Idiot-Proof Diet

A Weight-Loss Plan for Real Women

Non-Fiction - Self Help
256 Pages
Reviewed on 03/14/2009
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Anne Boling for Readers' Favorite

Inexperienced people write most diet books. India Knight and Neris Thomas are willing to admit that they were overweight. The two friends joined forces to lose weight. Together they lost 140 pounds. Their idea is, “if they did it you can too.” Both women made a list of why they wanted to lose weight. They readily discuss their failure with some diets and they reason they put on weight.   “All sorts of diets work but you have to stick with them for successful weight loss.” Their diet is based on low-carbs not no-carbs. Neris and India walk you through their weight loss journey. The authors add bits of humor, recipes, and lots of common sense to their writing. Some of the pages are printed on dark paper. That detracts from the book. Those pages are difficult to read. I intend to pick up my supplements this weekend and begin the journey to weight loss. Ladies rush out to get your copy ofIdiot-Proof Diet.

DMC2

This book is incredible! I'm on Day 10 of this eating plan and have lost 9 pounds! It truly is amazing. I've lost 40-lbs. up to now on the less-calories & less-fat approach but this way of eating is SO much less painless--once I got over the awful craving for breads, pasta, chips, etc. I'm just thrilled with the initial results. The first few days were pretty rough from carb cravings but once I got over that hump it's been very doable. I eat loads more veggies than I ever have and everything I eat is fresh. Nothing processed/altered--which is different from my other plan. I highly recommend this if you've "hit the wall" with your current diet. I feel SO MUCH better--no afternoon sluggishness and I wake up not feeling tired. India and Neris are a hoot and I love their daily entries for; it really helped me to read those. A+ and THANK YOU NERIS & INDIA!!! --A grateful reader.

Jennifer Johnson

I read this book in 2 days from front to cover! I love it and I felt like they knew me all too well! There is many funny moments, many aha moments and lots of inspirations. This is unlike any other "diet" book i have ever read. I plan on starting this type of eating on monday. It makes so much sense to me as I am a carb whore! I am also a nurse and I bought all the supplements with no hesitation and I agree with this type of eating as to be healthy. I love eating fresh foods, organic foods and regular fat foods not fat free or light as they are not healthy for you at all.

If you are stuck in a rut, and the scale keeps going in the wrong direction, read this book. It is entertaining and they give lots of resources and web sites for things. What do yo have to lose, it is worth the 2 shirt days of reading, trust me!

Ivie E.

I am half way through the book and going to start my journey tomorrow, to a new lifestyle. However, I want to comment on this book now and will check back in later. These women are hilarious and I could read this book as a novel and laugh out loud, even if I weren't going to follow the plan.
I have seen some comments that there are not enough recipes in the book, this is somewhat true, however I don't think it is a bad thing. The recipes are fantastic, basic and a great guideline for the follower to make changes and try new variations. This is a diet book, not a cookbook. The first thing I did was pull my "Tyler Florence's Ultimate Cookbook" off the counter and flag everything I can make, and was amazed at how much I found.

Another reason I love these women is that they know the important things in life.....there is no alcohol in the first 2 weeks, however, if you want to stay on phase 1 longer, they let you drink!!! Also, beware of the F-bombs, you may not want to get this book for grandma, or maybe you do, because you have a cool grandma!

I highly recommend this book and will be checking back in later.

Bests!

Honest Reviewer

This is really a great book. Well written, humorous and you feel that they understand exactly what you go through, unlike other diet book authors! Only problem I had was with the measurements for ingredients. I need the American translation. But I loved it! Great book!

DMC2

This book is incredible! I'm on Day 10 of this eating plan and have lost 9 pounds! It truly is amazing. I've lost 40-lbs. on the less-calories & less-fat approach but this way of eating is SO much less painless--once I got over bad craving breads, pasta, etc.. I'm just thrilled. The first few days were pretty rough from carb cravings but once I got over that hump it's been very doable. I eat loads more veggies than I ever have and everything I eat fresh. Nothing processed/altered. I highly recommend this if you've "hit the wall" with your current diet. I feel so much better--no afternoon sluggishness and I wake up not feeling tired. India and Neris are a hoot and I love their daily entries for; it really helped me to read those. A+ and THANK YOU NERIS & INDIA!!! --A grateful reader.

J. Erickson

This plan was simple and straight forward, I like that. My only issue was having to give up fruit. I lost some weight and feel pretty darn good!

Dalayna Franco

The book gives you a simple approach on two opinions towards dieting and solutions that worked for them. The book talks to you, not reads to you, which had me reading the book quite quickly. It talks about the emotions that you go thru through out the process and let's you know that you are not alone with the feelings that you are going thru.

gotta lose it

I bought this book on my kindle, and I would recommend getting the real deal paper format. You will want to refer back & forth quite a bit, and make notes that do not fit the Kindle format.
The beginning diet is like Atkins, South Beach, The Zone,
so if you have one of those, go get it out and save some money.
This diet is done in phases as the above diets, and you will be cutting out sugar also - ALL SUGAR, so if you have SugarBusters book, don't need this one. What it basically comes down to is an eating change for life.
Low Carb - and eating fresh organic non processed food. High Protein,
lean meat,poulty, fish; lots of veggies, drinking tons of water, enough to float an ARK, and making a lifesyle change.
Nothing really new here huh?
however, if you are amassing a "diet library", like I have, go for it!

Lynnie V

The book was a fun read. Written with great wit and insight. It is a high protein diet. I found that the perspective of two women dealing with and living in the real world made their take on a high protein diet unique. It was very very encouraging and dead on as the diet progresses to give that pat on the back or kick in the behind. I also purchased the cookbook, but did not care for it. I think mainly due to the difference in Engllish and American foods. Many of the fish dishes were not foods I had ever heard of or probably would ever make.

E. S. Thompson

I spent about 19 years going from slim and svelte to corpulent and colossal. Over the last few years I made a few half-hearted attempts at changing, either dieting or exercising for a week or two before throwing in the towel. I read all kinds of diet and exercise journals and spent a ton of (wasted) money on them.

This book is different.

First of all it is written by two people who have not only been obese and battled through the change, but they are willing to share not only the 'before' pictures but the trials and tribulations of the journey (including the failures).

Secondly it spends the first few chapters just getting to the point of WHY and HOW they got fat (and helping the reader to do the same). It gives some of the lies they told themselves (some of which were the same as mine), including avoiding photos/full length mirrors to avoid being confronted with their overweight bodies.

The perfect diet (IMO) is:

1. The one that works for YOU.
2. The one YOU can live with for the rest of your life.

It's not about dieting, as I've found out, it is about changing your "Way of Eating" and lifestyle - forever.

The Authors: The book is very blunt and straight to the point - which it NEEDS to be - if you can't handle being honest and blunt with yourself then you won't like India's writing. She is extremely blunt. Someone in another review called her "snarky", which I guess if you can't handle bluntness you might think that.

Neris on the other hand has a harder time coming to grips with her weight loss goals, getting motivated and staying motivated. There are quite a few of us who have 'dieted' who can relate to that. Throwing in the towel, giving up, feeling overwhelmed. It happens to a lot of people. I appreciated seeing that very human side of her and reading about her getting beyond it.

I give this book five stars and recommend it to everyone. Even if you do not feel that low carb is right for you as a diet, this is a recommended read just for the first few chapters. Even in the later chapters they tell you that if you skipped over those first few chapters you need to go back and read them.