Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings---And 7 Steps to End Them Naturally

A plant based diet is advocated. The best part is that the doctor explains WHY this is the best diet. He gives tips that are doable. The book is easy to read and the examples he gives are relateable. Highly recommend this book.

For me, it all comes down to oatmeal.

But first you have the name of the book: Breaking the Food Seduction. It sounds a little goofy at first, like a cover blurb on a checkout stand magazine. But Dr. Barnard has a real point: the reason it's so hard to resist, say, chocolate, or cheese, or (for me) that doughnut, has nothing to do with willpower. It's chemistry. We literally become "addicted" to the physical effects of components of these foods, and that leads us to crave them. It's nothing like a hardcore drug addiction of course, but it's real.

Dr. Barnard is careful to cite the sources of all his conclusions, although I ding him one star for occasionally leaving it unclear that trace amounts of certain chemicals found in foods are enough to have the effects that he attributes to them.

Still, this is a quibble at only a couple of points in the book. And you can't argue with Dr. Barnard's findings that by making certain food choices, one can actually reduce the urge to eat unhealthy foods. And that making those choices leads to real results -- in terms of blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and plain old weight loss. The dietary changes he suggests aren't too far fetched for someone like me, who is already a vegetarian, but he does recommend major changes for those who usually enjoy eating meat.

Breaking the Food Seduction includes a kick-start plan, to help the reader dive in and make those dietary changes. There is also a sizable selection of healthy recipes. These come courtesy of Joanne Stepaniak, herself the author of several cookbooks. I've tried a few of the recipes, with uniformly good results.

But, as I said initially, it all comes down to oatmeal. For me, one paragraph alone was worth the price of the book. In that paragraph, Dr. Barnard tells us to ignore the instructions on oatmeal packages. He gives us a better way to prepare it. And -- voila -- now I like oatmeal, and I haven't looked back since!

This is a life changing book. I keep ordering more for people to borrow and for gifts for those who are serious about improving their health. I became vegan after reading this book, but on holidays I sometimes eat some other foods offered, and then I feel sick and they taste so bland. Vegan opens up a world of taste buds and health. My adult son just read it a few months ago and he and his wife have a new diet and now she doesn't get sick like she used to. It really does stop the cravings for meat, dairy, and chocolate. You just don't want that junk anymore. I first read it a couple years ago & after my first 3 weeks of following the detox in the book, I no longer wanted pizza or chocolate and also lost 10 lbs. My husband also lost 10 lbs. after 3 weeks. This book is a life-saver. I can't say enough that it opens up a world of flavor, variety, and health.

Being a medical doctor and nutritionist, Neal Barnard explains the chemical reactions that take place in our brain and cause our bodies to crave or even worse become addicted to certain unhealthful foods. His remedy is most importantly, eating a proper breakfast with enough sustaining nutrients including protein and fiber to get you through to lunch, then eating a nutritious lunch to sustain you until dinner, and the same at dinner time. If you get the right amount and balance of nutrients at the proper times, your blood sugar will remain steady and you will no longer crave unhealthful foods and will also be well on the way to losing weight and disease prevention. Getting exercise and proper sleep, of course, are other important factor to health. At the back of the book, he includes a three week vegan kickstart menu which if followed will give you immediate health improvements and will train your taste buds to crave healthful foods instead of junk. It also includes a variety of tasty vegan recipes.

This book is not a magic bullet to ending food cravings. You still have to be motivated to change your lifestyle and eating habits. It does present the most reasoned arguments I have ever come across in a nutrition or "diet" book and the advice Dr.Barnard gives seems to be out of genuine concern and well-informed. Many other nutrition books I have read are almost abusive in their approach and language toward the dieter. Dr.Barnard uses a sensible, logical, and caring approach that really works as long as you are committed.