21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health by Neal D. Barnard

21-Day Weight Loss Kickstart: Boost Metabolism, Lower Cholesterol, and Dramatically Improve Your Health Reviews

• 
  David Rubenstein

  I just re-read this book and I still think that it is wonderful! I strongly recommend this book for anybody who eats, especially for those concerned about health and nutrition. This book is designed for optimal nutrition, and I agree with the book 100%. Why? Because eleven years ago, I started following the diet described in this book, and my excess pounds just floated away. It was easy--it was not an exercise in will power, because after a few weeks, I did not miss any unhealthy foods (except for cheese--I still crave cheese occasionally). And since losing a massive amount of excess weight, I have not gained it back!
  
  I have read other excellent books that describe the same diet/lifestyle. But Dr. Barnard's emphasis is a little different. He recommends that a newcomer to this diet just try it out for 21 days, and "get the feel for it." This is an excellent approach, because a newcomer is unlikely to agree to make this a permanent lifestyle change, until after he or she has tried it out. After trying it out for a few weeks, you will notice amazing changes--I sure did! If your blood pressure is high, it will decrease towards normal very quickly. If your cholesterol levels are high, they will start decreasing too. If you are overweight, then you will start losing weight. You will feel more energetic. If you snore, that might improve, and you might start sleeping more restfully. If you are diabetic, your blood sugar level may improve. If you continue with the lifestyle, your doctor will just shake his head in amazement, reduce your medications, and tell you; "Just continue what you are doing!"
  
  One of the secrets of this diet, is the reduction in fat. As Dr. Barnard mentions, there is evidence that by reducing fat--all fat, including oil--to a minimum, insulin is better able to suck sugars into cells. This increases metabolism, and leads to faster weight loss. And, this may have an added benefit of reducing the highs of the roller coaster of blood sugar.
• 
  Emily Crow

  I'm giving this book the benefit of a doubt with a two star rating, because I am sure that some people must do well on this sort of diet. I'm sure Dr. Barnard follows his own advice, for example, and he seems fit and healthy. But I personally thought that much of the nutrition advice seemed out of date--a flash-back to the super-low fat craze of the nineties--and I'm not convinced it's all that healthy. In any case, I can safely say that I could never follow this plan, and not because it's vegan, either. I have been vegan in the past, but there is vegan, and then there's ultra low-fat vegan.
  
  This is my major bone to pick--so to speak--with this book. He wants the reader to severely limit all dietary fat, including from vegetable sources, e.g., olives, avocados, nuts and nut butters, chocolate. This is sadistic! It will also set some people (such as myself) up for massive cravings, mood swings, irritability, etc. There's some pretty convincing research to show that ultra low fat eating is not all that healthy, and many long-lived "blue zone" type populations do eat quite a lot of fat, e.g., traditional Mediterranean diets. As I recall--I skimmed a lot of the book, so please correct me if I've overlooked it--he doesn't even mention the dietary importance of omega three fatty acids, and a good omega three to omega six ratio. Eating as he prescribes, I would worry about inflammation from too many omega sixes or not enough healthy fat in general.
  
  Without fat, one ends up almost inevitably making up the difference in sugars (and highly processed carbs, e.g., another word for sugar!) We saw this happen to people in the 1990s, and it also happens in the book. Dr. Barnard pays lips service to avoiding too much sugar, but then recommends things like pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast and jam on crispbread as a snack. Hello, insulin spike!
  
  Finally, he advocates eating processed foods in the form of fake "meats," and I am dubious about the benefits of any sort of highly processed food. If you are going to make your own veggie "burger" from beans and grains, that's one thing. To purchase fake lunch "meats" from the store is kind of gross to me.
  
