>BTW, has anyone read Susan Powter's books? I was turned off by her at
>first, but her book _Stop The Insanity_ really makes a lot of sense, and
>she advocates a diet very close to Ornish.
I read both _Stop the Insanity_ and _Food_. I was somewhat disappointed in
_Stop the Insanity_ when I read it because it basically says that you can
eat anything you want as long as you don't exceed a certain percentage of
fat. I didn't think that the book did a very good job of explaining the
difference between *healthy* fat-free foods and *junk* fat-free foods.
However, I thought the overall message was good and I purchased _Food_
when it came out. I really liked this book. It had some really
excellent information about the benefits of some foods over others and
about getting a good balance in your diet.
I was disappointed on my last trip to the bookstore, however. Both of
her first two books stress the benefits of vegetarianism--or at least mega
meat reduction. However when I checked out her cookbooks I found that many if
not most of them contained meat. :-( How sad, especially since she
states in her first book that she has been a long-time vegetarian.
So, IMHO, _Stop the Insanity_ is probably worth a look if you can borrow a
copy from a friend or the library and you have plenty of free time for
reading; _Food_ is definately worth the money and the time to read it--and
it is out in paperback now, too, I think; but, I would definately pass on
the cookbooks, since I didn't see enough veg recipes in them to make them
worth the money.
Of course, YMMV. She does have a writing style that may turn some people
off (I definately couldn't see myself recommending the books--espcially the
first one--to my mother :-) ). The first book has a lot of information
about the failure of her marriage and her stint as a topless dancer...you
get the idea.
I'd be interested in hearing what others thought about them, too.
Kristin
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