Low-Fat Lies

Rating:
Summary: Great...but remember all low-carb diets aren't the same
Review: Anyone who's been duped by all the low-fat hype over the last 20 years needs to read this book. The information is very useful.

At the same time, be careful not to lump all the low-carb diets together. The Atkins plan is by far the strictest low-carb diet, and, as noted in the book, has some serious flaws. But other plans, especially Protein Power by Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades, allow generous amounts of the types of foods recommended by Dr. Vigilante. I think it's an excellent approach that "meets in the middle" between low-carb and low-fat. The results are simply amazing, and after 3 years on Protein Power it has never once been boring.

I think this book is much more useful for those who have blindly followed low-fat, high-carb diets. In my opinion, that style of eating is much more detrimental than low-carb.

Rating:
Summary: Education, not scare tactics
Review: Before you follow any diet read this book! It debunks fad diets (Atikins, Ornish, Low-Carb, Sugar Busters, etc.) by explaining the flawed science behind them in words and examples that anyone can understand and introduces the reader to the the Mediterranean diet. Dr.'s Flynn and Vigelante not only speak of "diet" in terms of food but they expand this term to include lifestyle as well. They provide scientific proof of the benefits of olive oil, red wine, and the Italian passegiata (after-dinner stroll). The authors organized the book to be read either cover-to-cover or browsed. The first part is dedicated to debunking the fad-diet myths, the second introduces the reader to the Mediterranean lifestyle and the third includes practical advice on how to introduce this into your life. As an "out of the closet" reader of other diet books, I was pleased to discover that education, not guilt, is the motivator for loosing weight in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Full of Contradictions
Review: Don't get me wrong - I think a Mediterranean diet can be very healthy. But Vigilante and Flynn have packaged a traditional weight loss diet as something brand new - and this book surely isn't new. Additionally, too much of what is added to "the usual" is contradictory. For example, on page 24 they describe a study which shows that a high-fat breakfast is more satieting than a low-fat one and tends to prolong the time until the next meal. However, reading on, we find that almost all the breakfasts they propose are very low in fat!

I did an analysis of one of their 1500 calorie meal days (which they recommend for all women except for those who are "extremely hungry" AND are losing weight rapidly). It's 20% fat, high carb, and 45 gm protein. (The protein RDA for any woman over 125 lbs is higher than this.) It's a basic low-fat/high carb diet with a little less protein than it should have.

Ironically, the authors spend a good portion of the book trashing almost all the diets on the market, from very low fat to very low carb, when the diet they propose is basically Ornish sprinkled with olive oil.

I give it two stars because it does have some good information in it, but there are other books which talk about the Mediterranean diet which give much more sound advice and present the information more plainly and with less rhetoric. A good example is "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy" by Walter Willett.

In short, your dollars would be much better spent elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Makes some good points but.....
Review: Dr. Vigilante makes some very good points in the book "Low-fat Lies High Fat Frauds". He states that society has been duped into believing the lower the fat in your diet the better. He also states that many of us have replaced these fats with sugars and false fats. He makes the case for olive oil as a healthy fat to add to ones diet. At the back of the book he includes some recipes. The book has its drawbacks though. The main one is he allots about 3/4 of the book to telling the reader why other diets dont work. KEVIN! We already know that or we wouldn't be reading your book! He then goes on to support a diet that is rich in olive oil, alot of olive oil! For a roasted vegie dish he includes 1/3 of a cup. There is 1/4 cup in his strawberry spinach salad. Now I have to agree with Dr. Vigilante that too low fat and no fat are NOT the way to go. I believe a lot of folks (including myself) may have thought at one time that the lower fat the better and many of us (me too) may have substituted what we thought were healthy lofat/nofat foods for fuller fat ones. Unfortunately, some of us discovered (me again) that we did not lose any weight because we were still eating to many calories, maybe more. Because instead of having the satiation fat provides we were eating a ton of sugar. However, I think we dont need to go overboard on the fat (even the healthy fat) either. Moderation seems more in order whether it be with sugar or fat such as olive oil. Though olive oil is a healty fat it still packs a wholloping 14grams of fat per tablespoon and should also be used in moderation. My thoughts are to eat a rich varied diet with lots of fibrous carbs, water, lean proteins, easy on the starches, some good fat and some junk tossed in now and then. Despite the heavy olive oil if lightened up a bit the recipes are yummy. And in his book Vigilante also makes the case for a glass of red wine or grape juice and lists the health benefits in detail something which is rarely done.

