The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet: The Lifelong Solution to Yo-Yo Dieting

A friend told me I might be INSULIN RESISTANT. The treadmill and I had a daily date for 30 minutes, I was eating a Weight Watchers diet, and still I was gaining weight. What is wrong with this picture? At almost 59, something must change. As a yo-yo dieter for over 45 years, it is interesting at this point in my life to realize and read thoroughly about what really is wrong with me. I AM A CARBOHYDRATE ADDICT. Tried and true and what a wake-up call!! Excellent book for us closet compulsive overeaters not ready to admit that there is a big problem. I loved this diet so much and saw it work within 72 hours (I lost inches before I actually lost any pounds) that I sent my sister, and 2 best friends the book, too. This diet regulates the insulin released by the body in response to eating carbohydrates. The less insulin released (by eating minimal carbos daily) the better. Cells are able to release fat (energy) and absorb nutrients. Weight loss is the result. i did not like weighing myself every day if even at all. But it is a must for this program to work for the rest of your life. When I weighed this morning I had gained 3 pounds from yesterday...PANIC set in. But, on pages 132 to 146 (chapter 7), my panic was appeased in reading that daily fluctuations of weight are normal. That's why you take the average weight from the whole week's weights. Averaging is most scientific and most accurate. Natural past tendencies from other diet crazes such as feeling guilty for eating fun fattening sweet tasty and delicious BAD food are history. This diet lifestyle neutralizes all those BAD foods and compulsive habits. The Psychological habits are harder to break. It took just one week for my severe sugar cravings to disappear. I actually had to think of other things rather than food (as those food thoughts were really gone). Gone! I physically did not want to snack (but was psychologically so used to reaching out for food that I had to divert my attention to other things-use your imagination). What a wake-up call!! WOW! Now, after two weeks of eating mostly meat and veggies then a fun (Reward) meal each evening or at lunch, this is something I can truly commit to for the rest of my life. The Reward (of FUN meal as we call it) is the best part of the day. Eat a balanced diet of protein and veggies then enjoy any carbohydrate food you want ...that's right!! ANY CARBO FOOD as long as it all happens within 60-consecutive minutes (one hour). I can now enjoy twinkies, ice cream, chocolate covered raisins, almonds, and pecans, potato chips, rice pudding, baked potato with lots of butter, ranch dressing on salads, and other culinary no-nos on other diets. Once per day for 60 minutes is not a binge it is fun, rewarding, and good for you. Try this diet as a lifestyle and remember, the next twinkie is only 23 hours away.

This is the answer to my 35 or so year struggle with overeating! Not that the struggle is over, but now I have a much better understanding of why I have struggled and a set of guidelines which, if I choose to follow, help me to live free of those overwhelming cravings for food that I do not need to eat! Now, I can feel true hunger and and not feel like I need to eat something this very instant, but rather, I can wait until I eat what is on my plan! This is huge for me. Yes, I am losing weight and that is wonderful, but nothing is better than the freedom from those cravings and the cycle of insanity that I experienced from the overeating. This plan is easy for me to follow -- as long as I am following it. Thanksgiving was great! But at Christmas, I decided I could vary just a little. That derailed me for about a month or so. I went back to the book and re-read Part 3 Strategies for Success, etc. Back on track, with an even greater appreciation for this book. In addition to the freedom and weight loss, I believe my immune system is stronger. I have not had an allergy attack or sinus infection since I've been eating this way and I do attribute it to this diet! Lastly, it helps me to know that I can eat any of the foods that I want to -- as long as I am following the guidelines. However, I do find that as long as I am eating this way, I don't seem to want much of what I used to eat. I am eating so much better now. Occasionally, I do want to try one of the desserts that my family has, and that is perfectly fine -- again, as long as I stick to the guidelines. And it works! I don't have to have more food than I need! I don't have to fight those insatiable cravings!! I couldn't possibly express how grateful I am to Dr. Rachael F Heller and Dr. Richard F. Heller for discovering and sharing this information!

This plan has been life changing! Tip for those wanting to try it - it is VERY easy. I actually started with the "how to maintain lifestyle book they wrote (can't remember the name) that I bought at Goodwill and was so moved and changed by it that I lost 2 pounds just from the freedom of that book. Started the plan the next day (not a Monday or after a binge) and lost from day 1. You won't see weight loss in the 3-5 pound a week most likely, but you will see continuous weight loss and it STAYS off. The statistics of quick weight loss were so discouraging but when I recently had an eating issue and was not following this plan (too much stress and just wasn't disciplined enough to handle it yet) - I didn't gain and picked back up and started losing from the first day. That is incredible! This has become a lifestyle for me and I am so thrilled that I stumbled upon it. The science of what sugar/insulin/water retention do to the body is very encouraging as you see it walked out in your eating plan and subsequent body changes. Best I have felt in a long time! I tell everyone about this way of life. Note to former Atkins - you will feel strange and a little down when eating the reward meal because you will think you are cheating. Give this a full two weeks and you will see the science of it does work. Friend doing HCG and she would cheat and tell me she still lost. Hello - she was eating this plan - but the cheat isn't a cheat! You will not regret one moment of trying this plan out.

