Saturday, March 7, 2009

Book Review: The Ultimate Metabolism Diet

Woo-Hoo! Officially I am a book reviewer. Extraordinaire.

Yeah!

I will be reviewing books periodically from here on out. Some will be at the request of a publisher, and some will be of my own accord to talk about various books I read having to do with weight loss, eating disorders, nutrition, fitness or dieting. On occasion I might also review other books if they're particularly awesome or worth sharing. :)





The Ultimate Metabolism Diet

by Scott Rigden, MD


So, this book is really interesting. It talks about various reasons you could be overweight other than the obvious "eat too much, exercise too little." At first I was worried that this book would be a big excuse book for people who don't really try hard to lose weight the right way. For example, "Oh, well I am fat, so I must have a thyroid problem." or, "Well, I eat whatever I want but work out a little, and still I can't lose weight, so it must just be out of my control or mean I need pills."

Luckily, the book isn't like that. Basically, it addresses five different medical reasons (metabolic disorders) that can cause people to be overweight beyond basic nutrition and exercise.

1. Carbohydrate Sensitivity
2. Metabolic Syndrome
3. Hormonal Imbalances
4. Food Hypersensitivity
5. Liver Detoxification / Weight Gain with Chronic Illness

The book includes a quiz section for you to easily discover which of these five areas you might be struggling in. From there, the book divides itself into five chapters addressing each issue individually, and offering solutions with both diet and exercise to help maximize weight loss in the correct manner for your body and your specific needs.

It really made me happy to read that Dr. Rigden has been a weight loss specialist and ran a weight loss clinic in Arizona for many years. That is what led him to the discovery that there are five main types of metabolic disorders. With these disorders in mind, Dr. Rigden worked to develop plans that help people with each kind of metabolic disorder to lose weight and efficiently manage their own health.

The thing that really helped me take this book as real fact (as opposed to more medical fluffy hoopla) is the tons and tons of medical patient examples. It tells the stories of patients with these various metabolic disorders and how Dr. Rigden's services and plans helped them overcome their weight loss struggles, not to mention other medical issues. These solutions helped patients overcome a variety of things from asthma to eczema to major difficulty walking and more. It's also very interesting that these disorders are very common but rarely diagnosed by family doctors.

(A side note: I'm currently reading Health Food Junkies by Dr. Steven Bratman and as a holistic doctor he talks about food allergies very similarly to the way Dr. Rigden talks about them. I found it to be interesting that I am reading two books addressing similar disorders at the same time.)

The Ultimate Metabolism Diet also addresses emotional eating, exercise, depression, stress in your life, daily relaxation, inspiration, self image and self confidence. The other cool thing is that since you won't have each metabolic condition or problem, you won't need to read every chapter, so you don't have to feel overwhelmed by too much reading. :) It also has a section with recipes - they sound delicious and seem really easy to prepare.


A few of my favorite factoid excerpts:

"When an overweight person logs 10,000 steps per day, it almost guarantees at least a two-pound weight loss in a week." (Good news for my buddy Mike over at zumewalk)

"Scientific studies have shown that people suffering from ulcers and excessive stomach acid production literally cannot make excessive acid if they are smiling or laughing."

"Emotional eating almost always leads to inappropriate eating. Without realizing it, you may be caught in a vicious cycle of "living to eat," not "eating to live."




I didn't find many downsides to this book. I tend to wish all the things in the book would apply to me because I love to read and I want tons of information to soak into my brainy sponge. So, if you're like me in that regard you might not enjoy skipping chapters that don't apply to you.

The only other thing was that there is a lot of medical information in this book, and quite a bit of medical industry terminology. The book does provide glossary information at the beginning of each chapter for these words and terms, but it can feel a little bit confusing if you don't remember all of the definitions. Luckily it is really easy to refer back to the beginning of each chapter, and Dr. Rigden repeats some of the definitions in the chapters as well.


Overall I would recommend buying this book if you find you're struggling with traditional methods of weight loss. By that, I mean that you've actually tried eating healthy, balanced meals and working out or getting moderately intense activity for at least 250 minutes per week. If that method has not worked for you, and you've diligently done it for at least a period of six months with little to no result, this book might be the right way to go!

And if that doesn't describe you but you have an interest in metabolic health, or if you want a good introduction to it, it contains a lot of valuable information and could help aid anyone on their journey of good health and well being. You can buy it here or here.



~J

5 comments:

M said...

You are an excellent reviewer!

Crystal said...

You ARE an excellent reviewer. How did you get into that? I am interested. I love reading and reviewing.

Jenn said...

Thanks you guys! I actually didn't pursue doing it, but I was recently contacted by a publishing house in California. They asked me to read this book if I agreed to, and that they would love it if I'd review it on my blog. They stumbled across my blog somehow and said they were looking for someone who could write well and had strong opinions. (lol) They said there was no obligation and if I didn't want to review it, I didn't have to, and the review could be good or bad, whatever. Pretty cool! So, I don't know how to advise you to "get into it" because it sort of just fell into my lap. :)

nancy said...

Great review. Very informative.

Mom

Unknown said...

Nice review! I'm going to read it.