The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat well. Enjoy Life. Lose weight. Paperback – January 1, 2013

I suppose I count as a biased reviewer: I started following the guidelines in this book ten days before Thanksgiving, and two months and three holidays later I'm fifteen pounds lighter--at 56, back to my optimal weight from my 30s and optimistic about staying there. What surprised me the most was how painless the process was: I wasn't unduly hungry or obsessed with food, and had little problem sticking to the guidelines when those around me were having second helpings of turkey and pecan pie. As other reviewers have pointed out, the Mayo Clinic approach is your basic common-sense diet, but what makes this book go beyond general admonitions to "eat the food pyramid" and "control portions" is (1) clear specific rules and suggestions, and (2) a canny approach to behavioral modification, consisting of the more rigorous 2-week startup followed by what is meant to be lifelong change in habits.Based on my experience, the most critical components of the plan are the focus on fruit/veggies/whole grains, elimination of sugar and alcohol for 2 weeks and careful monitoring thereafter, and attention to portion size. I frankly didn't bother with the suggested food journaling, but it could be useful for someone who has never really paid attention to what they eat. The one extra thing I did that I found useful was to invest in a good electronic kitchen scale that I used especially at the start to get accurate measures of weights/calories for things like nuts (a 75-calorie portion is surprisingly small; once you internalize things like this, you can mostly do without the scale).[Update after about 6 months: have held steady at target weight, sticking to the basic outline of the book but no longer "dieting" per se. If I were doing it over again, I would have done one thing differently: included a lot more strength/resistance training in addition to aerobic exercise from the start. I lost lean muscle mass along with fat and have been focusing on building that back up. I'd call that a shortcoming of the book, as resistance training is mentioned only in the "additional tips" section where it should really be an integral part of a weight loss plan, IMO.]

I have had the privilege of being treated at the Mayo Clinic, and as part of that evaluation I had a consultation with a registered dietitian on their staff. This book contains nearly all the information and guidance she gave me (without the personalized dietary prescription, of course), as well as a lot of helpful advice on coping with the behavioral issues associated with weight control.I have followed this plan fairly closely for three weeks and have lost more weight than I really expected to. Other reviews describe the two stage approach taken by the book, so I won't repeat that here.Good things about the book: it's beautifully produced, with well designed pages, all in full color, and for once some of the people shots actually show overweight people. The tables given for calorie intake at various weight levels and especially the "calories burned" tables for activity recognize that some people are quite overweight and go up to high weight levels. The book quite straghtforwardly recognizes that the way to lose weight, permanently, is to consume fewer calories than your body uses - ultimately that is the only way. And by focusing on eating healthy foods, especially fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, the book tries to help you change your habits. Despite the criticism of another reviewer, I did not find that the book recommended highly processed foods. They are included in the book's tables for helping you determine how many servings of each food category you eat each day, but they are not "starred" foods, which means they are not recommended foods. Instead the recommendation is for fresh foods whenever possible, and for minimally processed foods otherwise. In the real world I live in, organic, locally grown produce, meat, and dairy is not obtainable within a 50 mile drive of home - so any diet that doesn't recognize that reality won't work for me. I also don't mind the word "diet" in the title. Diet in its larger sense simply refers to the food we consume. We can have a healthy diet or an unhealthy one. This one is healthy. Finally, this book is unequivocal that physical activity is essential to weight management, and it offers many suggestions for how to incorporate physical activity into your daily life.Bad things about the book (why it didn't get 5 stars): The few recipes included make a ridiculously large number of servings - usually 8. They are useless for me and I suspect for most households. Might as well have left them out, really. The opening "Lose It!" section, though intended to simplify your food decisions for two weeks, was surprisingly hard to comprehend - I found myself going back on a daily basis to re-read sections to make sure I understood what I was supposed to be doing. Some of the guidelines proved impossible for me to follow. For instance, given the work I do, the requirement that no more time be spent in front of a TV or computer screen than is spent exercising would have meant that I spent every waking moment away from my job exercising. The overall reading difficulty level was a little high, but perhaps not unreasonably so - someone who is willing and able to buy and read a book can probably read this one.As other reviewers have noted, this is not a book with "breakthrough" new information. Most "breakthrough" weight loss information comes attached to diet scams and money making schemes, anyway. This takes what you probably already know, adds some things you should know, and packages it into a workable plan for managing your weight. With few reservations I recommend the book

This is a great book to get you back on the diet train, and it works! And it's easy to follow and you are totally in charge.Several basic rules -- 5 things to do, 5 things to not do, and 5 bonus things to do if you want to. The bonus steps include keeping a food journal for those who like the food journal approach, but for those who don't have the patience for or who have burned out on that approach, no worries. You're not perfect? Oh my goodness! Well, Mayo Clinic doesn't want you to hate yourself. They want you to strive, of course, but 'good enough' is the standard of performance that will get you where you need to go. So you won't need to beat yourself up along the way.I've lost 21.5 pounds in slightly less than three months, and I've eaten whatever I've wanted to, following the common sense guidance of this book. It's been a sure and steady loss. On another program this would have been a huge deal to celebrate (and tempt me to party with lots of calories)-- but this is just a step toward my optimal weight and since I feel no pressure from following the diet I feel no pressure to stray from it.Sure, the rules are the basic 'good eating' rules I've known for years, but the motivation to follow them is what this book offers in spades. I'm glad I bought it.p.s. disclosure: I don't work for Mayo Clinic and don't know anyone who does : )