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    The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin
    The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin
    The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin
    Ebook168 pages1 hour

    The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin

    By Stan Spencer PhD

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    This book isn't about the latest celebrity diet, wonder food, or miracle supplement. It's about creating a personalized weight loss plan—your own easiest path to naturally thin. While you can lose weight with almost any diet, keeping the weight off is much more difficult, requiring permanent changes in eating and exercise habits. Dr. Spencer provides a realistic approach for making those changes in a way that works best for you, without wasting time, money, or effort.

    “A slim volume that has the basics of behavior change, and includes all the ones people really struggle with.” — Madelyn Fernstrom, diet and nutrition editor, TODAY (1/18/2013)

    “There are no superfluous words here, just the facts...This book is not for those who want dangerous shortcuts and lazy, pill-popping tricks. Yet for those who want to lose weight naturally, safely, healthfully and permanently (no matter how gradually) this is simply THE book.” — Be Healthy and Well

    "Dr. Spencer's book presents a common sense, safe, and enduring weight loss program that presents the essential elements of a healthy lifestyle." — James E. Gangwisch, PhD, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University

    “Every now and then I actually find [a book] I am wildly enthusiastic about. This is one...The 10 short chapters cover everything you need to know about taking and keeping weight off.” — Genene Coté, nutrition consultant, Down to Earth Fare

    "If you are looking for a very practical, user friendly, fact based guide to weight control, this is the book for you." — Jennifer Miyagawa, Registered Dietitian, Jenmi Jenmi

    “In order to make a permanent change in the obesity statistics in the United States, every dieter must read this book.” — Cascia Talbert, The Healthy Moms Magazine
    "Very informative, and right on target." — Wayne Westcott, PhD, Fitness Research Director, Quincy College

    "Well-presented and easy to understand, this one is highly recommended." — Susan B. Hagloch, Library Journal (starred review)

    “An absolute must for anyone who wants to learn how to lose weight permanently. It is the first fat loss book I have read that I cannot fault or disagree with.” — Liam Sartorius, fitness and weight loss coach

    “Stan Spencer gives an excellent account of why people so often overeat. Even more helpful are his many tips on ways to eat smarter and live better.” — Kent Berridge, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan

    “An excellent book that is well written and evidence based. It will help dispel a lot of the myths that surround weight management.” — Gary Mendoza, PhD, RNutr

    “This book is information-packed! There are hundreds of books written on these topics, but this one brings it all together in one place in a logical format. I will recommend it to my patients.” — Darrin Bang, DC

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStan Spencer PhD
    Release dateOct 11, 2013
    ISBN9780983571711
    The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin

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    Reviews for The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss

