Dr. Howard M. Shapiro is the founder and director of Howard M. Shapiro Medical Associates. It is a private multidisciplinary medical office in New York City, which specializes in nutrition counseling, weight control, and life management. His pioneering work in bariatric medicine gained him international recognition in 1981. He was able to establish a comprehensive weight control method which expanded to include psychological services.  Dr. Shapiro has authored Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program for Permanent Weight Loss and Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss 30 Day Plan (Amazon affiliate link) among others. These books have made a great impact on many people.

Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program for Permanent Weight Loss (Amazon affiliate link)
Comparisons in pictures give clear illustrations that, while an individual can make a choice of eating food with low calories, he/she can still have a large portion that is enjoyable to one’s palate.  The pictures get readers to think about their food choices. This book is a visual aid to some people who prefer large portions but still want to lose weight. Most people need to ‘see’ and not just ‘hear’ or ‘read about’ it.

This book is straightforward and easy to read. For many readers, this is not a “diet” book.

• It illustrates that losing weight can be easy. It teaches how to satisfy one’s hunger by actually eating more, provided you eat the right foods.
• It allows you free choice, you can control what you eat but you will not feel deprived. It is a realistic system.  This is a better alternative to low-carb diets which are harder to maintain and puts one’s heart at risk.

Another plus is the discussion on emotional eating where examples are cited on how “real people” can modify their eating selections.
While the book may be the best diet plan to many of Dr. Shapiro’s readers, there are some flaws in this book:

• Dr. Shapiro discourages milk and instead encourages an increase in intake of fortified soy products.
• This book leans toward vegetarianism but many people still prefer to have some meat in their diets as their protein source. Some people can only eat so much tofu. Soy products are also quite expensive and not available in some places.

There is no mention of alternatives to seafood in this book. This is a problem to people who are allergic to seafood. The discussion on exercise, as part of a balanced health regimen, lacked depth.
Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss: The Visual Program for Permanent Weight Loss (Amazon affiliate link)
is one of the best approaches to weight control. It is simple and easy to understand. It helps many people to lose weight in a doable, enjoyable way. In the end of it all, it is one’s choice whether he will make use of this book to improve his life.

Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss 30 Day Plan (Amazon affiliate link)

Just like its predecessor, Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss 30 Day Plan (Amazon affiliate link) is a simple and easy book to follow. It has new food comparisons which are as colorful as the ones in the first book. There are real life stories of New York Fire and Police Department personnel, the Chicago 7 on Good Morning America, etc. In this book, there is nutritional information targeted at specific age groups (e.g. kids, teens and seniors).

There is a section addressing eating disorders like bulimia which is affects many young people. Unlike the first book, the 30 day plan book is more specific. As the title suggests, it’s a 30-day eating plan. For many people who are too busy to figure out the portions that they should eat, this book is a big help. However, like the first book, this is also a diet-focused book. Losing weight should also involve exercise.

While this is a one of the best weight control programs written, an exercise regimen would also greatly benefit the readers.

As with all other diet plans, there is one basic thing to remember. If you do not stick to this plan, you will easily regain all the weight that you lost. While this program was designed to be simple and easy to follow and understand, it still takes commitment on one’s part to do this regimen diligently to stay healthy.

The average person living in a Western country is now obese.  The secondary effects of this weight gain ranges from a decreased ability to be active with family and friends to diseases and illnesses that can be directly attributed to the body’s decreased ability to remain healthy at an increased weight.  The causes of this weight gain can be credited to several different factors which range from the Standard Western diet high in fat and processed foods, decreased exercise, more desk jobs and increased stress in the lives of people.

No matter what the reasons weight loss and increased exercise is the solution.  And because of the increased number of people suffering there are also a plethora of weight loss programs available to meet almost every need you can imagine.  But among those weight loss programs that are legitimate are also those that are unreasonable.

People who are desperate to achieve their goal are often at a higher risk of falling prey to those who would want to take their money without delivering on the promise.  There are some specific criteria to evaluate before you join a weight loss program or determine to follow a particular plan.  Let’s look at those criteria now.

1. Does the program promise quick, rapid, easy and painless weight loss?  Most legitimate weight loss programs won’t make a promise that you will lose weight rapidly because they know that such a thing isn’t possible.  The only promise they may make is that they’ll help you lose it as fast as medically possible.  So if you find a program that promises you’ll be in that bikini in 2 months – don’t walk away – run!

2. Does the program recommend the use of supplements to jump start or maintain weight loss?  Many weight loss programs will recommend using a multi-vitamin because in the process of cutting calories many people may also cut out the necessary vitamins needed to help maintain the functioning of the body.  However, if the program relies on a supplement as the basis of the program then it’s probably not something that you can maintain for any length of time.  And before considering any supplement consider the side effects, the long-term effects and any interactions with medications you may already be taking – such as blood pressure medication and any of the over-the-counter medications you may take for headaches, allergies or pain relief.

3. Does the weight loss program address the mental aspect of losing weight?  However good the program may be if you aren’t prepared for the lifestyle changes and the weight loss then the program won’t help you!  If the program appears to be legitimate and doesn’t make big claims about what you can accomplish but doesn’t have a support mechanism built in you may want to find your own support mechanism to use the program.

4. Does the program advocate incorporating exercise into your daily routine as well as dietary changes?  Research is clear about the health benefits of both.  Those who use both a dietary change and exercise will have better results than those who just cut calories.

Before joining any weight loss program it’s important to evaluate the criteria that make the program healthy and successful.  Those programs that encourage people to make drastic changes to their diet or exercise hours each day, are more than likely not going to be successful because of the amount of will power it would take to maintain the program in the first place.

Take a strong look at how the program will also affect your body and your health.  We are given one body to last this lifetime.  When we take good care of it – it will take good care of us.