I found it an informative read. I do enjoy Jillian Michaels. She's not here to tell you that you will lose weight quickly and easily. It takes work, hard work. The book itself is filled with great information. I never follow just one plan. I read a lot of different information and take what I can to apply to me and my life. This book adds more information and ideas to my arsenal. For that it is worth the read. She does preach a bit to much on organic foods, processed foods, and clean living. But there is nothing wrong with that.

If you have been trying to manage your weight and having trouble chances are you've heard all the buzz words: Insulin Resistance, Leptin Resistance, Starvation Response, BPA, etc., etc. Jillian takes a holistic approach and pulls it all together explaining how it all works together and how you may be eating things you thought were healthy (e.g. Soy Milk) that actually could be contributing to the issue. Be forewarned the shopping list is for recipes for 4 serving. You should review the menu and recipes before shopping. Jillian recommends buying everything organic but acknowledges that not everyone can so she provides a list of her recommendations for what you should buy organic. This is based on the fact that she lives in California and produce that is grown in the hot climates will have more pesticides than here (winter is a natural pesticide) plus the US has different regulations regarding their produce and meats. If you live in Canada you may want to reduce your organic shopping list to organic beef (make sure chicken and pork are Canadian raised) and the recommended items on The Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen (http://focusorganic.com/produce-dirty-dozen-and-clean-fifteen-updated/). Try to buy Canadian produce when you can. Canadian milk and milk products do not contain hormones or steroids - it's illegal here - again, another reason to buy Canadian raise / produced food products. As for processed foods. If you are serious about losing weight or eating healthier your whole family is going to have to eat healthier. No cookies, crackers, junk food. If stuffing your body with all those chemicals isn't good for it - why would it be good for them. This does not mean that you cannot buy or use frozen foods. The shopping list actually includes them. I buy the President's Choice frozen Wild Blueberries .. the ingredient listed on the packages is ... blueberries. Read the label. There shouldn't be any chemical additive in your frozen fruit and vegetables and if there is, pick up a different package. No serious diet or worth while nutritional plan is EVER going to list McCain's Crispy Fries, Michaelina's Mac and Cheese, Pizza Hut's Deep Dish pizza or Oero Cookies on the menu. Jillian provide something she calls Food Math - select one item from this column and add one from the other column. It does make things a bit easier but if you need step-by-step how to instructions to put it all together you will probably not like the approach. Once you get used to it you can start improvising but the plan IS work and you will have to make time for it if you are committed to losing weight - that is not going to change no matter what program you choose. I did not give the book a higher rating only because the menu provided is not easily followed if you don't have time to cook every night . I suspect the idea is that you should subscribe to her on-line programs to get a more comprehensive eating plan for yourself (that is one of the tools that the site lists as included with the paid on-line service). You really do have to take the time to step back, look at it and figure out how you can manage it. I do my weekly prep on Sunday. It's the day I chose to prepare for the week and that includes meals. I have glass containers that I use to store the meals I've prepared ahead of time in the fridge so I can throw them in the microwave during the week and only have to do minimal work. I clean all the veggies and salad and store them in either plastic bags or veggie containers (they have raised inserts to allow moisture to accumulate on the bottom). There is no reason why this should fall all on Mom either. Dad and/or the kids are perfectly capable of pitching in. Sorry to be blunt about this ladies but we cannot pull the "job/family commitments/kids/husband/no time" card if we are serious about being around for them and being around to see our grand kids. Maybe more needs to change than just food. When you are facing the challenge of losing weight you really do have to make time for it and do whatever it is you need to in order to conquer it. Regardless of what you see on the TV ads and what you are told or what you wish - there is no magic pill, there is no easy way and it WILL take time out of your day. You WILL need the support and cooperation of your family/husband/kids/friends - period. If they are not willing to support you then that in itself says something and you should listen. If you choose this book to help with your weight loss goal be prepared to deal with the above. If you feel it is too much, perhaps you might like the Biggest Loser 30 day Jump Start book. It gives you a straight day-by-day 30 day diet and exercise plan.

This book has some good information - about how your hormones affect most of the other systems in your body, about how to improve your eating habits and how to make better choices. Unfortunately, implementing the full program as Michaels advocates in this book is simply not workable for anyone who has a job, children, or limited funds - i.e. a "real" life in the real world. Here are a couple of the main aspects of this program I have issues with: 1) Michaels advises moving to eating ALL organic - that's fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy. This may be feasible in California where Michaels lives and where it is summer all year round, however here in Canada where I live, it is winter half the year, and regular produce gets limited and more costly then. Organic produce is substantially more expensive than regular (in fairness, Michaels does note this, but she then basically says "Suck it up and do it anyway") so for a family with children, this could increase your food costs by 50- 100%. Unless you are independently wealthy, this is going to be a problem for most women with families to feed. 2) The book strongly advises you to remove ALL PROCESSED FOODS from your diet. That means, no packaged cookies, crackers, granola bars, no canned or packaged soup, fruit or vegetables, etc. Again, if you are a working mother with children, husbands, and millions of activities every week, this is a completely impossible thing to do. Using ONLY fresh food entails hours of cleaning, chopping, cooking, storing etc. so unless you have a nanny and a house-keeper (in which case you probably have 2 hours a day to exercise and don't need this book in the first place!) I doubt most women have this kind of time. 3) You are told to "forget about" the recommendations to "park at the back of the parking lot" or "take the stairs" and instead that you MUST go to the gym several times a week for an hour or more and commit to working out hard in order to see any benefits. Again, if you are a working mother, you are lucky to have time to go to the bathroom most days, so as much as I agree this is a great idea, it just isn't always possible. If you are only able to get 3 - 4, 10 minute bursts of walking or strength training in, I think that is better than doing nothing, and that Michaels' discounting that does a disservice to her readers. It would be great if we all were able to carve out an hour or more everyday to exercise, but most of us can't. Isn't SOME activity better than nothing?! As I said, this is a good program in a perfect world. I am very well-informed about health information, so I know that most of what Michaels advocates in this book is accurate and based on solid science. The problem is that it is completely at odds with the society we currently live in in North America. That said, there is some good information in the book that is worth noting, specifically: -the way hormones affect so many of the systems in your body -the number of additives in food (and even in the cans the food comes in) that aren't very good for you. In particular, there is a list of the various types of plastics (based on the little numbers on the bottom of them) and how bad (or not) they are for you. I found that very helpful. -There are a number of recipes that are reasonably workable, and which use more fresh ingredients. Micheals' recommendation to eat more fresh, and less processed foods is good, just the rigid "no processed whatsoever" prohibition is unreasonable. -a list of the various vitamins and minerals you should be getting daily, and how to to get them from food, supplements or a combination of the two. Basically, I would recommend getting the book from your local library rather than paying $30 Canadian for it, and making notes on the general health information it contains and then including some of the advice into your life in smaller, reasonable increments. It's easy to be stringent and 100% dedicated to fitness when you don't have a family to care for in addition to a full-time job. Michaels is obviously not a wife and mother in addition to working and clearly doesn't understand those realities sometimes have to come first. In the interest of full disclosure, I should state that I am not a fan of Jillian Michaels approach to fitness. I recognize that many people require the "screaming drill sergeant" approach to get fit, but I do not as I am already very motivated and committed to being healthy, so for me Jillian is simply obnoxious and annoying. But that's just one woman's opinion.