  And this is just my personal issue, not applicable to everyone: he's crazy free with the wheat products, and because of my own personal health issues, gluten is something I should avoid.
• 
  Heather

  So...I picked up this book from the library knowing NOTHING about it. I was just intrigued by the "boost metabolism, lower cholesterol, and dramatically improve your health" blurb on the front of the book since I'm trying to help my husband lower his cholesterol. Once I got a few pages in and realized it was a book promoting a plant-based diet very similar to a 3 AM infomercial, I almost walked away. But then, I don't know there was a certain level of curiosity pushing me to see what exactly the good doctor would say.
  
  My final conclusion? While I'll admit that he does do well to open people up to trying new foods, other than that, he's a total quack.
  
  Tell me, how exactly is anyone expected to give up all animal-based foods AND most fats and not turn into a complete asshole? I kept reading the quotes from these kickstart dieters claiming that this lifestyle change was SO easy and thinking, yeah, but how long has it been since you snapped at someone out of hanger? What does ur hair look like? How about ur skin? HOW IN THE WORLD ARE YOU LIVING ON ONLY 20 GRAMS OF FAT A DAY?!???
  
  Also, this guy is totally contradictory. One page he's talking about keeping your sodium levels down to 2000 mg a day and then the next page he's touting all sorts of processed meat replacements like deli slices and veggie burgers. No way in hell you can keep your sodium that low while still eating that stuff.
  
  While I don't believe in dousing your food with copious amounts of butter/oil, I DO believe that our bodies need fat to maintain good health (and not end up looking like the crypt keeper).
  
  Some totally bogus quotes that had me either rolling my eyes, laughing out loud, or shaking my fist at the sky:
  
  "If potatoes are your favorite margarine target, you will be surprised to find that you come to appreciate them just as well with mustard, pepper, steamed vegetables, or even salsa." - Yes, today I had a baked potato with mustard and was perfectly sadistic… I mean satisfied. 😑
  
  "The enormous rise in cheese consumption in recent years is almost certainly one of the key reasons for the obesity epidemic in North America." - Yep, that's what it is...cheese. Not the overly processed sugary foods or the filler/by-product options of today's fast food. 🙄
  
  "People who eat salmon regularly often have trouble controlling their weight." - Wtf? What else are they eating? Because most people who are concerned enough about their diet to include healthy fish aren't exactly bingeing on salmon. 😳
  
  Regarding the Atkin's Diet: "...but what they missed was that leaving out any large part of the diet will likely cause weight loss." - Ok, but umm...isn't that what your trying to do here? 🤔
  
  *steps down off soap box*
• 
  Debra

  My doctor told me to go on the Paleo diet, didn't work, felt terrible. I tried this for 21 days, lost 3 lbs and feel much better. I am going to continue following the food recommendations.
• 
  Jessica Anne

  I would recommend this book to anyone curious about vegan diets, looking to make a healthy lifestyle change and lose some weight, as well as to novice vegans who maybe want to understand their choices more fully. This program works. Period. I did it, and I have no intention of going back to my former diet.
  
  I went vegan about six months ago using the KickStart program online. I consider myself a novice vegan, still learning the ropes. This book provided me with a deeper understanding of how eating a plant based diet positively affects my health and helped me tweak areas of my diet that were a little lacking.
  
  Dr. Barnard describes the changes in cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar that occur very rapidly on a plant based diet. There are numerous studies cited throughout the book detailing the many health benefits of a vegetarian diet. There are also a number of celebrities that offer their words of advice throughout the book.
  
  This book is set up in three parts. The first goes in depth about the benefits of a vegan diet for health, weight loss, and a variety of chronic diseases. It helps prepare you for the starting the program, with meal planning, trying new foods out, and getting into the right mindset to be successful. The second part of the book is the 21-day plan. Each day offers advice, encouragement, and goes a more in depth on a subject, like heart benefits, the glycemic index, and environmental benefits of a plant based diet. The third section has menus, recipes, a glossary of foods, and cooking techniques to use during the program.
  
