rules" with much success.

Suzanne Somers' diet is a good idea and it works. However, based on her earlier successes, Ms. Somers' has started marketing a series of products to help follow her diet. This book is filled with recipes that all require her new products. Buy her old book where she still focused on using what is in your kitchen. These recipes are merely marketing for her products.

Whether or not you follow the somersize program, you will love the recipes from Suzanne Somers! They are very tasty! And for anyone looking to find delicious ways to include more vegetables in your diet you'll find lots of ways to incorporate them.

I have had several years of success on low-carb diets, and I have always thought Suzanne Somers brought a valuable perspective to the issue because she's NOT a scientist or a doctor, and explains things in the plain language used by the rest of us. As the latest medical research is showing us, the science behind this diet is very solid, and she provides plenty of reference for people who want to explore that further. But her goal in this book is to speak as one dieter to another.

However, I must say I can't understand all the readers who have said they could do without the photos and references to Suzanne Somers' large and happy family. There are so many people who succeed at work but not at home. It's rewarding to meet in print somebody who balances both. Aside from learning more about what Suzanne Somers really believes about the priorities of family and friends, there is the obvious point that high-protein/high-fat/low-carb diets are the ones that give people both the energy and emotional well-being to write books, spend time with their families, and entertain their friends.

If you are insulin-resistant and you know it for sure -- based on glucose tolerance tests or if you have been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, this plan can work for you. However, you should not stay on the plan for life. As yet, there is no scientific proof that a high protein, low carbohydrate diet is healthful in the long run.

Suzanne Somers did it again. Eat, Cheat and Melt the Fat Away is such an inspiring and well written book. You definitely learn the do's and dont's for eating. The recipes are by far one of the best parts of the book. Once you've purchased one of Suzanne's books, you'll want them all.