If you go to any standard American gym, you will notice that the cardio machine room is much bigger in size than the weight room.  Most people know that weight loss is all about burning more calories than you consume.  Consequently, the image that emerges in most people’s minds when it comes to “diet and exercise” is “celery and treadmills,” respectively.  Jim Karas’ book aims to totally flip that notion, and flip the metabolic switch in readers from a “fat-storing” to a “fat-burning” furnace mode.  Here’s the catch – NO CARDIO ALLOWED!

Karas begins by going over an earlier time in his life, when he was an overweight young man who did cardiovascular exercise so much, he ended up teaching a couple of courses at his local gym.  However, he found that cardio did him more harm than good.  He then points out a lot of idiosyncrasies cardio beckons many of its devout followers (including myself): joint pain, respiratory problems, heart problems, negative change in body composition, lowered immune system, and – well, the list goes on.  One of the most memorable observations he made was the fact that cardio and exercise turns men into smaller “apples” and women into “smaller” pears.  That alone had me flipping the pages faster, just like a Harry Potter fan visually devours the latest book in the series.

Cardio’s corollary is strength training.  Karas explicates in enticing detail the benefits of strength training, which completely denigrate cardiovascular exercise when both are compared.  Strength training increases muscle mass, which positively changes your body composition to not only make your clothes fit better, but also to increase your resting metabolic rate (RMR).  This translates into you burning more calories while you sleep, eat, and go online, since you are increasing the amount of muscle you have (which is more metabolically active than fat – each pound of muscle requires an extra 50 calories a day, compared to a pound of fat, which requires a measly 2-3 calories per day).  Also, it is a known fact that both cardiovascular and strength exercise require a progressive increase in difficulty in order to increase the results a person experiences.  With cardio, there is only so much time in a day you can devote to it.  Hypothetically, consistent running may require you to either run faster or increase duration to several hours per day.  However, with weights, all you need to do is increase the amount of weight, and not necessarily the duration of the exercise.  Karas had me all revved up for induction into a non-‘roid ‘roid rage.

Karas kindly includes a comprehensive eating plan in the book, which includes a shopping list, recipes, meal plans, and a restaurant guide.  He is a disciple of the standard weight loss equation: calories out – calories in = weight loss.  A pound of fat contains 3,500 calories (technically, kilocalories), so strength training in conjunction with mindful eating will lead to steady weight loss.  He cautions against high fat consumption and banishes many white, refined foods from his reader’s diets: white flour, table salt, white bread, and sugar.  He is not “low” anything and he advocates a sensible, balanced, calorie-controlled diet for lifetime weight management.

Karas may not challenge the dietary status quo in this book, but he does blaspheme the exercise many hold to be sacred when it comes to weight loss and management.  More holistic trainers are all for a combination of cardio and weight training, but the author highly discourages cardiovascular workouts because not so much because of their ineffectiveness, but also because of the deleterious effects they bestow upon their practitioners.  His book was so convincing, I actually went out and bought some Wal-Mart SPRI Xertube spinoffs to begin my resistance training regimen!

Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), founded in the late 1970s, is a pseudoscience to some and a godsend to many others.  It was designed to be a synergistic methodology that was to be the answer to modern-day psychotherapy, but it has instead turned into a multiple-headed hydra – from a lucrative and charismatic pyramid scheme (with Anthony Robbins and John Grinder as vanguards) to a legitimate science that seeks to improve people’s lives.  This book illustrates the eclectic nature of this philosophy, and how it can be applied to one’s personal life in order to foster measurable self-growth and foment the potentiality of social success.

Despite its loose organization (it has no real governing/accreditation body), NLP practitioners confederally agree on a slightly malleable set of principles that grounds them in their work.  Perhaps the most important of these is that the “map is not the territory,” in other words, what we perceive is only our interpretation of reality, and it does not conclusively pre-determine our past, present, or future.  With this basic premise, NLP coaches literally hone their senses (or “modalities”) into helping others change their map, so that the territory is more navigable.

One of the most powerful techniques for eliciting personal change is “anchoring.”  This is basically Pavlovian classical conditioning torn straight out of the pages of Intro to Psychology in your typical college, with modified vocabulary terms.  The point is to visualize a desired outcome, say, confidence in public speaking, and concurrently tie it to a kinesthetic cue, such as tapping the first knuckle of your dominant hand or making a clenched fist with either hand.  Theoretically, when you harness and concentrate this energy and condition yourself to unleash it at the neurologically-programmmed cue, you can give your Steve Jobs-esque keynote at the clench of a fist or breeze through that board meeting with confidence at, literally, the snap of your fingers.