  I tried out quite a few of the recipes. I particularly enjoyed the soups, especially the Curried Red Lentil soup, and the wraps and sandwiches. I didn't love every recipe, but they were all good. Quite a few are now part of my regular meal rotation. I even tried some of the fake meat that I had been shying away from because I didn't know how to work with it and I was a little scared of the taste. I was pleasantly surprised and have been using the meat substitutes a lot more regularly.
  
  Does the program work for weight loss? Absolutely. When I started the program, I was a healthy body weight, but I knew I wasn't at my body's ideal weight. I lost seven pounds, bringing my weight back to where I was in my early twenties. After three kids, I thought I'd never see that number on the scale again. I have easily maintained the weight for the last six months without feeling hungry. My energy level has increased. My skin glows. Best of all, I have a new relationship with food. I don't worry about how much I'm eating or count calories. I don't find myself planning how much longer I need to exercise to burn off a fatty meal, or skipping meals when I'm planning on eating too much later in the day at a party or over the holidays. I eat when I'm hungry. I stop when I'm full. And I don't worry about it. I know I'm eating healthy and my weight is stable.
  
  There are parts of the book that are a little dry, but it is well written and the program well worth a try.
• 
  Carol

  I just finished a 21 day Daniel Fast and I was looking for more vegan recipes which this book offers. Major difference with this book is that the Daniel Fast requires only water to drink, no yeast or sugar on the vegan diet and the spiritual connection one has during the process which is amazing. I have to say that the Daniel Fast wasn't hard. I didn't feel hungry but I like veggies, fruit, beans and whole grains. Ripe fruit replaced my sugar cravings. I feel more clear headed, energetic, no longer have pain in my joints/ back and I now wear clothes that are 2 sizes smaller!
• 
  Mary BookHounds

  In my never ending goal to lose five pounds, I thought I would give this a try. The book contains easy to understand theories on why weight loss doesn't always work and how to avoid the pitfalls. There are also easy to follow recipes geared toward helping your body lose weight. I found the book to be inspirational and the information seems really helpful. So far I have lost two pounds and hope to lose the hardest of the hard in the last three!
• 
  Erin Banham

  3.5 stars I much prefer the books How to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and How Not to Die over this book. What I did like about this book is some of the more helpful tips on how to cook certain foods without the added oils, how to look for fresh produce when shopping, and tips to helps someone succeed in the early days of transiting.
• 
  Lindsay

  Dit boek is de vertaling van '21 days weight loss kickstart' en dat zegt al genoeg... het hele boek is geschreven in een 'Proficiat u ben al een week bezig met dit plantaardige dieet en je gewicht gaat de goede kant op!'... heel Amerikaans en om het nog populairder te maken met liefst zoveel mogelijk verwijzingen naar celebs en succesvolle verhalen. Soms lijkt het ook wel een kookboekje voor beginners "Groenten met veel vocht kan je niet invriezen!". Misschien is dat soort type boek een goeie aanzet om sommige mensen hun dieet aan te passen naar vegan (los van de principes) maar helemaal niets voor mij.
• 
  Crystal

  I like Dr. Barnard's style. His books are informative and easy to read. He seems to drop a lot of celebrity references, but they're usually useful. I skimmed, due to time constraints, but liked what I saw, and may buy this book at a later date. The recipes are as tasty as his other book The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook, although there is some overlap. But this is full of a lot more information explaining the vegan diet, and his specific diet guidelines, as well as the health and wellness benefits of a vegan diet. I recommend it highly.
• 
  Sunshine Moore

  Vegan propaganda.
  
  Here's the scoop proposed:
  1. Eat lots of veggies
  2. Eat lots of carbs - breads, pasta, dessert, pancakes, maple syrup, jelly!!! (But no butter or cheese)
  3. Eat NO FAT except maybe just a little from nuts
  4. Eat absolutely no animal products at all - no meat, no seafood, no milk, no eggs, no cheese
  
  I am highly suspect of this though. It seems that some of the substitutions (almond milk for dairy milk) are still potentially filled with sugar and fats
• 
  Katie

  While interested in healthy eating, I did not read this as a way to lose weight. Instead, after a lot of research, I used it as a kickstart to a fully plant based diet and it did not disappoint. The explanations of why removing animal products from our bodies are phenomenal and aligned with the other things I have read in a process of looking for alternatives to invasive treatments for certain medical diagnosis.
  