    4/5

    44 ratings18 reviews

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    • 4/5
      After trying every diet known to man, you keep getting frustrated when the weight does not stay off for very long. Perhaps it is time to change your attitudes toward food. That is what this book is all about.Are you an emotional eater? Do you turn to food when life gets emotionally overwhelming? Do not worry about what might happen in the future; focus on now. Relax your mind by focusing on the present, but limit that focus to a single perception or physical sensation. You can also try meditation, or repetitive activity, like lawn mowing or vacuuming the floor, to trigger the relaxation response. Remove thoughts like "I'm so stupid" or "Life isn't fair" from your brain right now. Your way of thinking will become more rational and you will be less of a slave to your emotions. Accept those things that you cannot change.It's easier to avoid temptations than to resist them. get junk food out of your house, or, at least, hide it. Start buying healthy food at the supermarket. Decide, in advance, what you will do when you pass by the candy dish on the co-worker's desk. When the craving comes, think about something else. A craving is a psychological need, rather than a physical need. Look up "calories burned calculator" online, and see just how much exercise is needed to burn the calories in a bottle of soda. Tell yourself that you are not interested. If all else fails, take a brisk walk. When confronted with, for instance, a plate of chocolate chip cookies, mentally make them boring so as to remove the emotional need for them. Add a couple of hairs to the plate, or add a bit of mold to a couple of the cookies. You don't need to go so far as to, mentally, turn them into a plate of toxic waste; keep it simple.It is possible to eat less without going hungry. Add fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts to your diet. Don;t skip a meal; it will leave you tempted to snack on junk food. Get enough sleep, and watch less TV. Physical activity will help to boost your metabolism, and help you lose weight. The book also debunks a number of weight loss myths.This book is short, and it is excellent. This is weight loss without pills, special meals or other gimmicks. It is highly recommended for anyone who has ever tried to lose weight.
    • 5/5
      There's a reason I'm overweight. This will help me get past that, Good guide!
    • 3/5
      This had mostly basic info if you've done a bit of research on weight loss, with a few new ideas mixed in. As far as diet books go, it was pretty good. I just found it dull in parts, and I didn't feel there was enough new info for me to enjoy it. For people who haven't researched or tried different diet ideas, this is a good book to start out with though.
    • 5/5
      I must say that this is the best weight loss book I have read!!!!!!!!!!! The fact that the first issue addressed is emotional eating makes this book a great resource. Many programs can help you lose weight. But, if you suffer from emotional eating, all your hard earned efforts can be wasted. Also, the descriptions on how to tame cravings and binges are extremely worthwhile.The most helpful part of this book is where it asks you to go over all the tips described; choose the ones you are most likely to do; work on one or two of them for a few weeks, and start the process again. My next step is to try the great recipes offered.This book was a short, but great read. I would highly recommend it to those struggling with weight or those who just want to eat healthier.
    • 4/5
      This was a great and easy read for those interested in achieving and maintaining weight loss. It focuses on many aspects of the weight loss process, not just focusing on one thing like diet or exercise. It talks of the mental aspect of weight loss which I liked alot.
    • 3/5
      Pretty common sense book for those interested in losing weight. The beauty of the book is that it takes a pretty holistic approach to weight loss and incorporated the physical, dietary, mental, and intellectual aspects of getting to weight loss. It doesn't push one paradigm over another but it does make people think about what they are doing to their lives by maintaining the weight. The mental and intellectual aspect are what is interesting.
    • 4/5
      The 'Dropout's Guide' was a concise, easy to read book with many simple suggestions for loss and maintenance of a healthy weight. The cognitive suggestions for weight control and cravings were the most valuable and unique part of this guide. Overall, The Diet Dropout's Guide to Natural Weight Loss is a handy summary of good dietary habits.
    • 5/5
      I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway, and it's one of the best I've had the pleasure of reviewing thus far.This is a priceless gem in a pile of pirates gold that is "diet books". Because this isn't a diet book, it's about life and health. The solutions are simple and practical, and this doctor offers easy tips that literally anyone can implement in their daily life. One if the most valuable things is that he focuses not just on food do's and don'ts, but on the psychological, emotional and chemical processes your body goes through in connection with our eating. It's not just about what you put in your mouth, but why. We need to take a closer look at why we do things instead of just blindly stumbling through our lives. I recommend this to anyone walking around in a human body, especially anyone struggling not just with weight but with living a truly healthy life. I'm so glad to have read it myself. It brought forward several reminders as well as explained many things that I was unsure about.
    • 5/5