Humans are social creatures, and interpersonal communications are so important, that some of the most popular college majors in the U.S. are derived from the study of human interaction (i.e., psychology and communications).  Some useful techniques for the establishment and maintenance of rapport are elaborated upon in detail in this book.  Matching the other person’s body language slowly and subtly can help you garner the trust of the individual you are conversing with.  “Pacing,” or matching tonality, pitch, and volume of someone’s voice and their body language, and “leading,” or slowly changing their emotions by changing your body position and voice to match the desired state, are explained as well.

A powerful practice mentioned in this book is termed “modeling.”  Humans, by nature, are social learners.  From an early age, we learn to mimic our parents’ vocabulary, accent, and mannerisms simply through observation.  As children (and even as adults), we seek to seamlessly emulate our role models.  Modeling in NLP can be defined as observing a person’s behavior and imagining what makes them tick in order to derive the rudimentary “skeleton” of their mannerisms.  In essence, anyone can give a speech like Winston Churchill or seduce women like George Clooney.  Robert Dilts, a famous NLP researcher, even claims he has the ability to teach people how to assume the character of historical figures such as Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi.

For those who have heard of NLP, it remains a nebulous, esoteric set of techniques aimed at training unscrupulous salesmen into ruthlessly and clandestinely hiking up their bottom lines through deceit and manipulation of human suggestibility (i.e., conversational hypnosis).  While this may be the case in some instances, NLP can also be used to improve oneself and unleash one’s ultimate potential.  Any body of knowledge, used inappropriately, can induce deleterious acts.  After reading this book, proceed with caution.

We’ve all heard the word “chocoholic,” who is presumably a person who cannot seem to be liberated from the stranglehold of products derived from the cacao bean.  I have some friends who claim that they cannot go vegan because of something as negligible as cheese.  Then, there are the “steak and potatoes” people.  Finally, you might have heard someone allude to “something in our [insert noun: water, food]” to explicate a group of people’s erratic behavior.  The point is that we know something is in our food that makes us want it as if it were a drug.  This book attempts to explain how this is the case in many instances, and how the average consumer can break their dependence on “seductive foods” for good.

The foods mentioned in this book that are heavily addicting include bovine dairy, meat, chocolate, sugar, and coffee.  Most of them evidently invoke a release of opiates, which are the same chemicals that are responsible for the addicting qualities of illicit drugs such as cocaine.  Also, the efflux of dopamine, the “feel-good biochemical,” plays a significant role in contributing to the feeling of satisfaction one gets from finishing a pint of Haagen-Daz or a delectably-palatable Godiva chocolate bar.  Many people resort to these foods when they are feeling stressed, since it makes them feel relief due to not just mental gratification (as is emphasized in other books), but a physiological addictive component as well.  This is not meant to “victimize” chocoholics or cheeseheads and have them develop the perception of an external locus of control, but the fact that there is a physical addiction is used to target its weakness and eliminate it for good.

Dr. Barnard offers seven steps for eliminating cravings.  He employs a multidisciplinary approach, which underlines the gravity of diet.  The “Four New Food Groups” are introduced, which are made up of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.  An interesting claim is that this diet alone, without exercise, has been sufficient enough to lower weight, lipids, stress, and addictions of participants in Barnard’s research trials without exercise.  He encourages one’s engagement in physical activity for the sake of doing it more so than for the synergistic effect it has on the dietary change.

As a vegan, I may be biased when I attest that this dietary change does work to qualm cravings and clear the mind, body, and spirit.  It is a vegan lifestyle that is being promulgated, and it is for the faint of heart (pun intended - cardiovascular disease is the top killer of Americans).  Although I do believe that some foods have addictive properties, I also subscribe to the fact that food itself has been evolutionarily and genetically-wired to be pleasurable for us - or else we would perish from starvation!  This book is also written in a way that places the blame of people’s irresponsible eating habits on food corporations and chemical properties of foods.  Sex and exercise induce the production and secretion of endorphins, which are responsible for, well, sex, and the famous “runner’s high.”  Resultantly, people like to hear others being blamed and scapegoated for their problems.  Barnard can offer as many recipes, tips, and scientific research as you are willing to take, but it is ultimately up to the reader to take the initiative and break the food seduction.

