Picture Perfect

Also called: Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss, Dr. Shapiro's Food Awareness Training, Food Awareness Training

Reviewed By:
Lynn Grieger, RD

Picture Perfect Diet basics

Take charge of your eating with Dr. Shapiro's Food Awareness Training (FAT) approach and lose weight ‑- all without a traditional "diet plan."

Dr. Howard Shapiro uses pictures of real foods to demonstrate simple yet effective ways to increase the volume of the foods you eat, while decreasing your calorie intake. There are no forbidden foods, no rules about timing of meals and no counting calories.

Instead, you learn to figure out why you make certain food choices and how to make effective, lifelong changes in your eating habits. Shapiro places equal emphasis on choosing healthy high-fiber foods, increasing activity and exercise and learning to identify and change emotional eating habits .

Upside of the Picture Perfect Diet

• The visual images of foods in this book have a tremendous impact. When you see a photo of an actual medium serving of French fries next to a big platter of four ears of corn - and learn that they both contain the same amount of calories - it becomes crystal clear which is the more logical choice.
  
  
• Shapiro's mix of nutrition and exercise information and common-sense tools to help you make and follow changes is extremely effective.
  
  
• The diet includes different meal scenarios for different groups of people: for example, the busy mother, the socialite, the workaholic. It is easily adaptable to many lifestyles.

Downside of the Picture Perfect Diet

• This plan discourages milk, and instead encourages increased use of fortified soy products. Though using soy is definitely a healthy option, current scientific knowledge doesn't agree with this anti-milk stance.
  
  
• Like many diet plans, this one promises quick results, which probably aren't the norm for most people.
  
  
• The plan encourages more sodium consumption than is normally recommended, which could be a problem for people with high blood pressure.

Is the Picture Perfect Diet for You?

This chart can help you see how the Picture Perfect Diet fits your goals and lifestyle concerns.

Lynn Grieger, RD on the Picture Perfect Diet

I was prepared to read yet another gimmicky diet book, but was pleasantly surprised by the comprehensive content, practical approach and can-do attitude in Shapiro's books. This is a must-have for anyone interested in healthy eating as well as weight loss.

iVillagers on the Picture Perfect Diet

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