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Summary: 2 Books To Solve Real People's Problems
Review: My 16 neighbors and I had been trying to lose weight and take charge of our finances for years. Finally we succeeded after buyng 2 books that we had heard discussed on Diane Rehm's show: "Fight Fat After 40" and "Simple Money Solutions" by Nancy Lloyd. With the incredible advice in these two books we no longer have to go on ridiculous diets (like "no carbohydrates" or "high fat" diets) or practice stupid money stuff (like learn to "respect your money" or "save your change when you break a bill). Please!! People may buy those other absurd types of books purporting "secrets" but the advice just does not work for real people. Jointly, since buying these two books the 17 of us have lost over 1200 pounds, paid off our debts and started an investment club that made money even as the market crashed. "Simple Money Solutions" and "Fight Fat After 40" did something no other books did for us--they got the results we dreamed of for years! If any of our problems sound familiar to you, then buy these two books. They can work for you too.
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Summary: Another interesting angle, but not the final word on dieting
Review: Tonight Dr. Peeke was on the news, telling about how stress can make you fat. The premise of the books is that our bodies don't know the difference between "fight or flight" (the kind of stress built into our bodies when God created us in order to hang onto needed calories during a crisis situation)and normal everyday stress which we all have. Dr. Peeke said that Stress Eating causes Toxic Weight - I think most of us know that, even if we don't use those terms. She does use research to back up her ideas. She talks of the "cortizone" - the hours between 3pm and midnight when most stress eating happens. Most people simply don't "stress eat" first thing in the morning she says. She says that our goal should be stress resiliance. And if we want cookies, we should eat 1-2 "real" cookies rather than half a box of the fat-free variety. An excellent point!! We have to watch calorie intake, not just fat grams! Like any good eating plan, the emphasis is on eating high nutrition foods. She also mentions "glycemic index" made popular by Dr. Weil in another book. Which boils down to - some foods stick with you better than others. An apple will keep you satisfied longer than a handful of grapes, though both are good foods. A bowl of oatmeal will hold you over til lunch better than a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Dr. Peeke spends a large part of the book talking about exercise and she recommends Dr. Cooper's Institute. "Treading weight" is an interesting concept that's discussed in the book. When stress hits, control your eating enough to maintain, but don't expect to lose during that time. I think that's very sensible - so many of us fall off the proverbial wagon when we've had 1 day of poor eating choices and figure that all is lost. Dr. Peeke recommends eating 65% of one's daily calories before 5pm. While this probably makes good sense from a scientific point of view, I think many will find that hard to do when most families eat their "big meal" together at 6pm or later. I do think that cutting back on late-evening snacking can't do anything but help! I don't believe that any one book or program has the complete picture of this complicated issue. As for myself, I picked up a couple tips from "Fighting Fat", but I've also joined Weight Watchers, and I'm reading other books such as "Volumetrics" and "20/30 Fat and Fiber Diet", both of which I'm finding fascinating and helpful. One last thing - I agree with one of the other reviewers that the author's creation of the word "menopot" to the describe shapely tummies that some of us mature women have, will be slightly offensive to some. Some of us, for a variety of reasons such as multiple abdominal surgeries, multiple pregnancies, medical problems, etc, will never have flat stomachs and I believe that God did not mean for all women be built alike. Of course we should all strive for inproved health and fitness, but that could well be different for each woman. Enjoy reading this book. You can take away some helpful ideas from this book. Just don't make it the only book you read on healthier eating!
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Summary: This is a great book!
Review: I've read many diet and fitness books, but this one is by far the best, especially for women in mid-life and beyond. The author gives scientific evidence for all of her suggestions; they're not based on fad or wishful thinking. She pays particular attention to the special needs and changes of perimenopausal women, and why we need to pay so much attention to our lifestyle choices at this time of life. There is enough structure in her diet recommendations to have a clear idea of how to eat, and enough flexibility to tailor it to your own likes and lifestyle. This is also a total program including diet, exercise, and stress-reduction. The exercise portion includes aerobics, strength-training and stretching, and she lays out a do-at-home, simple strength-training and stretching program for those of us who don't frequent a gym. She covers ALL the bases for living healthfully into old age in a style that won't overwhelm you. It was slower reading getting through the scientific stuff at the beginning of the book, but then I flew through it. I love this book!!
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Summary: Title Catchy, but doesn't tell half of this gem of a book...
Review: I thought I was going slowly crazy; insomnia, crying jags, feeling helpless (after being the "first woman this, first woman that" for twenty years!), no energy, and crazy cravings. I don't know why I bought this, as fat/thin isn't on my radar. This isn't about fat/thin; it is about a woman's life, or I should say, LIFE, and making it all it can be in the "third phase". You know the title is some publisher's marketing tool, but get beyond that and get this book if you are 39 to 70 years old, female, and wanting your life to be balanced, rich, healthy... This no-nonsense woman lays it out for us. I wish you could see my copy! I use 'flags' to mark something I want to go back to, or reference later, and last count I had 16 different colored flags sticking out of the book! (I've never had more than two or three in any other books.) I am ordering it for the women in my family right now.
