The Leptin Diet: How Fit Is Your Fat? (Take Charge) [Paperback]

If you want the correct information about leptin, this is the book you will want to read. Byron Richards is a clinical nutritionist and the only author writing about leptin that will give you the correct information; the only author that will tell you the truth. It is easy to read and the science is represented in a format that is easily understood. What you learn will turn conventional thought on its ear. Other than the new science about the discovery (in 1996), importance and function of leptin, most of the nutritional science explained has been known for decades. Richards explains it in a way your biology teacher never could. Even doctors that know this science have fallen prey to the pervasive myths about diet in this country and are not giving patients correct information to change weight and improve health. My practitioner hadn't even heard of leptin and it is one of the biggest discoveries ever, in human biology.

I purchased all three of the books on Amazon dealing with leptin. (see my other reviews) The Leptin Diet is the only book that tells you the truth about the ever important issue of snacking. Richards is incredibly thorough in explaining what happens when your body is digesting the food you just ate and how snacking disrupts that crucial process leading to leptin resistance, insulin resistance and obesity. Eating according to Byron Richards' 5 Rules will restore the natural function of your hormones (particularly leptin and insulin)and is the only way to take weight off and keep it off. Don't be mislead by the title. This actually isn't a diet as we are all used to interpreting that word, but is actually the way all humans ought to be eating. I've tried many diets (the reason my leptin was out of whack) including Weight Watchers. I always lost weight but had cravings for sweets and carbs while dieting that continually derailed the effort and made it especially hard to keep off the pounds lost. Richards explains why this happens with dieting and why, when you lose weight following the 5 Rules, your body is forever rid of cravings and your weight will stablize for life. Following the 5 Rules is an easy way to eat: three meals a day, no snacking, and not eating after dinner are three of the rules that turn people off right away. I know what you're thinking as you read this---I can't do that, I need my snacks to get me through the day and at night to help me sleep. My reaction was the same and I argued with a friend recommending this book why it was necessary to eat every 3 hours which is what we've all been taught since the late 70's. When my friend told me about the 5 Rules, one being to allow 5-6 hours between meals, I knew, immediately, I could not do it. Well, I proved myself wrong.

After the first 2 days, I could easily go 5 hours between meals and be satisfied. I now eat 3 meals a day eating whatever I like with the correct portions of protein and complex carbs. Remember when Americans used to eat like this? I'm 50 years old and when I was a kid we ate this way, running outside to play between meals. Our bodies were doing the work of digestion and calorie burning while we went about the business of living. I no longer snack between meals nor do I need a snack at night. In fact, the problem I have had with insomnia since college is gone. I had very little energy to get through a single day before reading this book. Now, I have more energy than I know what to do with, I no longer crave sugar and simple carbohydrates, I no longer need a nap every afternoon, and I am losing weight every day. The changes have been pretty dramatic for my friends, as well. If someone told me a few months ago that I would drink my coffee without sweetner or turn down dessert because it sounded too sweet, I would have told them flat out that they, obviously, didn't know anything about me. I think the biggest example of change that says it all for me was the day I realized that the chocolate bar on the kitchen counter had been there for a week without me really paying attention to it. The changes sneak up on you just like that as your body enjoys the changes you have made.

I predict The Leptin Diet will become the revelation this culture needs to face up the fact that we are not being given correct information from our government or the media. Snack food companies have a lot to lose if we all stop eating between meals. Snacking has become a national obsession and the advertising by these companies perpetuate it. Moreso, EATING has become a national obsession, not the natural bodily need it used to be. The human body isn't designed to be ingesting food all day. Richards will explain to you why the myth of eating 6 small meals a day is completely unhealthy. If you love your potato chips and cookies, you can choose to eat them as part of your meal, but you will probably find yourself disinterested in them after your body is back in hormonal balance. I know you have probably heard this before, but this book truly changed my life. Every human body needs this book.

Mastering Leptin: The Leptin Diet, Solving Obesity and Preventing Disease, Second Edition

after having read Byron J. Richards's recommendations my daughter and I started to apply them right away.

Two years ago, shortly before my daughter's 18th birthday, we were both diagnosed with prediabetes and I additionally with high cholesterol and hypertension and given 1000 mg metformin/glucophage twice a day. As we did not want to rely on medication we both went on a almost no-carb-diet. A year later we both had lost a lot of weight and gotten rid of all medications, but then, after about one and a half years of no-carb, the weight started to creep up again, even 'though we were still adhering to these stringent rules, living almost exclusively on protein and having about 5 meals per day. Moreover, we felt totally drained of energy, which was worse than regaining the weight.

So far we are losing weight very slowly, promising but not spectacular, but there are no mood swings, no signs of hypoglycimia, my daughter's acne is clearing up, and most importantly, we are full of energy again and our quality of life has improved tremendously.

We live in Europe. Low- or no-carb is still considered exotic here and you really stick out not eating this or that at friends' homes or when ordering in a restaurant. Now we can just share what everyone else is having as long as we apply the simple rules outlined in this book. "The Leptin Diet: How Fit Is Your Fat" does an excellent job in outlining the main principles. However, if you want to know more you should also read "Mastering Leptin: The Leptin Diet, Solving Obestity and Preventing Disease" by the same author, which I found extremely informative, a must have, about hormonal balance and metabolism.

I recommend the first book to everyone, who wants to get a quick start and the second one to those, who are not only trying to lose some pounds, but also knowingly improve their health.

I thought that this book would contain actual recipes and food plans. In fact is contains the same material found in his other book, Mastering Leptin, in a condensed version. It is all good info but you only need that book or this one, not both.