The Get with the Program! Guide to Good Eating

January 1, 2003
Oprah's longtime personal trainer expands his "Get with the Program" product line with this calm, supportive guide to healthy eating. Greene reaffirms the tenets of last year's Get With the Program!: Getting Real About Your Weight, Health, and Emotional Well-Being-stay hydrated, exercise aerobically, strength-train and eliminate "emotional eating"-before turning his attention to good food habits. Eating breakfast is essential, he says, as is establishing a cutoff time at night (try not to eat 3 hours before sleep); numerous small meals and smart food choices round out his four main steps to healthy eating. Greene's recipes, which take up the latter half of the book, are easy and pleasing: Broccoli and Swiss Chard Cannelloni is full of the beta carotene he espouses in an earlier chapter, and Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes provide "a healthy shot of antioxidants." He also presents deceptively healthy recipes for Paella, Wild Mushroom Grits and a delicious Eggplant and Zucchini Poor Boy Sandwich. Greene's tone remains encouraging throughout, and his cool dismissal of fad diets and quick fixes should soothe those who have hyperventilated for diet revolutions in the past: "Powerful change occurs...by taking small steps...each day of your life."

December 15, 2002
Oprah's longtime personal trainer expands his "Get with the Program" product line with this calm, supportive guide to healthy eating. Greene reaffirms the tenets of last year's Get With the Program!: Getting Real About Your Weight, Health, and Emotional Well-Being-stay hydrated, exercise aerobically, strength-train and eliminate "emotional eating"-before turning his attention to good food habits. Eating breakfast is essential, he says, as is establishing a cutoff time at night (try not to eat 3 hours before sleep); numerous small meals and smart food choices round out his four main steps to healthy eating. Greene's recipes, which take up the latter half of the book, are easy and pleasing: Broccoli and Swiss Chard Cannelloni is full of the beta carotene he espouses in an earlier chapter, and Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes provide "a healthy shot of antioxidants." He also presents deceptively healthy recipes for Paella, Wild Mushroom Grits and a delicious Eggplant and Zucchini Poor Boy Sandwich. Greene's tone remains encouraging throughout, and his cool dismissal of fad diets and quick fixes should soothe those who have hyperventilated for diet revolutions in the past: "Powerful change occurs...by taking small steps...each day of your life."

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2002
Greene, best known as Oprah's fitness guru, has already exhorted people to " Make the Connection " (1996) about their emotions and food and to" Get with the Program" (2002) by following a fitness regimen. Now he takes on dieting, but veteran dieters (and if you're a dieter, you're a vet) won't find much new here. Greene begins with a history of "past mistakes," i.e., bad diets (Stillman, Atkins, Scarsdale, liquids) and explains why they don't work. Greene's plan can be summed up in a few pages: choose good-quality food; eat reasonable amounts; eat breakfast; establish a cutoff time for evening dining; and space calories throughout the day. The rest of the book is an elaboration on these points supplemented by recipes. Sensible is the key word here, as Greene reiterates points from previous books about physical activity and getting hold of one's emotions. In normal circumstances, a diet book without gimmicks might not be noticed. But Greene made the Oprah connection, and now he's a brand name. Illustrations not seen. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)