If you know me, you know I have this small obsession with diet books. I love to read them and contemplate them and compare and analyze them.

What I don’t like to do is follow them.

So – for today I have a quick overview of three diet books that I’ve read through Net Galley. I have not followed their plans. My goal here is to give you some information on these books so you can decide if you want to read them yourselves.

The first book I read was “The S factor Diet” subtitled “the happiest way to lost weight” by Lowri Turner.  The “S” in the title refers to serotonin. The premise behind this book is that chemical imbalances lead to weight gain and/or inability to lose weight. I liked the premise of this book as it seems logical scientifically. I also really liked how the author doesn’t push supplements but gives various  venues to find these needed chemicals naturally through foods. According to the checklist provided, I need more serotonin and less cortisol in my system. Sounds reasonable to me.However, at the same time, I can’t find any credentials on Ms. Turner. There is no little list of letters after her name suggesting she is a nutritionist/dietician/doctor/etc. Perhaps I missed something?

This book releases in January and is not available for pre-order (that I could find) on Amazon.

The next book I read was “The Zen Diet Revolution” by Faulks, Faulks, and Faulks (one listed as “Dr”),  which focuses on the importance of meditation and in making small changes in order to exact big differences. While I love this premise in principal, I’m not sure it would work for me. My body tends to hit a saturation point where I can no longer make incremental changes (think: marathon training). I would love to believe, though, that I could slowly adjust to eating about 1200 calories a day – over time – and be at peace with that.

This book also releases in January.

Lastly I read “The Virgin Diet”. At first I thought, “Um, may be too late for this one.” However, this book was written by nutrition expert JJ Virgin. She espouses that many people have food intolerances and these are making people’s bodies inflamed and unhealthy and unable to lose weight. As a person with food allergies, this book really spoke to me. It makes sense that if your body is reacting to the things you put in it, you won’t be healthy. Virgin proposes that you cut out the seven most common allergens: gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, peanuts, corn,and eggs for a period of time (3 weeks) to calm your system, then slowly add them back in to see if you can tolerate them. Her byline is: drop 7 foods, lose 7 pounds, in just 7 days! For me, this was a bit drastic. I will say, though, that I cut way back on dairy (specifically milk and cheese and yogurt) and found that my stomach felt much better – so perhaps she’s on to something!

Have you read any good diet/nutrition books lately? If so, let me know!

Thanks, Net Galley, for my copies!