Diabetes, while not [yet] the top killer of Americans, is a nevertheless a ruthless, implacable disease.  The authors of this book are very comprehensive in how they diagnose, treat, and possibly cure diabetes in their patients.  Imperatively, they put emphasis on integrative medicine, which combines allopathic diagnostic tests and drugs with naturopathic holistic treatments and lifestyle changes.  By combining modern-day medicine with the sagacity of ages of the human collective consciousness, an all-inclusive formula is given that can potentially save an entire generation and its descendants from self-destruction.

Synoptically, there are two types of diabetes.  Type I diabetes is diagnosed when the body is responsive to the hormone insulin, but the pancreas produces little if any of this vital substance.  Treatment of Type I diabetes normally consists of frequent postprandial (after-meal) monitoring of glucose levels and subsequent injection of insulin as needed.  Type II diabetes is denoted by a decrease in the response of the body’s cells to insulin, despite the pancreas producing normal to high amounts of the hormone.  Type II diabetes is placated by administering drugs that lower blood glucose levels.  Type I diabetes used to be called “juvenile-onset diabetes mellitus” because it was seen in younger children.  Conversely, Type II diabetes was formerly known as “adult-onset diabetes mellitus” because it was seen in adults who have had a history of obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

The authors propose a periorbital-furrowing account of how both types of diabetes are preventable diseases – yes, even type I.  Type I diabetes is thought to be an autoimmune disease, which would be caused by the body attacking its own cells.  In this case, the presumed culprit of this relentless self-destruction is a foreign macromolecular protein substance introduced at an early stage of an infant’s development.  It is thought that introducing bovine milk into a child’s diet prior to the age of 6 months causes the body’s immune system to produce antibodies against casein, which is the chief constituent protein of most dairy products.  The body then perceives the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas as analogues of casein, and, in a nearly-fatal case of mistaken identity, destroys its host’s own pancreatic cells.  The horrendous results manifest themselves later as diabetes mellitus, potentially setting the child up for years of discomfort from careful monitoring and self-perceived alienation.  Another hypothesized culprit of an exaggerated immune response includes gluten, which is the proteinaceous constituent of wheat.  Other experts believe that a virus attacks the pancreatic cells the same way HIV attacks helper T cells. Type II diabetes, as has long been the credo, is caused by years of inactivity, high-fat diets, and consumption of refined carbohydrates.

After diabetes is diagnosed, the treatment must be a collaborative partnership between the patient, his doctors, and other allied health specialists.  Dr. Murray even includes an “open letter to the physician” that the reader is encouraged to take to his healthcare practitioner, which basically explains that the patient is willing to take control of his health whilst cooperating fully with standard care.  Routine diagnostic tests include tri-annual hemoglobin A1C tests; C-peptide and C-reactive protein tests; and glucose tolerance evaluations.  These are used as progress meters and are compared to regularly established benchmarks in order to assess the success of failure of treatment.  The testing of diabetes is highly allopathic, but this is where the metaphorical roads separate.

Treatment of diabetes is specially tailored to the patient depending on his history: the number of years diagnosed with diabetes; his environment, which includes diet, exercise, and psychosocial support; and the type of diabetes (I or II).  Generally speaking, the goal of the holistically-oriented physician is to increase cellular insulin sensitivity, normalize production and secretion of insulin, and subsequently reduce chronic hyperglycemia while avoiding hypoglycemia.  Diet is given primary attention.  Emphasis on whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and nuts and legumes is conveyed.  Diabetogenic substances, such as refined grains, hydrogenated fats, and injurious chemicals are expunged from the diet.  Also, regenerative herbs are administered such as green tea extract, B-complex vitamins (esp. B2 and B6), omega-3 fatty acids, cinnamon, bitter melon, and PGX (PolyGlycoPlex).  Moderate exercise, such as walking and tai chi, are also encouraged to complement the dietary changes that are made.  Also, stress reduction techniques should be learned by the patient, such as abdominal breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and insight meditation.

