The Mayo Clinic Diet, Eat Well, Enjoy Life...

**Contest Alert** (following my review)

I would venture to say that if universities bestowed honorary degrees* in dieting I would be the (not-so proud) recipient of at least one. Over the years I have tried more diets and lifestyle plans than is reasonable; I don't even want to think about various foray's into "nutrition supplements". I've read more books about metabolism theory than a Registered Dietitian and I can say unequivocally that the scientific community is clearly conflicted about metabolism, what slows it down, how to increase it, or if you are just stuck with what you've got.

The one diet craze I managed to avoid was the phase where everyone stopped eating carbohydrates. I could not imagine a life of peanut butter without bread, tomato sauce without pasta, pizza without a crust and decided that the no/low carb lifestyle would not work for me. The one diet I failed before I even tried.

While those around me were slathering tons of peanut butter on celery sticks I was spending time figuring out what my body needed to run in defense of my refusal to adapt to the newest diet trend. I learned more in those months of carbohydrate defense than in the 15 previous years of diets; it was an eye opening experience and I learned that there is really only one way to be healthy and very few popular, easily followed books existed to support this kind of lifestyle plan. In my years as a semi-professional dieter & carbohydrate defender I also learned that most diet books are poorly written, hard to follow, and less engaging than my text books from college math. (I hated math)

The Mayo Clinic enjoys a very prestigious reputation, so I was intrigued when I was offered the opportunity to read & review The Mayo Clinic Diet, Eat Well, Enjoy Life, Lose Weight by the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic. With my extensive diet background I've become skeptical when it comes to diet & lifestyle books but I went into this one with high hopes & am pleased to report that I was not dissapointed.




The Mayo Clinic Diet, Eat Well, Enjoy Life, Lose Weight by the the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic is a long awaited common sense approach to weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle; unlike your typical diet books, the design, colorful presentation, and engaging way information is provided makes this a stand out in a genre typically crowded with dry, hard to follow offerings.

Divided into two parts "Lose It" and "Live It" this book makes it easy to take advantage of the burst of motivation which led to it's purchase by offering a two-week quick-start plan in the first section which you can begin right away and takes those first steps at healthy living a further in the second section.

Because I am me and I have rarely met a diet plan I won't try (except that whole carb thing) I was all over the two-week quick-start plan which was designed to help dieters lose 6 to 10 pounds in just 14 days. With simple instructions about what to eat, what not to eat, and how to keep moving the initial phase of the Mayo Clinic diet was not only easy to follow but also not so regulatory that I had to change everything about how I eat or exercise. I didn't lose a single pound, but I was not deterred because I did feel different in my clothes and a lot of the things that I was told to eliminate (soda) haven't been a part of my diet for a long time. I believe that for some people losing 6 to 10 pounds in that first two weeks would be easily achievable. Although there were days I thought it was too much (what do you mean NO Sugar?) I knew that I could stick to it for 14 days and at the end there was reward.

After finishing the "Lose It" section I moved on to the "Live It" section and found the relaxed standards very easy to follow after the more rigid (although not horrible in the land of diet) rules of the first 14 days. There is a lot of information about living a better, more healthful lifestyle in the 2nd part of the book; advice on food choices, portion control, exercise, following the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid, and even some recipes.

In addition to the main Mayo Clinic Diet book I also received it's companion, The Mayo Clinic Diet Journal. Like the Diet itself, The Journal is easy to use, is divided into two sections and follows the book to help keep you on track and figure out what your weaknesses are when falling off the wagon.




Over the next several days I'll post some excerpts from the book & articles so you can get a feel for this best selling book

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CONTEST!
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The folks at FSB Associates have agreed to provide one copy of The Mayo Clinic Diet to a Stateside CursingMama Reader! All you need to do is answer the following question in the comments to enter:

Of all the diets you've tried, what was the most insane? Or, if you've never tried a diet, what did you eat for breakfast last Sunday?

Comments will close at 10 AM CST Wednesday March 17th and I'll draw a winner from the hat.
One entry per person please.
Entry Must Include a valid Email Address
Book can only be shipped Stateside (US)
Refer to the General Contest Rules for all the details

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FCC Bru HaHa - This is a review website and as a reviewer I am occasionally given things (for free) to try out so I can impart my opinion about them. This would be one of those times. In exchange for reading and reviewing this book I was sent a copy to keep as my own. Also, any purchases made through my links to IndieBooks results in an affiliate payment to me.


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NOTE:
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*The practice of handing out honorary degrees to famous people in real (or sometimes imagined) areas of study drives me insane. I realize that often times the purpose behind this practice is to entice a famous person to speak at commencement exercises or to feel aligned with a specific institution in hopes of securing some financial support; however I can not help but feel this practice has not only been exploited to the point that those receiving the "degrees" are receiving them for no meritorious acts whatsoever but cheapens the hard work and dedication of the students who earned the degrees. Keep your eyes and ears open as we head into the college graduation season, will this the year a celebutaunt receives a degree in paparazzi media studies?