Fat is good-- uh, I mean bad-- no, good
344928
I was very excited to see this book out, and some great points were made, but Ms. Shanker is clearly deeply conflicted.  She swings wildly from saying that dieting is good, to saying that she still diets; from saying that she's always going to be fat, to saying that she reserves the right to change her mind and try yet again to lose weight; from saying that fat women are beautiful to saying that they are "garbage" compared to supermodels.  This woman wears control top panty hose every day.  She says that fat women shouldn't expect to get hunky guys, but should instead go for unstylish, short, and/or bald men.  Most of what she had to say was good, but the bad stuff she had to say was really, seriously messed up.  The attitude was "I'm fat, that sucks, I'll have to bear it."  It should have been "I'm fat, and that's hard, but I now embrace and love it."
  As a big girl battling bulmia, the duplicity of this book actually "triggered" my disordered thinking more than any fashion magazine, which says a lot considering that fashion magazines certainly do so.
  Wendy is on the right track, but she wrote this book too early in her recovery from her deep self hatred.  If she'd given herself another year or two, she could have come out with a much less confused, ambiguous book, and her wit, intelligence and beauty would have produced a fantastic piece of literature.  This isn't it.  I hope she'll give it another shot when she can say in all honesty that she fully ascribes to the concept that Fat women are as beautiful as supermodels in a different way, Fat women are sexy, Fat women deserve good AND hunky lovers, Fat women can be fit, Fat women aren't slovenly, and they don't have to confine the bounty of their bodies with foundation undergarments.
  Try again Wendy.  I'm rooting for you.
4547191
I feel terrible for giving this cookbook a bad rating, but come on, most of these recipes can be found on the back of a Cream of Chicken can.  High sodium/fat dinner for the family-no thanks.  Donated this to my library, but feel badly for the next person that reads it, as they will likely need to go on a statin.  If you really need these recipes, just go on her blog, you'll find them there for free.
3272710
This book is a dangerous presciption for losing weight.  Dr. Atkins recommends a high-fat diet made up of protein and fat, with as little carbohydrate as possible.  This flies in the face of the overwhelming majority of scientific studies on diet and health.  High protein is an invitation to kidney damage; a high fat diet (including generous amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol) promotes arterioschlerosis and heart attack or stroke.
Several people who have followed this diet report problems with dizziness, vomiting, loss of energy, and fainting.  Sound encouraging?
If you want to lose weight permanently and lower your risk of heart disease and cancer, consider following the exact opposite of what is recommended in this book.  Namely, a primarily vegetarian diet low in fat, moderate in protein, and high in complex carbohydrates.  I'd suggest checking out a few other books here at Amazon.com: * Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease * Dr. Neal Barna! rd. Eat Right, Live Longer or his previous book, Food for Life * Dr. Andrew Weil. Natural Health, Natural Medicine.
3622856
I picked this book up on a whim: I'm a fat woman who lost a lot of weight and then gained it back, but I wasn't looking for motivation or miserable company. I just wanted a good story. PRETTY FAT did not deliver. I've never read any of the author's other books, and now I have no desire to. Jen Lancaster, despite the blurbs on the book cover, is NOT wickedly funny; she is trite, condescending, small-minded, and very, very smug. The writing is dated and unimaginative, and the "humor" self-serving. This is not a person I want to spend time with or patronize.

But more than that, if I WAS looking for an inspirational book about weight loss, or even a story I could relate to about how difficult it is, this book would fail. Ms. Lancaster spends a lot of time talking about her food cravings and her struggles on the Atkins diet, how she gained so much weight without knowing it, and how her health has deteriorated enough to concern her doctor. All of these are relatable. Yet how does she solve it? By having money and time to spare. The take-home message of the book is that if you are lucky and wealthy enough not to work full time (not to mention to get a job in which you are paid to lose weight), to pay for pre-packaged diet meals (Jenny Craig), to join a gym and go as often as you want, to find and afford a personal trainer who is lovely and brilliant at motivation, to afford a housekeeper to clean so you can recover from working out, and to have a husband who supports your every mood swing, You Too can lose a few pounds. Simple, right? No. It's insulting. Ms. Lancaster portrays herself as an Every Woman (albeit one who is much, much better than you), but her weight loss journey is extremely different from most people's, because most people don't have anywhere near the resources she has. It doesn't work: she can't be one of the masses while being so above them. She can't have her cake and eat it too, so to speak.

Occasionally, Ms. Lancaster does stop quipping and criticizing long enough to talk about some of the real problems of weight loss. These few parts of the book do work: she touches on some of the hardest elements, such as complete fixation on food and the erosion of self-esteem even as you try to better yourself. But the bad taste of her privileged solution erases any goodwill or message this could impart. While it's nice to see Ms. Lancaster regain her self esteem and reach some of her goals at the end of the book, it's hardly gratifying or inspiring. This is not a friend you're watching succeed. This is someone who had a lot and managed to do something with it. It's still an accomplishment, but not very meaningful.
4349753
He calls himself "The Love Chef," but this guy's recipes are a real heartbreaker -- or, should I say, a heart-attack waiting to happen. Sure, they're low in carbs, but with many dishes containing more than 50 grams of fat per serving -- some even as high as 90 grams -- that's not amore. Proceed at your own risk, and remember, fettuccine Alfredo is the single worst dish you can have in terms of cholesterol and fat; thanks, Chef Anthony, but I'd rather have a plate full of carb-filled pasta and marinara sauce than the artery-clogging stuff you're selling us.
3856580
Not horrible, but by no means good. Look else where for keto friendly jerky.
4797895
My husband and son got an ab work out at dinner from laughing at how horrible these were. There was more fat that anything on these, my dogs were definitely happy though!
1576839
The first portion and the majority of this book is a light-science of fat, types and processes.  There is much to love about fat, it is a vital organ in our body and contributes to long life and happiness.  If you want to know the science behind what is around your middle, it is certainly enlightening.  Dr. Tara does a pretty good job making it readable, and she follows the current convention in science books of giving brief personal cameos on the scientists whose work she highlights.  The second portion is all about having too much fat: some freak events that cause us to be fat (beware chicken scratches!) and, particularly, hormonal changes that contribute to being overweight.  The last section is a review of weight loss approaches, by far the weakest portion of the book -- comprised of solutions and suggestions to combat the fat epidemic.  Not much new here, unfortunately!  Dr. Tara is brutally honest about the exercise and willpower required to control weight through middle age.  The section on intermittent fasting is possibly the most hopeful, though doesn't offer any magical answers.