      What we have here is a long awaited correction to our failure to communicate. Many of the ideas are couched in Eastern Philosophy at its root, so they've been around for at least several millennium. What Dr. Spencer has done is to find the most accessible among them and present them to today's reader in a manner that even the slower comprehending among us should be able to process. Eat good quality, basic, do I need to say it again, BASIC foods in a manner that has a meaningful correlation to the amount of energy one needs to expend. Steady, healthful weight is simple: calories in = calories out. It's been said many times, many ways but the truth of the matter does not change. Dr. Spencer provides it to the reader in small, easily digested sections, followed by recommendations for actual consumption. But no one can tell you exactly what the magical plan will be for you. Only you can make that decision. Here are the tools. Use them!!
    • 3/5
      In this book, Stan Spencer, PhD, uses mindfulness and meditation to help control emotional eating. By becoming aware of how we are feeling, why we are feeling it and acknowledging that we are allowed to have certain feelings, we can better control the way we see food and become less of a slave to emotional eating. Having never read a diet book before, I thought this was an interesting approach and have, over the past few weeks, attempted to implement it. While it hasn't been perfect, it has been a more self-accepting way of approaching weight loss with much less of the typical guilt of deprivation. Not only can his ideas work for dieting but they can also be used as part of a smoking cessation plan. Instead of instictively reaching out for food, taking the time to pause, think about what you are feeling, and then proceeding slowly and thoughtfully, can really help curb cravings. Overall, the writing was clear and I thought this concept of mindfulness and awareness was incredibly interesting.
    • 4/5
      Very interesting. Lots of good information. this is a book I can see going back to often!
    • 4/5
      The Diet Dropout's Guide to Natural Weight Loss is a slim book that is filled with lots of good and practical advice. Don't read this book expecting to find promises of easy weight loss if only you will follow the latest fad diet. Instead, the book acknowledges that the only way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories and move your body more. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to change bad habits permanently. This takes dedication and constant work and the book speaks very plainly about this.While I did not learn anything new from this book, I appreciated it's straightforward, no-nonsense approach. It was a good and useful refresher for me.
    • 4/5
      A good practical reminder of the realities of weight loss. I especially appreciated the checklist in the last chapter for changing the bad habits that got us fat and acknowledging the things we are doing right.
    • 4/5
      I must say, this book was not what I expected. I am not a dieter myself (as in a regiment, usually for a set time, with the purpose of losing weight), though I try to follow a healthy diet. "Natural" has such a broad, varied meaning these days, but I didn't find this book to have much in the way of "this is how we were made to eat" or "organic" type of natural.What this book did offer is a lot of tips and advice for avoiding pitfalls and building a healthy diet. It looked at common reasons that diets failed, such as emotional eating, and then offered solutions to overcoming these weaknesses.This book is not a diet, but would be a great supplement to any diet. It's not what I'm looking for and not what I expected, but nonetheless would be a great resource for many people.
    • 4/5
      Spencer does not have any wacky "magic bullets" for weight loss. No eating pomegranates three times a day or hopping on one foot for twenty minutes. This is solid, practical instructions, more lifestyle changes than diet. From ways to calm cravings and stop emotional eating to creating new, healthy and thin habits, this little book has an amazing amount of information.
    • 4/5
      I love the emphasis on changing your mentality, over simply starving yourself or depriving yourself of your favorite treats. I also love that it forces the reader to accept full responsibility for their weight. Too many "doctors" (usually TV personalities) try to tell people it isn't their fault. Yes...yes it is. It includes a lot of myth-busts at the back of the book (some myths that even the saintly Drs. Phil and Oz still like to promote), some very basic recipes, little cards to help you plan and execute your goals, and checklists to help you order your mind and your life. A good deal of the book deals with mind-over-matter techniques and the importance of creating an environment conductive to weight loss. A very good book you can read in one sitting.
    • 5/5
      Spencer goes in-depth regarding nutrition, but also includes a psychological approach to weight loss. His tips are innovative and truly useful. They are easy to implement, and the book includes plenty of cheat-sheets to make it even simpler. Sometimes things seem to get too simple, positively dumbed-down. For the most part, though, this is an innovative and helpful read and is highly recommended. If the reader has struggled in the past with food issues, this may be the book he's been waiting for.
    • 4/5
      A concise guide to making changes for a healthier lifestyle. The message is not new – eat less and exercise more – but the author provides useful steps to transition into a permanent change. Readers are encouraged to write down plans for accomplishing a goal and post it where it will be seen when it is needed, sample cards and lists are provided to use. There are interesting recipes included and also a companion website available. Many of the ideas could be applied to non-food related lifestyle changes.

