“Let’s Do Lunch” by Roger Troy Wilson

The cover of this book says, misleadingly, “Eating all the CALORIES and CARBS you want to lose weight!” The true premise of this book is to replace all simple carbohydrates with fruit, beans, corn and peas, eliminating all sugar, potatoes, rice, bread and pasta, not as a temporary diet, but as a lifestyle. The author lost 230 pounds this way. Needless to say, the author is someone to whom excess seems normal, and this diet/lifestyle he advocates is excessive. Certainly there are a few for whom this diet/lifestyle would work, but they must be prepared to be excessively disciplined to overemphasize some food groups, such as fruit, fruit, fruit, and beans, beans, beans, and underemphasize others.

Breakfast is as much fruit as you want, with a few supplemental typical breakfast foods if you cannot stand to eat only fruit. Lunch is a big meal with protein, soup, salad and/or vegetables. Dinner is as much fruit as you can eat. If you cannot be satisfied with that, you can add soup, vegetables, beans, peas or corn, but no protein. Evening snacks? You guessed it, fruit. If all these beans and fruit bother you, the author recommends Beano and Imodium. What a way (not) to live.

The author made extreme statements, such as, “. . . in your body sugar turns to pure fat . . . .” and “these foods [bread, pasta, potatoes, and rice] turn into pure fat.” Certain foods do not turn into “pure fat”. The body stores any extra calories as fat, no matter the source of those calories.

“Let’s Do Lunch” isn’t the way to lose weight unless you are firmly convinced and committed to living permanently without simple carbohydrates or complex carbohydrates from grains. If you are willing to limit your food intake to lean meat, beans, very little cheese, very few grain-based crackers, vegetables, and lots and lots of fruit, then this is for you. If not, then skip it. This strikes me as an unhealthy way to live because it is unbalanced. Portion control in conjunction with the food pyramid is a much more healthy and successful way to lose weight and to eat in general.

I would not recommend this book to anyone, as I think it would be discouraging, not to mention unhealthy. While there are apparently those for whom this eating plan works, they certainly must be few and far between.

The Edge of the Divine, Where Possibility Meets God’s Faithfulness by Sandi Patty

While the title of the book may make you think it’s a theological treatise, this book actually centers around the author’s struggle with weight loss, her LapBand surgery and its effect on her life. It is really an account of why and how the author became overweight, her self-image, and how weight loss has affected how she feels about herself.
This book is for you if you love Sandi Patty, for it is a detailed account of her journey in the past couple of years. This book is not for you if you seek a book encouraging you to see God in your daily experiences, as the title seemed to imply.
If you love Sandi Patty, you will love this book, for it gives you a glimpse into the everyday life of this celebrated singer. She comes across as a person, not a performer.
This book was interesting both because of its author and its topic. It is the kind of book, though, that would or should not have been published if not written by someone well known.
The Edge of the Divine conveyed biblical truth well, as Sandi Patty discussed how her relationship with God helped in a very real way in her struggle with her weight