My magical answer: life is short.  Love yourself.
2241621
I was considering purchasing this book, so looked through the LOOK INSIDE portion provided.  The recipes look good and I was pleased with the information that was being presented right up until I came to the comment about saturated fats that "clog arteries and promote heart disease".  This is a false statement and a Paleo book of all places should have correct information about fats.  Our paleo ancestors (and current hunter/gatherers) ate lots of healthy animal fats, and we should too.
1753301
I quite like it.  I am of "average" build.  Not "average" like I "feel" average, I am actually average.  A bit chunky, nowhere near fat tho.  It fits well and feels ok, but would definitely look better if I lost a few lbs.  Keep that in mind.
3972843
The taste if satisfactory, but reduced fat means more sugar, carbs, calories.  Just stick with regular is you're going to eat them anyway.
1403758
too high in fat.  my dog had pancreatitis and needs to avoid excess fat
4713719
It's o.k.  The whole point of the book is that fat around your middle after 40 is mostly caused by stress eating.  Book goes into too much detail of how the body metabolizes different foods which you'd need to have a medical background to understand.  It was o.k., but told me too much I already knew.
740707
I looked through my moms copy of this book and he just seems mean, especially for a holy person. The begining of the book talks about an overweight person over indulging in food in a restaurant, like thin peopke don't occasionally indulge. A good diet book teaches a person notvto feel guilty for over indulging. And tgsts just what somebody overweight who is trying to lose wright needs to hear, that somebody might be watching them in shock. How about losing weight to be healthy? I don't believe in diets generally, I velieve in just eating reasonably, but I read through his book for some tips when my matabolism started tobslow in my late 20s. This book only taught me how right I was notvto follow diets. Too many processed soy producrs are not good either. He seems like some of themen who write dating advice for women tgst Iv ean into on the web, condescending. I am glad I font follow a structured diet. I think life to too short yo live on doy treats and yo never have a dessert. I care about my healthy but In reasonable.
1966419
Gives a good review of the low-carb, high-protein gurus.  However, eating all the protein and fat you want and forcing the body into ketosis is questionable health advice.  McCullough leans more toward a Dr. Atkins philosophy, than a Barry Sears (The Zone) balanced protein/carb low, but "good fat" approach.  She clearly loves her fat and sweet, calling for "heavy cream" and "aspartame" (Nutrasweet)  in many recipes.  Nevermind that saturated fat has been shown to raise cholesterol levels (linked to America's #1 killer, heart disease) and Aspartame has been shown to cause cancer in rats (and feed melanoma tumors), you can now use them freely in your cooking if you take the author's advice.  Weight-watchers are better off sticking to fruits and vegetables, eating low fat, eliminating sweets, and limiting portions of complex carbs.  Perscription for Dietary Wellness by Balch, is a better read.
92854
I'm thinking this is the only McCall-Smith work that is depressing.  Perhaps it's a matter of political correctness or maybe the reverse: Fatty is truly fat and his excessive size and weight cause serious problems for others and himself (physically, emotionally)--and that's even without considering his health risk status.  But there is no real dinner (then again, McCall Smith often has interestingly quirky titles) and there's no resolution.  Fatty is not happy being fat and causing problems, but he is not going to do a thing about it.
1680599
This book is primarily for diabetics. For them, it could do worlds of good. If you are just fat like me and (thank God) not a diabetic, this is not going to do much to help you lose weight. It will anger you against the FDA for their betrayal of the American people with the food pyramid, it will ridicule calorie counting and just about every other approach to weight loss, but it will not offer a viable alternative.
Dr. Fung's unique idea is fasting. You would think this would earn a large place in the book, but it's a few pages tacked on in the appendix, like the tail on Eeyore. Common concerns about fasting are addressed in hilariously inadequate ways:
How do I deal with hunger? It will go away. Sip some chicken broth. Won't I get dizzy and lightheaded? No you won't. What do I do when at the end of the fasting, I ravenously try to overeat? Just don't.

When your advice for overeating is just not to do it, you obviously have no inkling into the psychology of a fat person. If it was as easy as not doing it, I would have not done it by now, Dr. Fung! FYI, Dr. Fung's writing is tedious. He takes several pages to make a point, then later in the same chapter, he forgets he made the point and makes it again. I really wish he'd worked with an editor because his writing style is like a rambling dissertation (then again, you can't blame him for trying to make the book look more substantial). But like I said, it may change your life if you're a diabetic: obviously there are enough positive votes for this book that it's helping somebody.