The Food Doctor Diet Club: Join Ian's Workshop for Dramatic Weight Loss with Day-by-day Support

"If everyone had unlimted money and time and a family that wasn't fussy at all then this book would be great. Unfortunately when this book arrived I was so hyped up over the 5 star reviews that I had seen that I was bitterly disappointed. I knew that I had none of the food that I would need in my cupboards to embark on this food plan and as I was on an average income I also had none of the spare cash to nip all over the county looking for the various items my local supermarket didn't stock. I would need a complete life change to accomadate this diet and as a busy mum of a toddler and fussy eater husband I don't have the time, money or energy. But I'm do know that this diet would work as it lists all the food that is known for its health benefits, unfortunately it doesn't benefit my wallet or state of mind. "
~ Written on 2008-04-22

"I'm not a fan of diets and especially not diets that claim to not be diets, but rather 'a complete change of lifestyle'. However, having excess babyweight to lose and having reached an impasse with normal eating and exercise I decided to give this one a go. It was the healthy eating that attracted me. I realised that I had got into some poor eating habits while in the bleary eyed, sleep deprived new baby stage and this seemed to promise to restructure my eating habits over the course of a 4 week plan.

As others have stated the book provides shopping lists, daily menus and recipes for evening meals. However, I found a fair bit of the food difficult to find (perhaps due to my non-cosmopolitan location) and in fact eventually went without many of the items or substituted with food I considered similar. Another downside for me was that this diet takes a lot of time, a lot more than it claims. For any busy person, finding time to have snacks as well as main meals proves a challenge, and for me making everything from scratch proved impossible. For breakfast I eventually bought the food doctor cereals online to make life easier, while I only managed to make one smoothie from scratch and found it quite unpalatable. I eventually compromised with shop bought juices and smoothies, which the food doctor says is not ideal - thus adding to my sense of guilt and failure - not a great combination for dieters. On the plus side, although the evening meals took longer to prepare than stated, they were surprisingly delicious and yes, I have revisited a number of them since.

I suppose as with any diet the end result is what counts. I am sorry to say that over 4 weeks I lost only 3 pounds. Not the incredible weight loss promised by the book and apparently achieved by others. I cannot fathom why I have failed where others have succeeded. I exercised as suggested and followed the plan rigorously other than the comparable substitutions I was forced to make.

It seems to me that many of the 5* reviews for this book have come from members of the original 'Richard and Judy' diet club. Perhaps this has skewed the rating? I imagine they had extra support from the guru himself and the impetus of appearing on TV to lose weight.

I do not want it to seem that I have a wholly negative view of this book or diet. I liked a lot of the food and it has made me rethink what, how much and when I eat. I am eating healthier and I do feel marginally better in myself. I would say buy this book if you want to rethink how and what you eat, but as with any diet do not expect miracles."
~ Written on 2007-10-22

"I suppose a diet reivew should cover two aspects, the diet and results but also a review of the book itself.

First the book, there are a couple of great things about the book which first attracted me to it, it is ring bound which might not sound odd but is there anything worse than trying to cook with a book which keeps wanting to close? It also has a rugged cover so it performed well in the kitchen, something I think is often forgotten with many diet books. The plan is 31 days and details every thing you will be eating every day, the first few weeks are restrictive but the last two give you many more options and give you the knowledge you need to take the diet in to the future. It also includes full shopping lists with versions for you to cut out with a handy pouch in the back to keep them.

On the negative side I found many of the meals took longer to prepare than stated, not by much, but they try and keep them in 30 minutes which while is good if it's not realistic I'd rather know about it up front. Also I found that the shopping lists had too much on them for a single person and the main meals were portioned for 2 people. That wasn't such a problem but as I say the shopping lists meant I threw a fair amount of stuff away.

As for the diet I suppose all I need to say on that front was that I lost 10kg in the 4 weeks, that was done with a fair amount of exercise but it shows that the case studies in the book are realistic.

I'd definately recommend both the book and diet."
~ Written on 2007-06-07

"I cannot recommend the Food Doctor Diet Club highly enough. The shopping is easy with the included lists, the meals are straightforward to prepare and the food is just so tasty - we were totally convinced that it couldn't be healthy if it tasted this good!

My husband and I have a lot of weight to lose between us but after following this plan for just four weeks he has lost 20lbs and I've lost 9lbs. However, the biggest difference has been how great we both feel. We have tried many different diets over the last few years with very little success but this works and you feel great. It's also great to have proper home-made food for once - it's just so easy to rely on processed rubbish that tastes like cardboard these days.

We have now changed the way we eat forever and we are well on our way to losing the rest, if you have tried every plan under the sun and feel like giving in give the Food Doctor a go - what do you have to lose?"
~ Written on 2007-03-02

"I am one of the guinea pigs used in the book! I followed the diet for a month and lost 11lbs (not bad at the age of 53)and still follow the principles of it months down the line. I am totally caffeine free (I tried proper coffee a few months ago, and it just made me feel ill), so I only drink de-caff tea and coffee, Roiboos or herbal teas. I no longer take sugar in my hot drinks and cannot stomach really sweet things i.e. chocolate. I can manage some organic plain chocolate from time to time, but I never was a chocoholic anyway.

I used to take lots of indigestion tablets, but have not had one since embarking on this diet and following the principles of it. Ian's diets really do work, and you feel so much better after a month off the alcohol, caffeine, sugar etc. I now take time to have some porridge or muesli before I leave the house to come to work, even if it does mean getting up at 5.30am to do so! The recipes are delicious and really easy to prepare. If you're an imaginative cook you can adapt them for all the family to eat, or to your own taste, but still within the principles of the diet.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to loose weight sensibly, without starving. Just following it for the month will make you rethink the way you eat.
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~ Written on 2007-01-11