February 3, 2014
Canadian bariatric physician Freedhoff aims to reach millions suffering from “Post Traumatic Dieting Disorder”: an unofficial condition bred from serial dieting—guilt, shame, failure, depression, binge eating, and weight cycling/metabolic slowdown—and not unlike PSTD, according to the author. Freedhoff dispels pervading myths about dieting, warns against the “seven deadly sins” (hunger, sacrifice, willpower, blind restriction, sweat, perfectionism, and denial), and instructs readers to replace tenuous willpower with “skillpower” as they learn the key triad to healthy weight loss: organization, planning, and thoughtfulness. To this end, Freedhoff offers a 10-Day Reset, a regimen that is as much cognitive psychology as physiology. Learning and effecting a new skill, strategy, or mindset each day while building on previous days helps readers learn to weigh and measure food, keep a journal, banish hunger, cook and eat at home, think positively, exercise, indulge a bit, eat out wisely, set goals, troubleshoot, and move forward. The plan is followed by “The Recovery,” which provides practical instructions for getting beyond the failures of other diets, from Optifast to Atkins. Freedhoff is a one-man cheering squad with a down-to-earth, resonant, real-world weight-loss prescription focusing on a dieter’s personal best. Enhanced with case studies, 35 pages of recipes, resources lists, plus the author’s Web site and award-winning blog, this book will help dieters win by losing.