This book is an excellent reference book – comparably as monumental as other great medical reference books such as You: The Owner’s Manual and You: On A Diet.  It is a lifelong partner for the diabetic client and his family.  I personally believe that our diets are so perverted that everyone – diabetic or not – can benefit from the counsel given in this magnificent book.  Although the lifestyle changes are specialized for diabetics, people can follow most of these changes (perhaps except for the frequent, fastidious, and costly diagnostic tests) and experience tremendous changes in how they carry out their activities of daily living.

                Steve Jobs is different, perhaps because he thinks different.  If we could get a peek at what thinking differently means, then we may see what’s behind such iconoclastic companies such as Apple and its line of constant hits: iMac, iPod, iPhone, MacBook, iBook, etc.  What this book attempts to do is just that – enable the reader to get a glimpse into one of the greatest minds in the history of the computer technology industry.

                Jobs is unique in many ways.  He is an exceptional CEO in the sense that he is also a celebrity. During his keynotes at the yearly MacWorld exposition or World Wide Developer’s Conference, he exerts what many call a “reality distortion field” – the ability to make his listeners distort reality in order to amalgamate the ideas he is conveying into their belief systems.  His personality, which is notoriously perfectionist, commandeering, and neurotic, are not frowned upon, but rather looked up to by consumers and fellow executives alike.

                Apple’s products are known for being locked up (ironically, the closed-source Mac OS X operating system is based off of the open-source BSD OS and Mach kernel).   However, it is this “vertical integration” that allows Apple to ensure a unique user experience.  One of Jobs’ mantras is that “software is the user experience.”  When you buy an Apple product, you are not just purchasing a material object, but you are also becoming part of an experience.  From the sound of the “hum” upon turning on a Mac, to the spinning spiral that appears during the shutdown sequence, the user knows that his computer will “just work.”  This experience has been consistently standardized across the board by Apple the same way that every Big Mac will taste the same at a McDonald’s or that every bottle of Coke, whether purchased in Chicago or Green Bay, will tingle your taste buds uniformly.  All this is thanks to Jobs’ perfectionism and passion for the integration of design, simplicity, elegance, and functionality.

                After experiencing what Jobs has endured throughout his career, any normal human being would react sensationally.  Jobs has found a way to turn this repressed energy into technological magic.  After founding Apple, he lured then Pepsi CEO John Sculley into becoming Apple’s CEO with the famous challenge: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”  After Sculley’s ascension, he staged a coup to oust Jobs, but Jobs resigned before he could be ejected from his company.  Jobs then founded Pixar and NeXT computer, the former of which became a huge success (to this day even), and the latter having experienced failure.  NeXT was acquired by Apple in their search for a new operating system, and Jobs’ NeXTSTEP OS became the foundation for today’s Mac OS X.  From there on out, Jobs kicked metaphorical butt, taking names and letting the industry sort them out.  He really is a survivor of life, not just in his career, but also in overcoming the usually lethal pancreatic cancer through surgery and diet.

                Kahney does the reader the courtesy of succinctly summarizing the chapter’s main points by publishing a “Lessons from Steve” section at the termination of each chapter.  It was Aristotle who once said that the greatest thing by far is to be the master of metaphor.  Kahney does a superb job of accentuating Jobs’ peculiar and theatrical characteristics through the use of stories and material from interviews with people close to Jobs and Apple.  This is definitely a good book to read for leisure or for inspiration from the second greatest act in history – Stephen P. Jobs.

Collectively, diet books are contradictory.  The proportion of macronutrients recommended by each varies greatly, causing great confusion in conjunction with rising obesity rates.  This particular book contradicts itself repeatedly, since it offers dieting advice from the biggest names in Hollywood, including Jessica Alba and Halle Berry.  The contradiction does not come from the authors, but rather from the celebrities who have their say in what health (albeit superficial “health”) means to them.  The authors hint at their stance, which is a whole foods dietary approach with exercise integration – both of which must be a lifestyle change.

There are some recurrent themes in this book that insinuate the possible existence of “dietary pluralism.”  Many stars eschew bread and other starchy carbohydrates in favor of more natural sources of carbs, such as raw fruits and vegetables.  Exercise is a staple in the lifestyle of the Hollywood elite, and the combination of both is evangelized by stars who actually walk the walk and talk the talk (sorry, Oprah!).  Imperatively, it is Hollywood, and what separates us mere mortals from the Hollywood stars is their indulgence in expensive diet/workout programs and fad products.