    Book preview

    The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss - Stan Spencer PhD

    If you are looking for a very practical, user friendly, fact based guide to weight control, this is the book for you.

    —Jennifer Miyagawa, Registered Dietitian, Jenmi Jenmi

    A slim volume that has the basics of behavior change, and includes all the ones people really struggle with.

    —Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD, Diet and Nutrition Editor for NBC’s TODAY show

    Every now and then I actually find [a book] I am wildly enthusiastic about. This is one.

    —Genene Coté, nutrition consultant, Down to Earth Fare

    Dr. Spencer’s book presents a common sense, safe, and enduring weight loss program that presents the essential elements of a healthy lifestyle.

    —James E. Gangwisch, PhD, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University

    "In order to make a permanent change in the obesity statistics in the United States, every dieter must read this book.

    —Cascia Talbert, The Healthy Moms Magazine

    Stan Spencer gives an excellent account of why people so often overeat. Even more helpful are his many tips on ways to eat smarter and live better.

    —Kent Berridge, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan

    An absolute must for anyone who wants to learn how to lose weight permanently. It is the first fat loss book I have read that I cannot fault or disagree with.

    —Liam Sartorius, fitness and weight loss coach

    This book is information-packed! There are hundreds of books written on these topics, but this one brings it all together in one place in a logical format. I will recommend it to my patients.

    —Darrin Bang, Doctor of Chiropractic

    An excellent book that is well written and evidence based. It will help dispel a lot of the myths that surround weight management.

    —Gary Mendoza, PhD, Registered Nutritionist

    Very informative, and right on target.

    —Wayne Westcott, PhD, Fitness Research Director, Quincy College

    There are no superfluous words here, just the facts. . . . For those who want to lose weight naturally, safely, healthfully, and permanently (no matter how gradually), this is simply THE book.

    —Be Healthy and Well

    The Diet Dropout’s Guide to Natural Weight Loss: Find Your Easiest Path to Naturally Thin

    By Stan Spencer, PhD

    Published by Fine Life Books at Smashwords

    Copyright 2013 Stan Spencer

    All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

    ISBN 978-0-9835717-0-4 (paperback)

    ISBN 978-0-9835717-1-1 (ebook)

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2011928360

    This book contains the opinions and ideas of the author. Nothing in this book is intended to constitute or replace medical or professional advice. Consult a medical professional regarding your specific dietary, exercise, and mental health needs. The publisher and author specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk that is incurred as a consequence of the application of any of the contents of this book.

    The cup measurement used in the recipes is 240 mL, the tablespoon is 15 mL, and the teaspoon is 5 mL. A calorie, as the term is used in common speech and in this book, is equal to a kilocalorie or Calorie (with a capital C), as those terms are used in scientific research. A Calorie is 4.2 kilojoules.

    To Amy, who is a beautiful testament to the power of the principles presented in this book.

    Contents

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    1. Why the Weight?

    A Less-Active Lifestyle

    The Fattening Food Environment

    The Solution

    2. Why Diets Fail

    3. Emotional Eating

    Focus on the Present

    Relax Your Mind

    Think Healthfully

    Interact Socially

    Do Something Productive

    4. Beat Temptation

    Two Keys to Avoiding Temptations

    Nine Ways to Calm Cravings

    How to Keep a Slip from Becoming a Binge

    Self-Therapy for Cravings

    5. How It Adds Up

    The Simple Math of Weight Loss

    Metabolism Made Easy

    What Makes Your Metabolism Unique?