  The meal plan is easy to understand and includes the page numbers to the recipe for the suggested item. I will say the amount of food prep to follow the plan strictly is very time consuming. However, he makes a number of suggestions for other options and makes it clear that you can deviate as much as you want as long as what you are choosing does not contain animal products or oils, even the “healthy” ones.
  
  I do think there should have been a little more focus on sensitivities to high FODMAP foods, especially considering this is a plan for people who are going plant based cold turkey. There are a lot of foods in the recipes for this plan that can cause sensitivities with so much fiber all at once and more attention to that would be helpful for people who are experiencing those particular issues so they don’t give up.
  
  I enjoyed the help in moving to a plant based diet, along with a day by day understanding of what to expect. It still remains to be seen if this will be effective for forgoing medications and treatments, the way it has been for so many other people, but I cannot imagine a better guide to starting down a road for this particular lifestyle.
  
  While not intended to be used for weight loss, for anyone interested in this book for weight loss, I did lose 4 pounds during the 21 days and a half inch each week from both my hips and my waist. I don’t imagine this is water weight considering how much water you have to drink on a high fiber diet and considering the incredible number of carbs that are consumed on this plan.
  
  With that being said, if this is a plan that someone wants to continue following, I would recommend paying close attention to continuing to restrict oil usage in foods, eating a low amount of vegan junk food, and being sure to incorporate a colorful array of vegetables to each days schedule. There is a lot of information out there on including 3 greens, 1 purple, 1 red, and 1 orange vegetable each day to ensure proper vitamin intake and to encourage proper carb processing and digestion. The carb digestion only works when the vegetable variety and low oil is in place. If not, weight gain can be experienced without incorporating calorie counting.
• 
  Adrianna Kalland

  This is yet another book promoting vegan lifestyle in particular a diet for women with debilitating menstrual cycles due to pain, moodiness, bloating ect. The doc claims his studies prove that eating plants based, low fat diet can significantly improve severe symptoms for women, and in some cases cure endometriosis, make women more fertile, lose weight and improve skin, hair ect.
  
  Here is my take on this upon reading previous comments and reviews.
  People eat way too much food nowadays to begin with. If we stick to 3 meals a day composed of food that actually works for us in the form of fuel and vitamins, we quickly find that it not only makes us feel amazing but it also improves our health in the long run. That one cookie, or half of it, can completely destroy our attempts to eat healthier to begin with. What it does , it just starts the engine on wanting more sugar, and before we know it, we are having a bowl of ice cream after dinner on most nights. Takes a miracle to break the craving.
  This book targets problems associated with menstrual cycle. For some women this time of month is a sheer hell, and the doc says to avoid grease like the plague since it produces more estrogen which in turn makes the lining of the uterus extra thick thus shedding it more painful ( bloating, moodiness ect on top of it). Man boobs anyone? Same thing. Comes from too much fat in the muscle tissue and the testosterone turns it into estrogen. EAT LESS FAT and estrogen removing foods like vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, whole grains...aka FIBER. Fiber binds all the access junk ,and the body gets rid of it.
  The book suggests to jump start your system to eat as clean as you can then ,in my opinion, and if you have your optimal health in mind, allow for occasional treat followed by baseline principles ( fiber first, less fats and no animal products). Plan ahead. If you know you are going to company lunch or dinner or visiting family that serves meat and potatoes, you will allow for a treat but it is right back on track after that. This most definitely requires strong will, and a time to get your body used to eating a lot of vegetables but it is so very worth it. I have been vegan in the past, thanks to that hubby and I have two beautiful and healthy kids ( this is a long story but vegan diet basically repaired our bodies), then back on conventional meat and dairy eating diet which destroyed my stomach, skin and metabolism along with incredibly debilitating menstural cycles). Happy to share that being vegan again was the best decision in a long time.
  
