Product Description

An easy-to-start, simple-to-maintain, scientifically sound, and eminently usable twelve-week program of small steps on the road to better health

Small Changes, Big Results is not about cutting all the carbohydrates out of your diet. Or replacing every single gram of sugar with omega-3 fatty acids. It’s not about doing one hundred sit-ups a day, or getting on the treadmill whenever you have a free second. In fact, it’s not about any of the total lifestyle-replacement gimmicks—whether diet, exercise, or pop psychology—that have swept our culture in recent years, putting untold millions of Americans on the risky roller coaster of success and failure that defines fad diets and programs.

Not here.

Small Changes, Big Results is about reality—the reality of what you can do, the reality of what you want to do, and the reality of what works. It’s about introducing a series of small changes each week for three months in the three core areas of diet and nutrition; exercise and fitness; and emotional wellness. For each of the twelve weeks, nutritionist Ellie Krieger introduces a very finite, completely practical action plan for the week—and not only are these tasks incredibly doable, they’re in fact so accessible that it’s tough not to be inspired.

For example, in Week 1 the nutrition task is merely to go shopping, buy some healthful pantry items, and start keeping track of what you eat; the exercise consists of taking three twenty-minute walks; and the wellness aspect is to do a five-minute breathing exercise. That’s it. And it doesn’t really get any harder.

But these small changes do in fact lead to big results. At the end of twelve weeks, a totally unhealthy diet has been overhauled: armed with easy, delicious recipes and tips, you’ve removed unhelpful munchies and replaced them with healthful snacking, you’ve cut down on lethal trans fats while adding beneficial fat choices, you’ve replaced refined grains with whole grains, you’re eating more fish and less red meat, and so forth. Yet you’ve never been forbidden to eat a single thing: instead of prohibiting entire food groups, Ellie categorizes foods as Usually, Sometimes, and Rarely—and now you should be eating more from the Usually choices, less from the Rarely category. Furthermore, you’ve integrated physical activity into your life, and you’ve developed a set of tools to help you deal with stress—you’re not only eating better, but you’re also exercising better and feeling better.

The beauty of this program is that none of these action steps is remotely intimidating, because they’re not a full immersion into a totally new lifestyle. Instead, it’s a series of incremental changes—removing bad habits one by one, while at the same time adding good ones. There’s nothing to scare you off—on the contrary, here’s a whole book full of small changes that produce big results.


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15200 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-27
• Released on: 2005-12-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
“Ellie Krieger’s book is so powerful because it gives a step-by-step approach on how to transform your life. People tend to get overwhelmed when they’re trying to lose weight. So be patient and don’t lose faith. Just keep making small changes, one step at a time, and big results will happen.” —Kathy Smith, leading fitness expert and author of Flex Appeal

“Spend just 12 weeks with Ellie and she will motivate you to make small, sensible changes to your eating and activity patterns that add up to better health and fitness.” —Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., professor and Guthrie Chair in nutritional sciences, Pennsylvania State University, and author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan

“In a world of diet fads and exercise gimmicks, it’s so nice to find a friendly voice of reason. Ellie has a way of giving commonsense advice without sounding parental and preachy. And she doesn’t leave you hanging. She’s a helping hand guiding you through every step of the way. She’s my friend—let her be yours.” —Paige Davis, host of TLC’s Trading Spaces


From the Hardcover edition.

Review
“Ellie Krieger’s book is so powerful because it gives a step-by-step approach on how to transform your life. People tend to get overwhelmed when they’re trying to lose weight. So be patient and don’t lose faith. Just keep making small changes, one step at a time, and big results will happen.” —Kathy Smith, leading fitness expert and author of Flex Appeal

“Spend just 12 weeks with Ellie and she will motivate you to make small, sensible changes to your eating and activity patterns that add up to better health and fitness.” —Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., professor and Guthrie Chair in nutritional sciences, Pennsylvania State University, and author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan

“In a world of diet fads and exercise gimmicks, it’s so nice to find a friendly voice of reason. Ellie has a way of giving commonsense advice without sounding parental and preachy. And she doesn’t leave you hanging. She’s a helping hand guiding you through every step of the way. She’s my friend—let her be yours.” —Paige Davis, host of TLC’s Trading Spaces