    6. Eat Less

    Eat More Natural Weight Loss Foods

    Eat a Solid Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

    Eat Less Junk Food

    Eat Junk Food Only with Meals

    Eat Mindfully

    Limit Restaurant Meals

    Get Enough Sleep

    Watch Less Television

    7. Be Active

    Turn Work and Play into Exercise

    Get Away from the Screen

    8. Boost Your Metabolism

    9. Myths

    10. Your Easiest Path

    As Simple as One, Two, Three

    Naturally Thin Habits

    Measuring Success

    Appendix A. Simple Vegetable Recipes

    Roasted Vegetables

    Vegetables in Fried Eggs

    Steamed Vegetables

    Steamed Greens

    Dipped Vegetables

    Stir-Fried Vegetables

    Mint and Honey Carrots

    Fun Green Salads

    Instant Tomato Soup

    Garden Vegetable Soup

    Baked Winter Squash

    Appendix B. Simple Whole Grain Recipes

    Seasoned Brown Basmati Rice

    Brown Basmati Rice for Breakfast

    Oatmeal

    Fried Oatmeal

    Hulled Millet

    Bulgur

    Light and Crunchy Granola

    Appendix C. Simple Yogurt Recipes

    Easy Homemade Yogurt

    Greek Yogurt

    Tzatziki (Cucumber Yogurt Sauce)

    Low-Fat Yogurt Dip or Sauce

    Low-Fat Yogurt Salad Dressing

    Quick Light Salad Dressing

    Yogurt Parfait

    Yogurt Fruit Dip or Fruit Salad

    Mango Lassi (Mango Yogurt Drink)

    Yogurt Chicken Stroganoff

    References

    Acknowledgments

    I am indebted to many friends, family members, associates, and professionals for their contributions to this book’s development.

    My sincere thanks to Michelle Bidwell and Marcia Bang for their careful and skillful editing. Thanks to Tina Campbell for bringing the book cover and graphics to life.

    I’m grateful to Karen Kuhn, Dale Chadwick, Marilyn Wenzel, Liam Sartorius, Dr. Gary Mendoza, John Jurkiewicz, Chris Smith, Diana Silkwood, Lisa Powell, Julie Rogers, Bill Mercado, Kama Perry, Cindy Clarke, Patricia Lowther, and Betty Kelly Sargent for reading the manuscript and providing helpful comments and encouragement.

    Dozens of scientists kindly reviewed those portions of the manuscript referring to their published papers, and several gave additional helpful advice for improving the book. I am especially grateful to Doctors Jack Hollis of Kaiser Permanente, Paul Rozin of the University of Pennsylvania, David Stensel of Loughborough University, J. Wayne Aldridge and Kent Berridge of the University of Michigan, Michael Speca of Alberta Health Services, Ronette Briefel of Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Graham Horgan of the University of Aberdeen, and Andrew Walley of Imperial College London. Any mistakes or deficiencies that remain are my own.

    I thank my mother, Melva Spencer, for her example of healthy cooking with natural ingredients. Thanks to her and my father, George, for supporting and encouraging me in my studies and writing over the years.

    Thanks and apologies to my children. The older ones provided helpful comments on the manuscript, and all endured my lack of attention as I spent countless hours researching and writing.

    My deepest gratitude goes to my wife, Amy, for tirelessly reviewing and critiquing the manuscript, and for her enduring patience, support, encouragement, and love throughout this project.

    Introduction

    This is not a diet book. You can lose weight on almost any diet. But diets end, and when they do, the weight returns.

    This book is about natural, permanent weight loss. Natural weight loss consists of changing the situations, habits, and thought patterns that caused you to gain weight in the first place. If you make those changes permanent, your weight loss will be permanent also. That’s it. You don’t need supplements, specially formulated shakes, surgery, fancy exercise equipment, or any other weight loss product. You don’t even need to track calories, follow detailed meal plans, or learn complex recipes. If your ancestors could be thin without following a special diet or buying the latest weight loss product, you can too.

    Hundreds of scientific studies relevant to natural weight loss have been conducted over the past two decades. This book takes the most useful information from those studies and presents it simply, cutting through diet hype and weight loss myths to provide practical advice for lasting weight loss.

    This book is not about what’s new. It’s about what works, and how to make it work for you.

    In the short time it will take you to read this book, you will learn thinking and lifestyle habits to help you slim down naturally. With this information, you will be able to create your own weight loss plan — your easiest path to naturally thin — in about five minutes. As you follow the path, you will gradually stop gaining weight and start losing it. And the best part is, because of the permanent lifestyle changes you are making, the weight won’t come back!

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