Once in a great while, a book about human health or diet comes along that effectively "changes the game" as to our understanding about food and nutrition and how they relate to our health and our waistlines. The book TurboCharged, by Dian Griesel Ph.D. (Nutrition) and her brother Tom Griesel, is one of those game changing books. As such, the book gets the higest rating: FIVE STARS.
In 1967, medical Dr. Irwin Maxwell Stillman wrote a book called The Doctor's Quick Weight Loss Diet to document his success helping thousands of patients over many years lose weight with a high protein, low fat, and no carb approach. Stillman emphasized that the program was not a long term lifestyle, but instead was the quickest way to lose excess pounds of fat. In response to critics that the diet denied the body some needed nutrients, Stillman responded that the high danger of excess fat around the heart and other body organs was much more important than the short term loss of nutrients from fresh fruits and vegetables. Indeed, it is easy to see that people don't get overweight because they focus their diet on fruits and veggies.
In 2005, author T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II, M.D., gave us The China Study to help us look at our consumption of animal products and the way animal protein impacts our health. The elder Campbell has degrees in Biochemistry, Nutrition, and Microbiology and is considered one of the world's most prominent experts on human nutrition. Former president Bill Clinton often cites The China Study as the inspiration and diagram for his new thinner self and how it has helped in his ongoing battle with heart disease.
The book TurboCharged has some important and big names extolling the virtues of the program. Fred Pescatore, MD, MPH, CCN, who is author of the New York Times bestselling book The Hampton's Diet, was so impressed with the work done by Dian and Tom Griesel that he wrote the Foreward for the book. In the Foreward, he talks about the effectiveness in which the Griesel siblings have made possible in understanding the subject of fat loss while maintaining muscle mass. He wrote, "After reading TurboCharged you will know that it's not rocket science to lose fat and get healthy."
Harvey Schiller, Ph.D., is a former US Air Force Brigadier General, and the former CEO of the United States Olympic Committee. He writes, "Finally you can toss the exercise DVD's, failed diet programs, useless exercise equipment and take control of your body! TurboCharged is what we've all been waiting for: a simple approach to better living and a powerful new lifestyle."
So, what does this highly touted book do that makes it so special? First, it follows the KISS Principle, which means "Keep it simple stupid." Of course the saying does not have anything to do with being stupid, but instead reinforces the importance of breaking complicated ideas down to the simplest form. What TurboCharged does is take a great deal of scientific data and puts it into an easy to read and understand form.
The book is fairly short and can easily be read in a day or an evening. It discusses why a number of things are so important to remember when trying to achieve optimum health and a lean body. While this short article could never come close to covering everything in the book, some of the key things covered in TurboCharged are:
- WATER - The book covers why it so important to being lean and achieving the highest level of good health. It shows how our primal instincts for self preservation are sometimes easily misunderstood by our modern brains to mistake thirst for hunger. After all, humans can only go about three days without water before causing serious damage to the body or death, but can go weeks without food. The go into detail of how to use water to keep your body completely hydrated while also showing you how to use water to trigger the hormones that let you know that you are full.
- FOOD COMBINING - TurboCharged discusses the principle of food combining (or trophology) and how different kinds of foods should be eaten separately from one another to avoid things like acid reflux, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, and a growing waistline. It discusses what foods to eat together and those that should not be eaten together.
- EXERCISE - The book shows how improper types of exercise actually inhibit your ability to become lean and lose body fat. It shows that activity that is too strenous or aerobic can actually cause your body to go into starvation mode, causing excess hunger and slowing your metabolism. It shows how the wrong types of exercise can lead you to being "fit but fat."
- FRUITS AND VEGGIES - TurboCharged shows how fresh fruits and vegetable are the main basis for a healthy and lean body. Fresh produce provides all the micronutrients which give our bodies the ability to absorb the nutrients in our food. They are the basis of good health.
- WHY DIETS DON'T WORK - The book shows and tells why typical diets do not work and how they usually cause people to quickly lose both water weight and lean muscle mass. The net result of this loss of muscle mass is that once you go off the diet you rebound with gained weight that frequently surpasses the weight lost in the first place. This is known as the Yo-Yo Effect.
- GRAINS, WHOLE OR OTHERWISE - TurboCharged shows the consumption of grains, particularly in combination with other food groups, wreaks havoc on our waistlines and our digestive systems. It shows how the relatively recent development of grains has put a crimp into the traditional way that humans have fed themselves, and have slowly led to the fattening of our culture, particularly when consumed in processed food.
- PROCESSED FOOD - The book shows how processed food is particularly destructive to our abilities to maintain a lean body. These foods are also largely to blame for many of the chronic health issues which plague modern society. They not only combine foods in a bad way for optimal digestion, but they also are the home to additives and chemicals which our bodies do not know how to process. In the 1950s, less than 5% of American adults were considered to be medically obese and there were only about 200 FDA approved additives and presevatives. Now there nearly 4,000 additives in the FDA's EAFUS (Everything Added to Food in the United States) database and obesity is running over 33%, with another 33% being overweight, but not yet obese.
- BURNING FAT - TurboCharged shows in clear steps how to turn your excess body fat into your body's preferred source of energy, and to keep it that way. This helps to minimize your hunger and maximize your energy.
- NO PRODUCTS TO BUY - The book is also a breath of fresh air in that does not require you to buy products such as low calorie or low fat meals, or energy bars, ad infinitum. You buy the book and the follow up information on the website is free.
This is but a short part of a sizeable list of things covered in the book TurboCharged. The book gets this writer's highest recommendation. The book is available in many locations such as Amazon and is also available in e-format on Kindle. The authors of TurboCharged have also created a website that follows up the book with added information and videos to help those reading the book. The web address is turbocharged.us.com.
---------------------------------------------- Mark Rubi, the author of this article, wishes to stress that he has NO financial or personal connection to anyone discussed in this article. He even bought his own copy of the book. ----------------------------------------------
Personal testimony: The reason for my glowing review of this book and 5 Star rating is simple and to the point. This book has been a revelation, and more importantly, it works. I have had lifelong issues with weight and other health issues. I read not only about diets but also medical journals trying to find out why my combination of health issues has made it so difficult to lose weight. Only now has it been made clear that it is easy for the best plans to be sidetracked by little things like eating food in the wrong combination or exercising too vigorously. I read about TurboCharged in an article by Doni Luckett of the Denver Post on December 30th of 2011. What she wrote intrigued me enough to go to the TurboCharged website and learn enough to contact the authors and buy the book. It has only been two weeks since first reading about the book and I have dropped nearly 20 lbs while maintaining muscle mass. I feel better than I have in 15 years. My weight loss would certainly not be considered typical because there is a lot to lose. What is most important is how I feel and my overall health, which seems to be getting better each day. My thanks to Tom Griesel for being so helpful and prompt in answering all my questions and providing artwork for the article. And thanks also to both Tom and his sister Dian for taking so much of the best information out there on health and fat loss and putting it into such an easy to read format in TurboCharged.
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