The Woman's Day Weight-Loss Plan: Lose Weight, Eat Right, Be Fit and Feel Great at Every Stage of Life!

I bought this book when it was first published and immediately liked the user friendly presentation of vital information throughout the book and the conscientious effort to encourage the use of low glycemic foods before moderate or high glycemic ones as research at that time--and now--shows to be of value, even though it's true that balancing meals lowers the total glycemic load of the meal. In one of physician Andrew Weil's books on foods, he cites reseach suggesting that eating lower glycemic foods is probably best for us in general. While I don't recall whether or not this book takes glycemic load into account, I believe that using low glycemic foods will still be helpful because most of these also have low glycemic loads as well. The book contains diabetic food lists categorized into low fat, moderate fat, and high fat foods as well. The author does a great job of listing the numbers of whole, natural foods one can eat to obtain a serving of fat: so many olives or nuts, for example. It may be of interest to those of you following Weight Watchers to know that if you calculate the point values of foods recommended and follow suggested numbers of servings for each food category based on the total calorie diet you want (1200, 1400, etc.), you can leave the suggested number of servings as is or make one or two adjustments and come out with the number of points you should have a day for that calorie level via Weight Watchers. The author does not mention this. I figured it out on my own. The book is sprinkled throughout with pages and charts devoted to a variety of topics having to do with age, lifestyle, etc; and she gives concise tips one can follow to achieve one's personal, customized goals. There is a short collection of recipes near the end. While I didn't try any of these, they do look tastey. I have examined many other weight loss/diet books since this one, including the new 2007 Duke University Diet, and still feel that this book by Kathy Isoldi is the most useful and easiest to read for the dieter. Ironically, the "new" Duke University Diet seems to be a replica in part of this diet in terms of giving the option of eating a reasonable yet high number of protein foods per day. Ms. Isoldi was the RD for Dr. Louis Arionne who, in about 1991, published The Arionne Diet. That book also has this up to 8 or 9 servings of protein a day plan within it as one option but encourages readers to first try the higher fruit and vegetable/complex carbohydrate diet for weight loss as it is healthier. I've also been trying to find Dr. Arionne's book but it seems to be out of print and hard to locate. Ms. Isoldi's book, however, will do just fine in the meantime because it has more useful charts and lists in it as well as the protein concept. These books do not overdo the protein concept. Kathy Isoldi's book stops at 8 servings as more than that resulted in wrist fractures for women in a famous study.

As a diet veteran of many years and a former employee of a major weight loss organization, I thought I knew it all -- or at least a lot. I read this book from cover to cover. It is full of the most up-to-date, research-based information presented in an intelligent, easily understandable style. I love the sections geared to specific life stages. "Mine" spoke right to me.Thanks, Kathy. Good job.

When I bought this book, I was curious to see how it would be possible to lose weight without doing one of these fancy diets. I haven't been disappointed. I am eating more than before but better, I found lots of practical advice for my every-day life, I don't feel deprived or hungry. I've lost 10 pounds in less than a month, I feel great and want to go on. I am so happy, this book is truly helpful.