Weight Loss that Lasts: Break Through the 10 Big Diet Myths (Weight Watchers Series) »

JAMES M. RIPPE, M.D., is Associate Professor of Medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He is the Founder and Director of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute in Shrewsbury, Mass., one of the largest nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle medicine research organizations in the United States. He has written or edited more than 25 books, ranging from Heart Disease For Dummies® to the world's leading textbook on intensive care medicine. His work has been featured on the Today show, CNN, and the CBS Evening News, as well as in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

KAREN MILLER-KOVACH is Chief Scientific Officer of Weight Watchers International, Inc. With its mission of helping people reach and maintain a healthy weight through a comprehensive weight- management program that is based on the latest science, Weight Watchers meetings provide the coaching and tools to help people make positive changes for lasting weight loss.

Following the Weight Watchers approach to eating healthy, this book addresses ten perceptions about weight loss and health, and clarifies what current research shows to be true. Rippe (Tufts University School of Medicine) examines the role of willpower, exercise, fats and carbohydrates, metabolism, and personal relationships in achieving long-term weight loss. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Publishers Weekly

This straightforward, kindly volume provides a logical discussion of weight loss and the steps required to achieve and sustain it. Rippe (Heart Disease for Dummies), founder of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute (a nutrition, exercise and medical research organization), shares his own stories of weight gain and loss in the book's introduction, then spends the following 10 chapters breaking down what he identifies as the most popular weight-loss myths (e.g., "you can't lose weight and keep it off"; "you can lose weight with exercise alone"; "calories don't matter-avoid fats or carbs to lose weight successfully"; "you can boost your metabolism by what, how, and when you eat"). Each chapter includes an explanation of a myth and the kernels of truth and valid research that led to its perpetuation. Of course, the underlying basis for the book is that the way to achieve lasting, healthy weight loss is to follow the Weight Watchers method, and Rippe includes personal triumph stories from followers of that program. That quibble aside, a list of levelheaded suggestions (such as "Identify your five temptation foods. Develop specific strategies for dealing with them in a way that will reinforce learning the skill of flexible restraint") do clear away much of the confusion surrounding weight loss. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.