I picked up this book, without very high expectations. I expected to see fairly general and obvious advice, like “don’t eat fast food or junk food” and “don’t eat after 7PM.” Boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

I’ve read over 200 books on exercise and nutrition, and this stands in probably the top 3 or 4 books that I’ve ever read on nutrition (other books that were really influential for me were The Diet Cure by Julia Ross, Optimum Sports Nutrition by Michael Colgan and Your Personal Vitamin Profile by Michael Colgan).

Original source: here.

            As the CEO of a personal training company that specializes in helping busy executives and professionals change their bodies, this book is a godsend.

Our trainers are well-educated in clinical nutrition, hormone balance, digestive health, and so on. And we’re pretty good at helping clients change their behaviours.

But The Beck Diet Solution adds some very powerful tools to our toolbox that will help us help our clients even more.

Here is what I liked about this book:

  • It’s systematic. Every day for 6 weeks, it tells you exactly what to do to make weight loss a long-term solution. Most people who lose weight regain it very quickly. But if you change your behavior, and make it into a habit, you have a much better shot at maintaining your weight loss long-term.
  • It encourages measurement. As I always say in my public speaking engagements, “if you’re not assessing, you are guessing.” I’m not sure who came up with that quote (I first heard it from Paul Chek, but I’m not sure if he’s the original creator), but I’m stealing it anyway.
  • It’s not overwhelming. You do one simple thing every day.
  • It changes your thinking and attitudes about fat, eating, and so on.
  • It’s not dogmatic. It works with any sensible diet.
  • It’s written in laymen’s terms
  • It tells you how to handle real-life situations. Like eating out at restaurants, travelling, how to eat when you’re a guest, and so on. So it leaves no excuses, and you feel like it’s talking to you as a real human being.
  • It acknowledges that there will be setbacks, and teaches you strategies to get back on track with as little damage as possible.

Anyways, all in all, I can’t say enough good things about The Beck Diet Solution, and I thank Dr. Judith Beck for bringing this much-needed book to the market.