Humor is peppered throughout in just the right amounts.  The authors seamlessly integrate their witty comments with some of the celebrities’ strange rituals.  There are sections towards the end of the chapters called “Overheard at a Beverly Weight Watcher’s Meeting” where they will mention some outrageous situations some nameless celebrities have been involved in – all having to do with maintaining a trim figure, of course.  There is plenty of bashing against “lollipop heads” (e.g. Paris Hilton) and celebs who complain about having “fast metabolisms.”

Perhaps the best part of this book is the fact that it offers lucid examples of what the stars allegedly do to lose weight and keep it off. For example, to beat the afternoon dip and fight cravings, one can chug down a cocktail of 6-8 ounces of water mixed with a packet of Emergen-C and Benefiber.  Want to photogenic (*cough* THIN? *cough*) for an impromptu shoot?  All one needs to remember is ears behind shoulders, and shoulders behind hips – this pose may qualify you to be a contestant on America’s Next Top Model. 

A wide range of subjects is elaborated upon, from low ______(fat, carb, anything) to high ______, exercise, girdles, fasts, and detoxification programs.  There is even a popular “Weigh Down” program that has the subject focus on God rather than food and exercise.  The only downside was the fact that many celebrities were mentioned and had their names highlighted whether or not they contributed significant dietary advice.  Just the mere textual accentuation of a hot name, without their input, does not mean they can be included in the count of celebrities interviewed for this book.  Also, there is a lot of tabloid-esque “friends of X say that X does Y to stay trim…”

Overall, a lighthearted approach to weight loss – Hollywood style – with some pragmatic advice is the motif conveyed by this resourceful book.  It is reminiscent of the book Skinny Bitch, which I will review at another time.

In a world of diet books, it is safe to call this revamped diet the “Low-Cred Diet.”  Dr. Mercola presents enticing promises and information that makes a whole lot of sense, but in the end, this man probably invented the word “pseudoscience.” 

His diet is basically a “typing” diet, where people are categorized to one of three dietary phenotypes based on a simple evaluation that is to be filled out by the dieter.  Mercola states that the majority all people fall into one of three diet types: the Protein Type, the Carb Type, and the Mixed Type.  He then gives you the tools you need to make your meal plan based on your assigned type.  The catch is, you must pay for an online subscription to his website to be able to be typed in the first place!  What is the point of knowing what a Mixed Type can eat if you do not know what type you are in the first place?  To top things off, some of the sparse advice he peppers throughout the book is “incomplete,” for you can get the full story on his website.  If you stumble on his website as you Google for low-carb advice, you cannot continue to read his articles without seeing a pop-up soliciting your hard-earned money for a subscription. 

Once you presumably pay for the knowledge of your diet type, you can then structure your meals around anthropologically-corroborated “good foods” for your particular type.  However, it is important to closely follow the tiny details, for failure to do so renders the diet useless.  For example, Carb Types can eat, well, carbs, but they must eat a simple carb first (like fruit) before eating more complex carbs.  There is no reason to worry, however, as Dr. Mercola’s institute has kindly produced a color-coded chart with “safe foods” for different diet types.  The only prerequisite is your paid subscription to his program.  But if I know that I will have access to such delicious recipes such as “ice cream” made from raw animal fat, it is well worth it (*sarcasm*)!  However, you must realize that you are taking control of your health, as the title implies, because your diet is being controlled by a man who claims to have discovered these health revelations way before the mainstream academics could.

Dr. Mercola’s disgusting disregard for basic sanitation practices is revolting in itself.  He strongly encourages the consumption of raw (unpasteurized) cow’s milk, despite the fact that the act of purchasing raw cow’s milk is illegal in the majority of American states.  He also promulgates the notion of consuming other raw, unpasteurized dairy products and also the drinking of raw egg yolks (not whites, because egg whites can cause biotin deficiency – see, he does look out for our health!).  I have personally taken a bacteriology class and a survey of humankind’s epidemics and pandemics, and I can honestly say that this troglodytic advice, if pervasively followed, would cause our statures, life expectancies, and birthrates to plummet to points unheard of since, well, more archaic times.  He follows in the footsteps of Atkins and advocates the liberal use of saturated fats for Fat Types.  It almost seems as if offering such iconoclastic suggestions is a way to get “bad boy rocker street cred” in the dietetics field.

