The Schwarzbein Principle: The Truth about Losing Weight, Being Healthy and Feeling Younger

Several reviews back, a reviewer claimed that Dr. Schwarzbein is a quack and not board certified in internal medicine or endocrinology. I did a search, and web site for the American Board of Medical Specialties (the umbrella organization for the 24 approved medical specialty boards in the United States) states that she is indeed board certified. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, with a general certificate in internal medicine and a subspecialty certificate in endocrinology as well as diabetes and metabolism. Check your facts before making false accusations!

Schwarzbein goes against all the current thinking on dieting. Exercise and balanced diet are good words that all doctors will tell you. From there Schwarzbein goes in a completely different direction. Count carbohydrates, not calories. Eat as much good fat and protein as your body needs. Eat 'real' food, not the processed and chemical-filled food that lines the grocery shelves. Stay away from the low-fat foods that make you feel hungry and contribute to hormonal imbalance.After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, my doctor gave me a 1500-calorie diet. That wasn't enough food to live on. I was lucky enough to have someone recommend the Schwarzbein book. In the past eight months I have lost over 50lbs, eating food I enjoy and feeling good about it. My doctor said to keep up what ever I am doing. He was happy when I said I was eating the number of carbohydrates listed in the 1500-calorie diet. I am sleeping the entire night. My blood pressure is at 125/72, down from 149/100. I had to buy new cloths, down from size 48 pants to size 44. Hopefully I will have to buy a smaller size in the next 6 months.Steak, bratwurst, bacon, butter, eggs, mayonnaise, and whole milk are all part of my normal diet, along with generous portions of salads. I can eat as much of these as my body wants. I make sure that I eat potatoes, bread, and whole grain cereal, but in limited portions. My blood glucose readings are in the normal range, and they agree with Schwarzbein's findings in her patient studies.The main emphasis of the book is not on losing weight. It is about becoming healthy, enjoying eating, and enjoying a long life. It isn't necessary to immediately make all the changes listed in the book. The goal is to gradually make the changes and enjoy life.

I have been following Dr. Schwarzbein's advice for about five months now, and the change in quality of life has been incredible. I would recommend two things. 1) Do not discount vitamins/minerals. When I finally got around to buying the right kinds of supplements, with the correct amounts of each vitamin/mineral, my energy got an additional boost and I could tell right away that my inch-loss picked up again. Many vitamins directly contribute to the metabolizing of food into energy. And even if you eat very well, you are likely to need more because of stress and other environmental factors. 2) Do not skip over the recommendation about hormonal replacement therapy. Many assume that this is relevant only for pre-menopausal women and only means estrogen replacement. This is not true. The hectic lifestyles most of us are leading today contribute to serious hormonal imbalances early in life. Even if you are only in your thirties or forties, you might want to consult an endocrinologist, particularly if you notice that despite eating well, you still have difficulty losing weight around the midriff and are gaining a lot of weight in the run-up to your period (my case). Many young women today suffer from estrogen dominance, which contributes to these and many other problems (including PMS, infertility, migraines, irregular periods, etc.). A good book to start with is Lee's What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Natural Progesterone: Balancing Your Hormones and Your Life Between Thirty and Fifty. He also gives very specific recommendations on the amounts of vitamins/minerals a woman should take take. Good luck!

I have been following Diana Schwarzbein's guidelines for about 4 months now. I have all the praise for the book that other reviewers have expressed here. For those whose progress has been slow, I thought I'd share this observation. Looking back, I can say that after the initial significant loss of inches, I can best describe my progress as 2 steps forward - 1 step back. There are times when I simply can't help myself but switch to a carb-heavy diet, including sweets and potato chips. This phase usually lasts for two or three days. At those times I gain some weight/inches back, and it can be pretty tough psychologically. The good news is that although at these times I think I've completely shot the results and gained everything back, it is usually a pleasant surprise to find out that the smaller size clothes still fit, albeit a bit tighter. I've noticed that these "binges" happen after the next stage in inch-loss has been reached. It is as if the body is fighting back to hold on to those next fat deposits that are being attacked - and who can blame it! As D.S. explains, our bodies are programmed to gain - and hold on to - fat to provide for times of stress and famine. The beauty of the plan, however, is that once you are used to eating a protein-rich diet, it becomes easy to go back on track. The "binges" are nothing like what usually accompanies low-fat/high-carb diets. You'll find it has suddenly become difficult to eat a whole candy-bar anymore, and there'll be no more of that ice-cream consumption by the gallon. In fact, you'll find the ice-cream so sweet, you won't be able to go past the first several spoonfuls. (Trust me, I tried!) And after two-three days, you'll feel like going back to the plan because you will simply be feeling like a wreck. So be patient. After the next try, your body will give up a few more ounces of fat. But you have to convince it that there is nothing to fear - that there will always be a steady supply of balanced nutrious food, and those fat deposits are not needed. "Two steps forward, one step back" may seem like a slow progress, but it's progress nonetheless, and that's more than can be said about other diets. Eating this way will also free you from the gym obsession. You'll notice that once you've built a certain amount of muscle with weight-lifting exercises, your metabolism will be working without your having to stair-master yourself to exhaustion every morning. I do weight-lifting with some regularity (although haven't for the last month and a half) and get the rest of my exercise from walking to and from work. Even extended business trips, with no excercise and abunadnce of hotel mini-bar temptations, do not throw me off anymore.But the best part is that this way of eating and living has helped me take my mind off food and weight loss and free it for other pursuits. It's the best result I could ever hope for.

I purchased the book early last summer, and read it in a few days. It made lots of sense. I had been eating low-fat/high carb for about five years before, and my weight and body fat slowly crept up. I felt exhausted and hungry all the time. After eight weeks on the healing plan, I lost 12 pounds, and definitely firmed up. I then switched to the maintenance plan, and allowed myself about twice the carbs of the healing plan. I still kept losing, about half a pound a week, and felt great. The heartburn that I have been plagued with for years disappeared, and my cholesterol levels remained okay.Unfortunately, my family and work life got very busy around the end of September, and there wasn't enough time to make proper meals. I went off the plan, started eating fast food, convenience foods and other bad things. Sure enough, the weight came right back. Things should calm down after the start of the new year, and then I'm going back on the plan, forever hopefully.Some tips to make the diet easier: 1) Working a full time job and eating eggs every morning did not work for me. I tried that for a couple weeks and ended up spending over an hour each morning messing with breakfast. I found a good alternative in making shakes from protein powders. I add flaxseed and safflower oils, cocoa powder and fruit to provide the proper amount of protein, carbs, fat and fiber. I make a blender full of this drink in the morning, adding ice to make a cold shake.2) Balance Bars (available at health food stores) make a good quick snack on the maintenance plan.3) The extract of the herb Stevia (also available at health food stores) is a great natural sweetener, an alternative to aspartame. I use it to sweeten my protein shake, decaf coffee and tea.