20/30 Fat & Fiber Diet Plan

Medical research proves that there's only one way to safely and permanently lose weight: eat less fat and more fiber. Bestselling authors Gabe Mirkin, M.D., and Barry Fox, Ph.D., show you how this simple, practical, life-changing program of delicious low-fat, fiber-rich foods not only aids in weight loss, but also lowers the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and many forms of cancer.

The 20/30 Fat & Fiber Diet Plan gives you all the tools you'll need, including:

• A handy keychain counter to help you track your daily intake of fat and fiber grams

• Over 100 delicious high-fiber, low-fat recipes

• A list of over 5,000 food products with their fat and fiber gram counts, coded to let you know at a glance what you can eat freely, what you can enjoy less often, and what you should avoid.

By increasing dietary fiber to 30 grams a day (with beans, whole grains, and vegetables), and by moderately cutting fat intake to 20 grams, they say that permanent weight loss can be achieved-- without painful hunger pangs, headaches, or petulant fits of rage that threaten your long-term relationships. This is the very diet that TV talk-show host Larry King credits with saving his life.

Of course, this is the diet that everyone knows they should be following. Eating a low-fat, high-fiber diet including vegetables has been shown to help prevent colon, breast, lung, and other kinds of cancers; helps keep the heart healthy; may prevent adult-onset diabetes; and lowers blood pressure. But having a life often gets in the way of eating right. That's where the hundred easy-to-prepare recipes in The 20/30 Fat and Fiber Plan come in, including Southwestern Bean Dip, Extra Quick Chili, and Sicilian Minestrone. Few recipes require more than 10 ingredients, and most can be made in less than half an hour. More than 100 pages of fat and fiber counts for thousands of foods, including take-out and brand-name items, make it easy to follow the plan while eating on the run.

The 20/30 Fat and Fiber Plan recognizes that humans are, after all, fallible, so you're allowed to "cheat" on the diet. "The 19 Meals Rule" says that each week, if you follow the plan for 19 meals, you can eat whatever you want for 2 meals. While the authors say not to stuff yourself, this does make the 20/30 plan one you can follow even while eating out. They also avoid the a word (aerobics) and give guidelines for playing away excess weight.

Hallelujah, a sensible weight-loss plan that improves your health, rather than endangering it like so many diet fads of late! --Erica Jorgensen