From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author
Ellie Krieger received her undergraduate degree from Cornell and her master’s in nutrition from Columbia, and is a registered dietitian who teaches nutrition at New York University. Ellie was a fashion model for Wilhelmina, then turned her attention to a TV career as host of the nationally syndicated Living Better in 2001 and 2002. She had a New York City–based nutrition counseling practice, and she’s been an on-air fitness expert for, among other outlets, Today, CNN, Food Network’s In Food Today, and CBS’s The Early Show. She has been featured or quoted in print outlets from Self, Fitness, Prevention, Glamour, and Ladies’ Home Journal to GQ and Men’s Journal. Ellie is in her late thirties, married to an Outward Bound expedition leader, and the mother of young Isabella. This is her first book.


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews

Works for me!
This book is easy and fun to read. While flipping through it, the first thing I noticed was that the recipes were well-rounded and looked really delicious. One of my favorites, grilled fish with mango-avacado salsa topping, is now a weekly meal in our household.

Some of the tips in here are so easy to follow -- for instance, she says when you are hungry, you should eat. It's what you eat and the portions that are important. I now keep healthy snacks at my desk for when my 3pm hunger rolls around.

I left Small Changes, Big Results on the living room coffee table and everyone in the house has picked it up and commented on how easy to read it is and how the tips are so useful.

This is easy to follow and it works. I've lost weight but more importantly, I've learned how to eat healthier. The excersizing is also easy -- the first couple weeks call for 20 minutes of walking 3 times a week(though you have options) but I find myself going for 60.

I've enjoyed all of the food I've been eating based on her recommendations. I recommend this book to anyone looking for easy reading and a way to lose weight without giving up fats and carbs.

Baby step your way to a beautiful, healthy body!
There are plenty of kick a** boot camp books on the market. How to lose 10 pounds in a weekend, get your body for life in a few weeks etc. Ellie Krieger's book "Small Changes Big Results" is a refreshing change. Ellie's approach is a gentle one. You will over the course of 12 weeks baby step your way to a better body and healthier life.

Krieger who holds an MS in nutrition from prestigious Columbia University walks you through a simple program of change. Each week you will add on tasks that focus on 3 areas: eating well, moving your body and living well. Ms. Krieger gives you simple, very doable tasks for each. As you progress through the program you will feel better, slim down, and become healthier and you won't be killing yourself in the process!

The first component is the eating plan. Instead of a diet, Ellie instructs you on what to eat to encourage a slim body. Different weeks will find you filling your pantry with healthy foods, learning about grains, understanding hunger, getting the skinny on fats and more. For fitness you will add on walking (starting with a simple 20 minute 3X a week walk) and progress to strength training, stretching etc. The third component is all about feeling well. So many "diet" books neglect this essential tool to achieving a healthy slim body. Here Ellie will give you ideas to make your life more enjoyable from managing your time, to sleeping better to the power of play. I was delighted to see that Ellie even includes a section on clearing clutter. It's amazing how conquering your clutter can lead to better feelings about oneself and yes ultimately a thinner you!

Ms. Kreiger includes very simple delicious recipes like minestrone soup, lemon pepper chicken and banana-peanut butter smoothie.

The appendix includes a wealth of valuable information also. She explains how much of each food group you should eat in order to consume your caloric needs. She gives a list of sometimes, rarely and usually foods. She has included suggested supplementation. sample weeks of healthy eating and much more.
A list of resources and index rounds out the back of the book.

What I really love about this book is its doability. It's babystepping your way to a healthy body. It makes becoming slimmer and healthier a pleasure and easy. You work with your body to achieve your goals. Small changes do equal big results!

A Terrific Book
This is a great book. It contains very common sense guidelines and ideas for nutrition, fittness and wellness and organizes them into an easy to follow, step-by-step process. The section on fat is very helpful. I finally understand what all the terms mean (mono-unsaturated, trans fat, etc). Another section on fruits and veggies by color and what they do for you is also well organized and informative.

I stumbled upon this book at the library and after taking pages of notes, decided to look it up on Amazon. Sure enough it was selling at a great price so I bought it and have been marking pages and highlighting passages ever since I received. It will make a great gift this Christmas for several people.

I believe that Ellie Krieger has written the best book out there on how to develop a healthy lifestyle.