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Summary: Just buy this book and end the "dieting nightmare"!
Review: To sum up this review- just go buy this book! If you found this book as part of a frantic search for another "diet miracle"...you may have just found it- only in a very different form! For me, the diet books and plans were part of my desperate search for the answers as to how I could manipulate the food, move my body and suddenly (and quickly) escape this burden of fat and unhealthiness. I instinctively knew as I committed to each diet, exercised until I dropped and obsessed about food, something was very wrong with this entire drama. Was I just born with defective will-power? Was my metabolism so slow that a cookie meant no jeans for a week? I just could not find a medically sound explanation as what in the world was going on and why I kept failing. Being smart, well-educated and tenacious wasn't enough. Having tried so many plans and having purchased an entire library of books... nothing had changed and I was still lost as to how to fix it. The "fat experts" and medical community had let me down and I had no idea what to believe. Every Monday morning I would pledge a new insane plan of attack! "Fight Fat After Forty" IS the answer to this dieting insanity and could be anyone's escape from "dieter's hell". Dr. Pamela Peeke has tackled this dilemma from a scientific- "let's figure this mess out" approach. She actually used "women" in her studies and has based all of her findings on what she and her associates discovered regarding the vicious cycle and patterns of weight management. You will learn exactly what is really happening to you and why the "dieting game" is so destructive and unproductive! This book is really for any woman or man interested in a healthy lifestyle regardless of age. For me, this book explains so thoroughly and accurately the "whys and hows" of my body and why I was compelled to participate in the crazy rituals around food and exercise.(It is so liberating to finally get it!) Dr. Peeke refuses to merely reproduce a diet plan and exercise sheet. The food alone was never really the problem. There is no magic food plan or exercise regime. It is simply a balancing act dealing with real food, specific exercise, hormonal balance and stress management coupled with positive thinking that makes up a solution that actually works. The subtle key to this book lies in how it teaches you the paths to changing one's thinking, eating, body movements as well as how to recognize and CHANGE how one deals with STRESS. Dr. Peeke guides you through the science as well as each part of the plan helping you design a new "lifestyle" that will meet your needs. Your finished plan will be a practical one that you can adhere to indefintely and will stay realistic far into the future. NO MORE FADS! Through these chapters, you will learn so much about yourself. How many of the past "diet books" cared about your specific needs or explained the science behind their plans? Some common questions Dr. Peeke addresses include- why am I so tired all of the time? Why can't I stop eating after a meal? Why does food calm me down or keep me going? Dr. Peeke explains, for example, the complicated link between your chronically stressful day and that empty gaze into the fridge as one begins another evening "feeding frenzy". IS ANY OF THIS SOUNDING FAMILIAR? The book goes into great depth regarding these links between stress, hormone changes and how we (especially women) cope with life's stressors. Can one really expect to be healthy, well fed and nurtured when many of us have put ourselves last on our priority list? We all need some sense of reward in our lives of a job "well done". For many of us that reward is food. I caution you not to skip through the book and find the "diet plan and exercise regime". This is a packaged deal and without the UNDERSTANDING as to what is going on- this will become another diet book treating the symptoms without a diagnosis or solution. In fact, you will stay as stuck as before with no clue as to how to gain back your health and sanity permanently. I sincerely thank Dr. Peeke for ending my "dieting nightmare" where I have been stuck for a very long time. I have already lost weight, have more energy, but most important, I have lost that insane panic driving me to decide what am I going to do next. I don't wake up every morning promising this time to stay on a new plan...for I now have one that works for me. Isn't that what we were all looking for?
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Summary: Solving My Fat, Stress and Debt Problems
Review: It was when I turned 48 that my long-neglected stress and spiraling debt finally caught up with me. My ever-growing waistline became a dead giveaway of my other problems and my health was plummeting fast. If only I had confronted these problems earlier -- and had the chance to read "FIGHT FAT AFTER 40" and Nancy Lloyd's "SIMPLE MONEY SOLUTIONS" earlier I could have had a much happier and healthier time over the past 10 years. These two books are truly amazing and worked for me and my wife.