Mercola does offer good advice in other respects.  He mentions the fact that our food is literally inedible from all of the processing and refining it goes through.  Fruits, vegetables, and humanely-raised, grass-fed bovine sources of protein are encouraged as well.  The classic defaming spiel against artificial sweeteners, trans fats, and white sugar, white flour, and table salt is presented.  Also, the obligatory reference to exercise is given some attention. This book does have reasonable advice, but it is the same advice that is peddled by food manufacturer public relations departments.

Dr. Mercola is a riddle wrapped in an enigma.  This is a man who wrote a bestselling book called the No Grain Diet, and now he promotes the consumption of grains for Carb Types.  Paradoxically, he evangelizes the ill-conceived presumption that his preplanned, hazardous (in more ways than I can talk about here), proprietary diet is a way for people to take/regain control of their health.  He makes many pretentious claims, despite him exemplifying more corrupt practices.  He begs people to stop wasting their money on worthless supplements and diet plans, despite the fact that his plan is a waste of money when using his criterion for worthlessness.  His book is full of lies as well.  Case in point: he says Weight Watchers is ineffective and has a high drop-out rate, contrary to a study released by Consumer Reports which proves that Weight Watchers participants end up being part of the majority of people who lose the most weight (over time) and keep it off.  Synoptically, if you are to read this book, read it with a grain of salt (pun intended) – although Dr. Mercola would disagree with the salt part of that statement.

Who doesn’t love bananas? I love them, but I avoid them most of the time because of their high simple carbohydrate content (as far as your body is concerned, bananas are just yellow “white sliced bread”). After reading this book, one can’t help but to have a paradoxically-insatiable craving for this ubiquitous fruit. Where’s the paradox? The irony lies in the banana’s esoteric history.

Koeppel suggests that perhaps the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden was the banana, based on biblical accounts from other languages and transliterational glitches. Not only did the world’s first man and woman subsist on this fruit, but it currently feeds millions worldwide. After wheat, corn, and rice, bananas come in fourth in worldwide consumption and production. The author has personally tried over 20 bananas from 5 different continents and loves them all. I love baby bananas, which put the Cavendish, the popular supermarket banana, to shame.

The forerunner to the Cavendish was the Gros Michel, which had more intense flavor and color. However, it perished due to pervasive infection with a fungus colloquially-dubbed “Panama disease.” The point of that tidbit: the Cavendish, and the banana as we know it, is in serious trouble. The Cavendish has fallen prey to a similar pest, and scientists worldwide are on a race against time to develop a resistant breed of banana that will resist this and other bugs. However, international laws would indirectly prohibit the consumption of the hybrid fruit, since many European nations ban the consumption of genetically-engineered food. Why not interbreed like with other plants? Bananas are sexually sterile, and they are clones of each other – what harms one harms the other and the rest. Big trouble, that is. Genetic engineering may be the last hope our beloved Cavendish has to survive.

People love to shop at the expensive “Banana Republic” store, owned by the Gap, a company whose Machiavellian practices are notorious – child-labor sweatshops and subsequent markups of several hundred percentage points to turn a handsome profit. The etymology of the store name bears resemblance to original practices. United Fruit, now known as Chiquita Banana, is responsible for what can be conservatively referred to as crimes against humanity. They have killed and exploited thousands upon thousands of Latin American banana growers since the day of their inception. Hence the colloquialism they are assigned by Latin Americans: “El Pulpo” (=The Octupus). They have created governments, moved them, and undermined them, hence the name of the Central American satellite nations – “Banana Republics.”

Bananas were once a fantasy, then a rarity, followed by a luxury. Currently, they’re a commonality, and they are soon to be a tragedy. Americans eat more bananas than apples and oranges combined! What are we to do? Koeppel covers the bases for what the future holds for the banana.

I do not know what compelled me to pick this book up and read it over two days, but I am glad I did. It is filled with insightful information, random (yet contextually-appropriate) trivia, and a surreal historical account into what has now become America’s number one fruit. Soon we will be saying that this book and the history of the banana is as “American as Banana Bread.” A must read for anyone interested in taking a break from the usual book genres – this book is in a category all by itself.

