Product Description

Top 10 Sonoma Diet Power Foods for weight loss and health.

Portion sizes made easy with The Sonoma Diet Plate and Bowl guidelines.

Detailed meal plans for surefire weight loss success.

Smart Food Combinations that make each food even healthier.

The science behind the diet—learn why it works!

Mouthwatering recipes, rich in flavor and nutrition.

Bonus: Diet guide pullout to make following the diet a breeze when on the go.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7322 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-27
• Released on: 2005-12-27
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From the Inside Flap
Stop Starving and Start Enjoying Food Again!

Inspired by the sun-drenched foods and vibrant lifestyle of California's breathtakingly beautiful wine country, The Sonoma Diet is a surefire weight loss plan based on wholesome, satisfying, flavorful meals.

Here's the perfect answer for diet dropouts frustrated by low-carb and low-fat diets. Instead of depriving you of the balanced nourishment you need, The Sonoma Diet emphasizes readily available Power Foods (like whole grain breads and sweet berries) that deliver heart-protective nutrients with a minimum of calories. And you'll eat these foods in smart combinations that boost their health benefits, their flavor, and your weight loss success.

Best of all, The Sonoma Diet is designed for real people who live in the real world. No time-consuming calorie-counting at each meal. No need to keep track of any points. No measuring. No weighing. Just a great selection of flavorful, everyday foods, easy-to-follow diet instructions, and plenty of mouthwatering recipes.

Your days of struggling with those extra pounds are about to end. Welcome to The Sonoma Diet, where eating for weight loss and pleasure is a satisfying lifestyle.

About the Author
Connie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D., is a leading nutritional and dietary expert on the health benefits of diets inspired by the eating styles and influences of Mediterranean, Latin American, and Asian cuisines. As a registered dietitian and nutrition instructor at the world famous Culinary Institute of America, Dr. Guttersen has spent her career focusing on developing flavorful and nutritious approaches to healthy eating and weight reduction. Her many accomplishments include developing the Standards of Care for the Obesity Treatment Center in Bellevue, Washington, as well as serving as a nutritional and dietary consultant for a broad range of corporations and Fortune 500 companies, such as Kraft, Nestlé, Sodexho, Marriott Hotels, Radisson Hotels, and Panera Bakery Café, among others. In addition, her background includes serving as an instructor on nutrition and food science at Texas Christian University, where she earned her undergraduate degree in nutrition and dietetics. She has also been a guest lecturer for international food and dietary conferences around the globe. Dr. Guttersen is a resident of Sonoma, California, and a contributing author to the Techniques of Healthy Cooking from the Culinary Institute of America.

Customer Reviews

This is a great diet
I checked this book out from the library a while back and decided to give the diet a try since it seemed to me to be a really healthy way to lose weight. The premise is to eat the right things (lean meats, vegetables, fruits, whole grains) in the proper proportions (seems like sound advice to me). Tie this with a good exercise program (which you will have to find elsewhere) and you will lose weight.

I agree that the recipes in the book are sometimes involved to prepare and often require kind of expensive ingredients. I'm a bit of a foodie and love to cook so this really isn't a problem for me and I've enjoyed making many of the recipes in this book and in the companion 'Sonoma Diet Recipes' book (which I highly recommend). Those people that claim, however, that the diet takes too much work or is inflexible did not read the book very carefully. You are by no means restricted to the recipes outlined in this book. You are given lists of allowable foods (quite extensive) and you can eat anything that is made from those foods so long as they are prepared in a healthy manner. Yes, you will have to prepare some food at home, but we need to be doing that anyway. Let's face it, there just really aren't too many healthy options when you eat out and our insistence on convenience food was probably a major factor in our current need to lose weight. That said, I also believe that preparing healthy food at home does not have to be excessively time consuming. Throw some rice in a rice cooker, steam some vegetables (frozen is even faster), put some meat on the grill and you can have a great healthy meal in less time than you will wait for the food to get to your table at the restaurant! Find a cookbook for quick meals (15 min, 30 min, whatever) or search online and find some recipes that use sonoma diet foods. Substitute a few things if you have to (e.g. olive oil instead of butter) and cook away. This doesn't have to be that complicated! If you are looking for some great easy recipes, I would recommend subscribing to 'Everyday Food' magazine. I do and find that a good majority of the recipes are very sonoma friendly, they are easy, and they taste great.

Now, as far as my personal experience with this diet goes, I lost about 15 pounds in about 5 weeks (which was my goal). One of the things that I liked best about this diet is that I feel so good while I am doing it. I have more energy, I sleep better, and I actually look forward to eating again! Plus, I reached the point where the thought of consuming a quarter pounder or a bottle of soda actually made me feel ill. My body did not want them anymore because the food I was eating made me feel so much better. So, my advice is to give this a try but remember that it's not an exact science, it does not have to be complicated and it's more of a philosophy on eating right than anything.

SONOMA DIET COOK BOOK
My purchase was received in Excellent condition and in an extremely timely manner. I was very pleased with the process including the kind e-mails advising me of the various steps taken to expedite my order.

It's helped me lose 24lbs in 5 weeks
I've followed the plan faithfully. YES the diet works best if you cook at home. YES cooking at home requires time and effort. YES you have to plan your meals ahead of time. YES you have to plan your grocery list before you go to the store. But what diet doesn't require these things?

I've faithfully been on the diet for 5 weeks now and as such I've tried almost every recipe in this book. The recipes are well written, easy to follow, contain ingredients easy to find in most grocery stores, and produce great results. Many of the recipes use cilantro, parsley, marjoram, rosemary or cumin as flavor enhancers. Particularly good is the Marinated Flank steak recipe in Wave 1. I've served it 3 times for dinner parties and have gotten rave reviews on it. Conversely, none of the "en papillote" recipes turned out very well (vegetables always turn out undercooked and don't have much flavor).

Bottom line: Like all diets, this one requires effort. The extra effort does pay off in weight loss. The delicious recipes and variety of foods are what help make this diet easier to stick with. I'd recommend buying the cookbook as well for a larger variety of dishes.

Drawbacks: this is definitely a book for carnivores. Most of the vegetarian recipes are side dishes and do not have enough substance to carry themselves as main dishes.

Bonus: My husband and 2 year old daughter enjoy the food as much as I do.