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Summary: An Excellent Resource
Review: As a certified personal trainer specializing in women's health and lifestyle managment, I have found Dr. Peeke's book to be an invaluable resource. The information about the link between stress and weight and the three-part approach for leading a healthy lifestyle has been useful and applicable to all of my clients, not just those in the forty-and-over age catagory. I have recommended this book to several of my clients, co-workers and friends who have also found it to be extremely helpful in their efforts to develop more centered and healthy lifestyles. In the first section, Peeke presents historical and scientific information about stress and its physiological impact on the human body in a manner that is interesting and easily understandable. Her humorous and sensitive approach and her use of real-life examples allow us to feel we are not alone in our stuggles with stress and weight managment. Furthermore, Peeke teaches us how to identify our personal stress profile, recognizing that, as individual human beings, a standard cookie-cutter approach does not work. I was most impressed by the section of the book where Peeke talks about regrouping. Unlike other books I have read about fitness, weight loss and lifestyle management, FFAF includes a "back-up plan" for what to do when life throws a curve ball. Peeke recognizes that we WILL make mistakes along the way and fall of track. She explains that it is okay not to be perfect and we need to accept and embrace our imperfect selves. Peek goes on to provide reasonable and manageable approaches to changing eating patterns and habits. Once again, her real-life examples help make this information more understandable and applicable to us as readers. As a personal trainer, I am appalled by how much misinformation there is about nutrition among my clients and even my colleagues. It is refreshing to see that FFAF includes accurate and appropriate guidelines for nutrition. I found the information on portion sizes and how to navigate the "Cortizone" to be particularly useful in addressing my clients' nutritional issues. I applaud Peek for the chapter on weight lifting and exercise. Too often women who are forty and over are afraid to lift weights and don't realize the benefits of strength training. Peeke explains how weight lifting is important for increasing metabolic rate and preventing osteoporosis. I was also glad to see Peeke included information on flexibility training. Stretching is so important, particularly for injury prevention, and it is often left out of exercise regimens. FFAF presents profound insight about the roots of our stress and how it is linked to eating and weight gain. It provides a "game plan" for dealing with stress and eating when the going gets tough and teaches us to be gentle with ourselves and accept that we are not perfect. I would highly recommend Peeke's book to any woman who is seeking an effective and reasonable approach to changing her life to make it more healthy and manageable.
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Summary: Fight Fat After Forty
Review: Toxic weight. I am the poster child. Why can't we understand why our waists get bigger as our problems and life stressors get larger. Pam Peeke in this fabulous book has put it all together. This is a life book for all - not a diet book for a few. By rethinking your life, getting the excercise you need, eating great food, and taking care of yourself, you'll be healthy, wise and all that you deseve to be. Alot to say about a "Diet Book". Thanks Dr. Peeke for putting it all together so eloquently and effectively.
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Summary: Brilliant! And in a language we can all understand.
Review: After reading Fight Fat After Forty I wanted more so I was lucky enough to procure a seat at a Peeke speaking engagement. As her book clearly demonstrates, the author is not only endlessly devoted to improving the overall health of this country and beyond, she is compelling and enormously interesting. This author has a way of making me want to listen to this stuff, and that may be one of her greatest gifts. Information is power, but worthless unless accessed by those who need it. In this book the information is not only accessible, but understandable and easy to absorb. Of course after reviewing her lofty and distinguished credentials prior to my read, I sensed trouble brewing. Often times smart people can't communicate effectively and the benefit of their work never reaches the greatest audience. As I soon found out after cracking the cover, this was not the case with Fight Fat After Forty. Peeke has both the practical and academic experience which is key in producing such a work. Having worked at the National Institute of Health and the University of Maryland School of Medicine, this is obviously a woman who knows of what she speaks, yet she is able to effectivley impart it to us in a refreshingly comprehendable manner. Her use of anectdotes and case studies are relatable and non-threatening and take the edge off a potentially dry subject matter. User friendly, I would call it. Although much of the technology is new and information cutting edge, I don't believe she is re-inventing the wheel here as much as teaching us the practical uses of it. Peeke harnesses her decades of hard research for us and organizes and disseminates it in a way that makes it fun to learn. She shares new information, such as the relationship of excess cortisol to stress and the subsequent effects, jumpstarting metabolism, regaining muscle mass, and arranges and interperets these facts in an insightful and inspiring fashion. This, in my estimation is the first battle won in finding success on any health or fitness level. In my 20+ years of professional sports training, I have yet to come across such a "bang for your buck" collection of straight-forward health awareness information in one place. I realize, as do so many others in the know, that there is no substitute for what works. Dr. Peeke brings us new research, and validates that many tried and true basic fundamentals of excercise and nutrition stand the test of time. With another health or diet book on the stands every five minutes touting yet another unproven scheme or "angle" of perpetual wellness, this one offers it all. I defy you not to see yourself in the pages of this solid, sleek, and invigorating read.
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Summary: Winning the fat fight once & for all!
Review: Being privileged to hear Dr. Pamela Peeke speak two months ago motivated me to read her book and then completely change the way I live, eat, exercise and feel! Just learning the science behind my stress eating patterns is helping me to overcome them. Knowing when to eat is just as important as knowing what to eat, and this knowledge is helping me to conquer stress eating. Having the scientific benefits of exercise defined and outlined so clearly motivated me to restructure my workouts to be more effective and to yield maximum benefits. Approaching a healthy lifestyle with a deeper understanding of the changes my body is undergoing as it ages and how to work with the process is what has made the difference for me. If you're ready to commit to becoming the best that you can be, and if you're ready to do really work at living a long and healthy life, then this book is both an essential tool and a provider of motivational support. You'll learn how to get and stay on track and discover how to quickly overcome "bad" days. It's a must have book for every professional woman who wants to conquer health and weight issues sensibly.
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