The Volumetrics Eating Plan: Techniques and Recipes for Feeling Full on Fewer Calories

This is an excellent book. Everyone should have this book!
Since I was never taught how to eat healthy and properly as a child, this has given me the tools so I can now eat healthy, feel full and not deprive myself of foods that I like that aren't the greatest for me.

I made my kids read the book too, since I never taught them how to eat properly either.

I like the pictures that compare the volume of foods and ask you.............which one would you rather eat..........the full plate with the proper seasonings or the small plate prepared the way that we are all used to!

I am finding this book difficult to read. I am sure the information is useful, but I find myself struggling to get through it. Having read several healh-fitness-diet related books, this one was disappointing.

I ordered this book from Amazon, and since I start read it I just loved it. I have tried some other diet plan, mainly are South Beach and Artkins. They worked on me, I lost 15 pounds, but I do not think I can continue to do that. I can not eat fruit and my body felt very very tired, and I was in bad mood. I use this volumetrics Eating Plan, I lost weight, the most important is I feel very good and very comfortable. I can eat a lot fruit and every day I feel very satisfied, and I still lose weight. I am doing very good and I feel I can follow this plan for life. The book says this is not a quick fix but a life style change. I really agree. I feel so good so I invite you to try.

The Volumetrics Eating Plan is not a short-term diet book, but provides recipes and ideas on how to eat for the long term. It shows you how to eat fewer calories by making what you eat less calorie dense. It does this by focusing on foods with high water and fiber content. The Volumetrics approach emphasizes foods with a low "energy density," (calories) that are high in water content such as fruits, vegetables, and soups. The idea is that low-calorie, high-water, high-fiber foods generally make you feel full faster so you consume fewer calories overall. The author's research shows that by emphasizing these high-water content, low-calorie-dense foods, a person feels satisfied on many fewer calories per day.

The diet is balanced in terms of carbohydrates, protein, and fat, and does not eliminate food groups. The author divides foods into 4 categories based on whether a food has less, equal, or more calories per serving than its weight in grams. Category 1 foods should be emphasized and Category 4 foods should be eaten in small quantities. Category 1 foods include such foods as non-starchy fruits and veggies, nonfat milk, and broth-based soups; Category 2 foods include starchy fruits and veggies, grains, cereals, beans, legumes, and low-fat meats; Category 3 foods include meats, cheeses, pizzas, French fries, breads, cakes, and ice cream; and Category 4 foods include crackers, chips, candies, cookies, butter, nuts, and oils. The Volumetrics eating plan allows you to eat your favorite foods occasionally so that you don't feel too deprived and go off the program.

Included in the book are menu planners and 125 recipes with color photographs. The book also provides worksheets for tracking your food intake and weight. Examples of recipes include: Baked Berry French Toast, Vegetable Party Platter, Sesame Mushroom Kebobs, Corn and Tomato Chowder, Minestrone Soup, Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich, Buffalo Chicken Wraps, Charlie's Greek Salad, Tangy Cole Slaw, Tabbouleh, Balsamic Dressing, Minted Broccoli, Ratatouille, Tofu Pad Thai, Nouveau Lamb Stew, Shrimp Creole, Chicken Parmesan, Risotto Primavera, The Aristotle Pizza, and Maple Crème Caramel.

The content of the book includes:
1. Welcome to Volumetrics
2. Your Personal Weight Management Plan
3. Breakfast
4. Appetizers, Starters, and Snacks
5. Soups
6. Sandwiches and Wraps
7. Salads and Salad Dressings
8. Vegetables and Vegetarian Dishes
9. Meats
10. Fish and Shellfish
11. Poultry
12. Beans, Rice, and Grains
13. Pasta and Pizza
14. Desserts and Fruit
15. Your Personal Eating Plan

Barbara Rolls is a professor and nutritionist who worked with the National Institutes of Health, and is well qualified to write this book. The menu is structured and could be time-consuming, yet this should be a good plan for slow and steady weight reduction if you are motivated to put the time into it. It is based on emphasizing low-calorie, high-fiber, high-water-content foods in order to slowly reduce your caloric intake and allow you to lose weight and keep it off. I also recommend a companion book, THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong, Live Your Dreams

I've been watching my weight for years - watching it go up, and up, and up. Until I found this book and it's companion, The Volumetrics Weight Control Plan, I was bogged down by a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. Now - not so much. It didn't turn me into a food saint overnight, but it made me look at what I was eating and choose better ways to pack everything I really liked in 1800 calories a day. I started doing that, and I started losing weight immediately. This eating plan (hate saying the word "die-it") really works, and kids, if it works for me - the self-pitying fat lady - it'll work for you. It's got great recipes and sound medical research to back up the premise. It's not flashy or glitzy. She's not trying to sell supplements or miracle cures. She just tells you how to feel full on fewer calories. There's nothing revolutionary about the science, just the presentation. If you want to lose weight permanently - this is the books, kids. You'll feel full, eat all those things you love, and lose weight. Honest!