Rating:
Summary: Self serving and unscientific attacks
Review: Finally, some science to back up what we all really knew anyway...unsustainable fads are not healthy. I've lost 17 pounds and dropped 30 points off my cholesterol--and feeling like I'm finally eating again after all the years of privation and subsequent weight gain. I have had no problems putting the ideas from this book to use in our trips to the Chinese, Mexican and American restaurants--as some readers have mentioned. And I also have had no angst about the amounts of olive oil mentioned in some of the recipes. The authors talk about balance--and I have finally found it, thanks to this book.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, a healthy diet that really works!
Review: Kudos to Dr. Vigilante and Dr. Flynn for writing the best book on health and nutrition that I've ever read! If you are looking for guidance to not only lose weight, but also lead a healthy lifestlye, this book is a must read! In it, they expose the hidden dangers of low fat diets that we've been subjecting ourselves to for years, explaining the science behind the nutrition in a very understandable way. I read the book in only a few days, it was that enjoyable and interesting to read! Even better, they don't just promote the Mediterranian diet, they tell you how you can easily apply it to your life; and the recipes really are delicious and easy to make. Living and eating well don't have to be difficult anymore!

Rating:
Summary: Unscientific, Highly Subjective Ranting
Review: The authors of this book attack both low fat/high carb diets, and high fat/low carb diets as unhealthy, ineffective, and dangerous. They then try to establish themselves as purveyors of the sensible middle ground by promoting yet another variant of the so-called Mediterranean Diet. Nice marketing angle I guess, but there are some glaring faults in this book that deserve comment.

The first thing Mr Vigilante and Ms Flynn could do is try and tone down the emotionally-charged rhetoric, and the personal attacks on authors whose theories they disagree with. Discredit someone by objectively examining and finding fault with their teachings, not by incessantly calling them 'carb-phobes' or 'fat-phobes'. Their venom is childish, unbecoming, and in some instances, unbearably corny.

If the authors insist on being obnoxiously hostile and sarchastic, they could at least make sure they have their facts right. In the section where they attack low carb/high fat diets they have included The Zone Diet by Barry Sears. They give Sears a lashing, as they do every other author they don't like, but The Zone Diet recommends 40% of calories be obtained from carbs - hardly a low carb diet. The Zone is at best a moderate carb diet, and doesn't even come close to being ketogenic. Furthermore, the Zone calls for 30% of calories from fat - less than the 40% eaten by the Cretan men who showed such remarkable health and longevity back in the 1960's. If the 30% fat content of the Zone diet qualifies it as a "high fat fraud", then where does that leave the Cretan diet that the authors worship?

The authors really need to get up to date on low carb nutrition. Vigilante apparently decided he was going to be a sworn enemy-for-life of low carb diets after a single unfavorable experience on the Atkins Diet. Vigilante barely made it through the "induction" phase, which is the severest part of the Atkins regimen, lasts 2 weeks, and occurs when beginning Atkins. That two week phase is hardly representative of low carb eating in general. If Vigilante had stuck with the diet a little longer and tweaked things around a little he just may have experienced newfound levels of energy and mental focus, as has been the experience of myself and numerous others who have adopted low carb eating.

Vigilante claims there is no research to back the superior weight loss claims made for low carb diets, except for a single flawed study that appeared in the Lancet over 40 years ago. Vigilante further claims that the only way low carb diets can cause weight loss is because of their low calorie intake, thus making them no better than other low calorie diets. A basic search on Pubmed quickly highlights the absurdities of Vigilantes claims. There have been numerous studies conducted comparing low carb/high fat diets with other diets of similar calorie intake that showed superior fat loss with low carb diets. For example, Young et al, 1971, performed an experiment with three diferent carb and fat intakes, with all diets being equal in calories. They found the lower the carb intake and the higher the fat intake, the more fat was lost and the more muscle was retained, which is what every dieter strives for. This is but only one example- like I said, the authors should have done their research before going public with such inflammatory hyperbole. Their virulent anti-low carb sentiments are simply not backed by science.

The notion that the Mediterranean Diet is low in animal fat is another bad joke. Vigilante comes from an Italian background - so do I. Home-made cheese, sausages and salami, freshly laid eggs, full cream milk, pork, were regular dietary staples of Southern Italian immigrants. These folks were generally healthy, highly productive and lived long lives (in some cases 90+). My Grandma is still going strong at 82 (ciao Nonna!). Anyone even remotely familiar with Greek nutrition knows the Greeks frequently eat lots of lamb, fetta and pork.

I agree with the authors' conclusions on low fat/high carb diets but there are other far better dissertations on the pitfalls of low fat/high carb diets. 'Neanderthin' by Ray Audette, 'Life Without Bread' by Allan and Lutz, and 'Atkins New Diet Revolution' by Dr. Atkins are far more thoroughly researched tomes that address the problems associated with low fat, high carb diets and provide evidence for the benefits of lowering carb intake. I would also suggest reading Uffe Ravnskov's 'The Cholesterol Myths' and the writings of Mary Enig (Know Your Fats, and her articles at the Weston A. Price website) to help abolish the ridiculous notion that monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are 'good' but saturated fats are somehow, inexplicably, 'bad'.