Neuro-linguistic programming is unknown to many and esoteric to those who have at least heard of it. It was founded by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, both of whom wanted to emulate the top dogs of psychology in the mid-20th century, such as Fritz Perls’ of Gestalt Therapy fame. One of the main tenents is the notion of anything being possible by anyone as long as somebody else has done it. Bandler and Grinder systematically abandoned characteristics of Perls that were not responsible for the theatrical persona he used to gain influence and trust over his subjects and peers: most notably the chain smoking and thick German accent. What was left at the core was what leads me to the point of this book…

Parallel to diet books, there seems to be an endless array of self-help psychology books that appears to overburden bookshelves everywhere. The problem with these books is that they attempt to teach one how to be someone one is not. NLP is different in that it teaches one how to be a different person, whilst taking the conducive characteristics of a subject one wishes to emulate. The use of mental rehearsals and involvement of tactile/kinesthetic, visual, auditory, and gustatory learning modes is imperative to the mental reprogramming one must perform. To get to the pure, malleable part of one’s psyche, a special “mind language” must be used - hence the name of this miraculous methodology that many psychologists defame as a pseudoscience.

This book begins by teaching one how to think differently. Next, it shows how reiteration of more productive thoughts will lead to productive actions, which will in turn lead to measurable and palpable changes that not only serve as positive experiences, but also as positive reinforcement and powerful motivation to continue the auto-amelioration process.

[In]famous techniques for gaining an upper hand in interpersonal communications are touched up on lightly, such as pacing, leading, and basic rapport establishment. These universal skills are pliable, for they can consequently be used for persuasion and the creation and solidification of meaningful relationships. Of course, the prerequisites for these benefits include self-discovery and self-discipline. The authors also strongly recommend that in order to gain the full benefits from the book’s techniques, the exercises peppered throughout the book should be done when prescribed.

Overall, this book is nothing new to people conversant in NLP. For newcomers, this is a perfect introduction to the potentially life-changing science that NLP began as, is, and will continue to evolve as. It is an interesting “nontextbook-esque” survey into what psychology should have been.

As we all know (and based on the genre predilection of my past reviews), dieting is one of America’s national pastimes, right up there (and perhaps superseding) baseball.  Never before have there been so many diets, and at the same time so many people wanting to change their physical appearance through said diets.

Personally, I can attest that Ornish’s comprehensive lifestyle modification program has worked for me, and this book makes it sound a lot easier than many people think it is.Ornish is the passive “yin” to Atkins’ more volatile “yang.”  While Atkins touted the miraculous benefits of the paradoxical high-fat, high-protein diet, Ornish vouched for the opposite: a diet that is low-fat, low-calorie, and low in animal derivatives.  People criticized Ornish for being too restrictive in his dietary mandates.  However, Ornish was one of the first iconoclastic physicians who proved that heart disease could be reversed through a comprehensive lifestyle modification program.

Ornish updates his diet by putting all foods on a “spectrum,” which is not “good” or “bad.”  You can be on the “healthier” end of the spectrum some days, and gravitate towards the more “unhealthier” side on days you bathe in Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey.  He also emphasizes a psychosocial approach to weight loss, health restoration, and illness prevention.  Yoga and meditation are staples in the plan, and they are given as much (or more) emphasis as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.  Social support and a conducive, holistic environment are glorified, and just about any other aspect of Maslow’s hierarchy and humanistic psychology in general.

Ornish’s tone throughout the book is very nonjudgmental and empathetic.  He periodically mentions his infatuation with cacao products, and uses such anecdotes to prove the point that if you are going to sin, you might as well do it in style and in moderation.  Exercise is given a succinct yet comprehensive rundown, and he admits that even the little steps count.  Systems theorists will rejoice at the general insinuation of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts - which holds true for any biopsychosocialspiritual factors.Quite frankly, this book is a repackaged version of Ornish’s original groundbreaking diet.  Having been an independent “health contractor” for the likes of Frito-Lay/Pepsico and McDonald’s, perhaps it was not in Ornish’s best interest to go around food bashing.  As always, he puts an unexpectedly (to neophytes of Ornish’s publications) large emphasis on spiritual awareness and mindfulness, for he even includes a guided meditation DVD, hosted by his wife, with every copy of his book.

This book serves as a good review for vegans like me, and it deserves a close look by people in all walks of life - no matter what end of the spectrum one is on.