JJ Virgin

I asked for this book (it was an ARC) not so much because I wanted to lose weight, though I surely need to, but because I've become very interested in nutrition. I want to feed good food to my children --of course-- and also to my husband and myself who are getting older.

WHAT'S COVERED
--THE VIRGIN DIET book provided a boat load on info on sugar, carbs, synthetic foods, GMOs etc.
--the book covered Virgin's 3-Part program
--there are recipes
--there is a reference section

WHAT I LIKED
--I really show more liked the discussion of nutrition in this book. The author obviously knew her stuff and her references were up-to-date. The oldest reference was 1987, but most were in the last 7-years.
--I liked the author's presentation of the information. It was well organized and clearly stated.
--I liked her approach which views food as a source of 'information' for the body. It's a model that ties in well with how hormones and chemicals work.

WHAT I WASN'T THRILLED ABOUT
--While the author takes a logical approach to implementing this dietary plan, it will be a difficult one for many people to follow. Ceasing to eat eggs, dairy, gluten, sugar-and-sugar substitutes, soy, corn, and peanuts for even 3 weeks is going to be tough.
--Ingredients are not easy to find locally. I mean, if Whole Foods doesn't have pea-rice protein powder, who will?
--Finding grass-fed beef and free range chicken is going to be difficult for many people. (You need these to not be fed any corn or soy products or by-products)

Now, if I can backtrack, let me say something about the Diet plan itself. The idea is that some people (note that this is some and not all) find it difficult to loose weight because of the toxicity of modern foods. They cause inflammation and this disrupts the normal function of our body, sending it the store-fat message. [Excuse me for this briefest of summations, but I wanted to give you an idea of what the program is about.]

The idea is to remove all foods that the body might be sensitive to, for long enough for the body to clear itself of the inflammatory elements. At that time you can re-introduce the foods, one at a time, to see whether you can tolerate them. If you can't, you drop that item for an extended period, before you try it again. You benefit from doing this, by feeling much better, and by --one hopes-- loosing weight.

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I thought that the arguments presented in this book were very convincing. I'm a fairly suspicious and critical audience and I like that there were authoritative studies that backed what this nutritionist was saying.

And this is why I've given the book 4-STARS. Because I think you should read this book for the information it delivers... not necessarily because it's a diet you'll be able to follow.

I learned a lot. It was well written and I will recommend it to family and friends.

Pam T show less

This book was very interesting, but it did not convince me to actually try the Virgin Diet. I found that the cover was a bit misleading, "Drop 7 foods, lose 7 pounds, just 7 days", it wasn't until later in the book where you found out that there are different cycles that go into this diet and some take up to 3 months to complete. One reason that I was reluctant to try the diet was because of the cost of the vegan protein shakes, one 2LB container costs around $60. But don't get me wrong, show more just because I didn't try the diet does not mean that I didn't like the book. The book taught me a lot of things that I can do better to feel better. For example, eating dairy causes acne and eating tilapia is better than eating grouper because a grouper has a high level of mercury. show less

Consider this a change in habits rather than a diet and it will work better. JJ Virgin helps you understand why to drop the 7 foods instead of just telling you to do it. It's amazing the lack of quality and junk we are willing to put into our bodies just because we don't know any better. This is really good for anyone, not just those trying to lose weight. If your stomach hurts, you are tired all the time, can't sleep, or you just don't feel good, it's worth giving it a try.

I lost 15 pounds show more and have kept it off for six months. I have added back some of the foods, and was even "bad" for a while. I didn't gain weight back but felt terrible so I went through the process again.

The main thing I would suggest that she doesn't stress enough is, make sure you have enough food prepared to get you through a few days at a time. We are a "I need it now" kind of country so grilling several chicken breasts and cooking lots of rice is a good idea. show less

Just another slapped-together diet book, too breezily written, too chatty. It includes some nice summaries of foods with sugars that might not be obvious, but the whole thing should have been summarized in a blog post.