So, this diet does work or it worked for me. I did modify it though and I'm not sure you need to buy the book. The rules are that you can eat low carb for two meals and a snack (no more than 4 carbs per meal) and then have a reward meal of anything you like each day (dinnner for most people). You have to limit your meal time for your reward meal to one hour. They explain it as something to do with tricking your body into not producing insulin for fat storage for that reward meal because the amount the body produces is based on the other two meals. Not sure it totally makes sense and not sure it isn't just managing to limit carb intake overall with these rules but I have lost weight on this one. Now, here are my modications. I try to keep track of my overall carb consumption and to keep it between 100-150 grams a day and no more on MOST days. If one day a week or so I have a bit more, I haven't had problems. And I give myself some flex throughout the week. For instance, I might take Saturday off. I don't go crazy but if I want a sandwich or burger for lunch, I'll have it. I also find that I can have up to 10 grams of carbs per hour and the diet still works. That means I can have a half cup of milk in my tea in the morning as long as I nurse it for a enough time before having the next cup, which I tend to do anyway. I can also have a smoothie with a piece of fruit and some milk as long as I don't go beyond 10 grams of carbs and eat half of it one hour, maybe half a few hours later. (And do try smoothies. You can get so much healthy stuff in your body so effortlessly with just a decent blender. My favorite smoothie recipe is as follows: a cup regular or soy milk, two scoops soy protein powder, half cup of berries or small fruit like a peach, and 3-4 cups baby spinach. You honestly don't notice the taste or texture of the spinach, I promise). When counting the carbs in foods, I generally subtract fiber since this isn't absorbed by the body in the same way and actually tends to slow digestion. So if I have 15 grams of carbs but 8 are fiber (maybe beans for instance), I consider it to have only 7 grams of carbs on this diet. Anyway, these modifications have made the diet more liveable for me and are not endorsed by this book at all. I gained some weight on a medication and have found this to be the most manageable way to lose it since going off the med. I hope it works for you too. And also, as a final thought, I don't usually let my reward meal turn into something unhealthy. Still making sure it's balanced with veggies, protein, and carbs makes me feel better and the book recommends this for good reason, IMO. I also find that eating a desert after that reward meal makes me happier so I will allow this time to have that danish or ice cream I crave. This is a way to eat that allows a person to have Dove bars every day and still lose weight. It also allows you to enjoy thinking about and planning that meal and to be someone who generally appreciates food, rather than having a constant mindset of deprivation, which is no way to live and it's no wonder people end up rebelling against this. (Although if you tend to binge, you might have problems with this reward meal. Watch your fullness cues and honor them.) Good luck.

I was looking for a carb cycling diet when I came across this book. As greedy as I am for carbs I wanted to be able to cycle carbs daily because I found it difficult to go a couple days without spaghetti or ice cream or pasta salad, or fruit etcetera. So the Carbohydrate Addict Diet is perfect for me. It is 4:07 p.m. and so far I've only had 562 calories because I am not hungry at all nor am I craving anything during the day. So this leaves plenty of room for dinner and some ice cream during the hour I'm allotted for my final meal of the day. I noticed I do lose weight each and every day. I lose about 0.50, 0.30 or 0.20 pounds a day and sometimes 0.10. I like the idea of weighing myself everyday because if I'm not losing as much as I expect to then I can make some adjustments (maybe I'm getting too much carb/sugar somewhere or maybe too many calories or something). I've noticed a lot of people over the internet are critical of this diet because they believe any diet that would allow you to "cheat" by eating "anything you want" daily is setting you up for failure, but I haven't seen that happen with me personally. It takes self control on any type of diet, but this works for me because I can have my cake and ice cream if I want to or I can eat a ripe banana if I want to. I quit this diet once thinking that something else would be better, but that something else wasn't so I'm back on my CAD diet and here I will stay. I don't do heavy exercise. I just walk for half an hour 3-5 times a week and I find that I still lose the weight and I find that I don't have crazy cravings either. I don't crash at 2 p.m. and want to take a nap and I don't come home from work shaky, irritable and hungry as I used to on other diets. There's no reason for me to look for anything else. I've found just what I need here. I expect to reach my weight loss goal of 16-20 pounds in merely 2 months at the rate I've been going. Good luck everyone.

I friend recommended this book to me over a year ago. I bought the book, but never got around to reading it until a few weeks ago when she brought it up again. Thinking I had nothing to lose, I read it, and soon felt hope that this could be the eating plan for me. Granted, I've only been on the diet for 5 days, but I already feel better and my cravings are much lower then usual. When I "gave in" one night and decided to have the ice cream at a friend's b-day party (even though I'd already had my reward meal for the day) I didn't have cravings for more sweats or carbs afterward. I'm also able to keep cookies around my room without going nuts because I know I can can a couple as part of my reward meal. I do miss the ease of being able to go to someplace for lunch, like Subway, and order something without having to ask for this and that. I've had other eating restrictions in the past (I used to avoid all gluten, wheat among other things, and dairy) and I can tell you that it doesn't talk long to get used to asking for your burger wrapped in lettuce instead of on a bun or for for other substitutions to be made. Personally, I'd say just read the book, take the quiz, and try it if you think you might be a carbohydrate addict. It it a change in the way you probably ate before, but that's the whole point. Some reviews say the diet is too restrictive. To me, saying I can only eat this many calories a day while I battle intense cravings is too restrictive. Bottom line: the carbohydrate addicts diet has helped me stop thinking about food and what I'm want to eat next all of the time.