  Good luck!!
• 
  Am Y

  Essentially can be summed up as thus:
  
  1) Meat is very bad for you
  2) Avoid meat, oils and fats
  3) Consume plant-based foods only (yes, it wants you to be a vegan)
  
  You need to be very careful with what this book advocates.
  
  It recommends eating pancakes for breakfast (I'm not kidding), which it deems healthy, and cutting meat completely from your diet. It also says that all oils are unhealthy (even supposedly "good" ones like EVOO), and that fats do make you fat (contrary to what we read about elsewhere).
  
  So where or how does the "21-day weight loss" occur?
  
  The simple answer is from reduced calorie intake.
  
  Imagine you were a person who used to eat meat at every meal, but have now replaced the meat with pancakes. Assuming you ate until you were full, you might need, for example, 5 pancakes to fill you up at each meal, as opposed to 1 large steak. BUT... even though you're having a lot more servings of pancakes now as compared to that 1 serving of steak before, the 5 pancakes still give you a lot less calories than that single steak.
  
  In other words, it's not about the serving size, but rather the number of calories a food packs.
  
  The author highly recommends stuffing yourself with things like beans especially, because these expand in the stomach and take up space, making you feel full more easily. So because a serving of beans contains far fewer calories than a serving of meat, the end-result is that you consume less calories. And when you consume less calories than before, you start to lose weight.
  
  Not rocket science at all.
• 
  Wendy Barto

  While Dr Barnard doesn’t go into the medical benefits of a plant-based way of eating as much as Dr Caldwell Esselstyn and Dr Colin Campbell, this is a still a great book to share with someone who is just starting out on a vegan diet. It gives them day-to-day guidance for three weeks, including recipes and meal suggestions. As someone who has been eating whole food, plant-based for two years, I was looking for a book that would tweak my eating and get me back losing weight again. Initial weight loss with plant-based is very common and I experienced it when I first started, as well. However, I need to adjust something in my life to get the rest of the weight off and this book didn’t help me there.
• 
  Lisa

  I did browse through this one, didn’t read every part though. I was vegetarian for a long time and didn’t do well. Was constantly anemic and currently still struggle to keep my ferritin up. I know I don’t do well with no meat because I can’t get enough protein without meat, trust me I have tried! But, all that to say there are some good pointers and advice.
• 
  Sarah

  Another book that’s probably really good for people who aren’t yet vegans, but isn’t very useful for existing vegans. And I really just am not inspired by recipes in the back of books, with no photos. I need photos.
• 
  Melissa

  After watching What The Health this is a logical next step. Quick reading.
• 
  Melissa Kerryn

  Useful read for good health!
• 
  Vivian Vilmin

  Read the book and saw him in person. He has a 21 day vegan kick start 21daykickstart.org which starts after my birthday. Basically no cheese for me after November 1st.
• 
  Alisa

  This book was the first book that really got me interested in trying a vegan/plant based diet. I actually tried a plant based diet for 21 days and lost almost 10 pounds!
• 
  Kim Kasprzyk

  Easy, informative way to start a new plant based diet. Recipes are simple and delish. An uncomplicated yet effective way to lose weight and get healthy.
• 
  Cat

  Easy to follow daily reading with lots of great recipes!
• 
  Kelly

  I'm giving it a try. a Plant-based diet isn't hard for me. But I will really miss dairy....We'll see how I do in 2 more weeks.
• 
  KAREN JONES

  Is a great book to learn how to go plant based without any issues.
• 
  Eric Michiels

  Great inspiration to go full vegan.
• 
  Isabel Jenneman

  Well written and not overly technical. A great bridge for family/friends not currently eating a whole-food plant-based diet. Since I was already vegan, I didn’t follow the 21 day plan, but the information was still helpful and it was an overall great read.