I am only on my 3rd week of this diet. I have lost 3 and 1/2 pounds. Granted, I don't have much to lose (19 pounds in total), so the weight is really creeping off. This diet has been an interesting experiment, as I'm hypoglycemic and always preoccupied with eating. With this diet, I rarely snack anymore and go 5 hours or so between meals. It's kind of liberating. My reward meal is lunch, so my day goes like this: Breakfast is scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon or sausage Lunch is carbs, carbs, carbs. It's a little bit b.s. about the one-third this and one-third that for your protein, fat and carbs and the 2 cups of salad before eating. Um, no. My lunch today was two plain bagels with chive creamcheese, orange juice and a handful of Hershey kisses. Not exactly a balanced, healthy meal, but not all my reward meals are like that. The point is, your reward meal, if eaten within an hour, really can be anything you want. The book does a good job at confusing you about this. Trust me-- anything you want. You'll actually be surprised how little you end up eating during your carb feast. Dinner is usually a salad of some kind and hotdogs or burgers without the bun. Dessert is sugar-free jello and whipped cream. Yum.

I had this book many years ago but must have loaned it to someone who never returned it. At any rate, this is the only plan I've been able to stick with for any length of time. The people who wrote it developed the methodology by personally using it to lose weight. The plan just makes sense & isn't extreme. You eat low carb all day, but are allowed one "normal" meal daily. That normal meal helps me to stick w it; it's my "treat" every day. Try this, you'll be pleasantly surprised w the results!

Very well written book by 2 doctors who have used this diet to lose weight..This book explains in details the reasons why we crave for carbohydated food and the whole system behind blood sugar level i.e insulin getting high thus giving our brain messages that we are not full, even after having a full meal!! The book tells u little story about obese people who have tried the CArbohydrated addict's diet and have lost weight, not temporarily but its for a lifetime. The diet basically comprises of having 2 Complementary meals a day, with low fat,no carbs and high fibre content and one Reward meal a day in which you can eat "whatever" you like and in whatever quantity you like, you can even have 2 desserts. However the REward meal has to be completed within one hour. Basically the aim of this diet is to change the metabolic events by eating 2 low carbs meal(the complementary meals) which will help in releasing less insulin, so less fat is stored and more fat is used up. When the level of insulin goes low it will allow the brain chemical to act as an appetite regulator and will send a message to your brain that you are now full. The book gives some nice recipes too, a chart to write down your weight and simple and clear instructions to follow. I would recommend this book to anyone who is actually a carbohydrate addict. I love chocolate, all types of breads, which i would normally completely eliminate in other that i have tried in the past. I am trying this diet now in order to shift the last couple of pounds left without having to eliminate my favourite food, which i know i can have once a day a part of my REward meal everyday and still manage to lose weight. On my fourth day of this diet, i have a lost a pound already. The lost of weight has to be slow and steady. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a carbohydrate lover and wants to lose weight without having to deprive themselves from their favourite food.

I have lost 18 kilos on this "diet" / way of life. I haven't been able to keep it long term (although I did contonuously follow the plan for more than 6 months) but once you hit a healthier weight it's easier to maintain it, given that this diet does not advocate calorie restriction so there's no "body starvation mode" to make up for afterwards. I am a Dietitian and estimated my daily intake while on this diet between 2000 and 2300 kcal. I am a 1,59m tall 32 yo female with a desk job who jogs an average of twice a week for approximately 5km and cycles to work pretty often (6 km - no biggie). Overall I think it's amazing advice the book is packed with. Also provides real relief from all the restrictive plans you've surely been on, the low carb, the high protein, the low this and high that. Gives you a reward each day which is fantastic emotional support for your weight loss journey. You do NOT feel deprived, you do NOT need to give up your favorite foods; you can eat them on a DAILY BASIS. This is key for long term compliance to any diet plan. I've tweaked it numerous times as well, making my own versions of the plan, which worked just as well. The truth is, this plan works for me because I personally find it sustainable. Try it!!! And give it time, the weight won't come off overnight.

This is the best diet book I have read and followed. My Daughter gave me a copy about 20 years ago it worked very well. I gave it to another person in need and gave away a few copies to friends since, I have a lot of confidence in this diet because it works. I have just purchased this latest copy and am losing the weight again as you can see I don't have the discipline to keep it off, as I enjoy cooking and dining too much. If only I could make this concept a lifestyle. I would be in great shape. I am 71 years old and to fat.

This is a good book explaining about carbohydrate addiction and how to conquer it. I like it because for your reward meal you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight and feel better. I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks they are a carbohydrate addict or really anyone in general who doesn't want to deprive themselves of delicious food and still lose weight.

Un libro che fa eco al buon Panzironi in Italia. Ormai un pilastro della dietetica moderna