The O2 Diet: The Cutting Edge Antioxidant-Based Program That Will Make You Healthy, Thin, and Beautiful

I love the concept of this book, and I think it's awesome that eating healthy foods are stressed over eating less calories. I also never knew half of the information about antioxidants and why they are so important that was presented!That being said, I am currently finishing my second day on the cleanse. Although I love that this cleanse lets you eat real food, I have a few problems with it. I'm a college student who is basically jumping from class to work all day from 8 to 4. When am I supposed to steam an artichoke?? I steamed two the first day and brought the second one in my backpack to class! Also, I don't always have access to a microwave, so most of my food is eaten cold. I also hate lemon juice in my water! It makes me want to drink less of it!At first glance the cleanse menu looks like it's a lot of food to eat... and around dinner time, it certainly is! But for most of the day I'm hovering around "slightly hungry". After dinner I feel nicely satisfied... until an hour or two later when I am RAVENOUS! Yesterday I had to cheat and eat a granola bar because I was so hungry I couldn't sleep! Tonight I had to eat another serving of pecans because I'm so darn hungry! It makes me think that I won't last another two days because I just can't stand being hungry... and I've tried to eat more of the vegetables that are unlimited in their serving size, but you can only eat so many Romaine leaves, and they aren't very filling.Overall, I think the concepts in this book are wonderful and the author promotes a fantastic way of life, but at least being a college student, this diet is a little unrealistic. Especially since the food for the suggested Phase II meal plan is definitely going to be wayyyy out of my budget :( I have been inspired to eat much healthier, however!

I bought this book after seeing a blurb about it in Women's Health magazine, which is published by Rodale, also the publisher of this book. As a life-long fitness and nutrition enthusiast, I was intrigued by the whole antioxidant thing. The principles of this diet are the same as other diets--lots of fruits and veggies, lean protein, whole grain carbs, and "good" fats such as nuts and olive oil. The focus on the antioxidants is just another spin on the same healthy eating approach that has been written about in countless other books and can be found in current mainstream news stories. Although new research is constantly emerging, the science behind antioxidants and what they really do for us is slippery at best--the author acknowledges this herself. What bothers me is her statement on page 9, "Although the current recommendations are that we eat between 3,000 and 5,000 ORAC points a day for optimum health, why not get all you can?" Considering the latest research concerning the adverse effects of consuming an overabundance of certain vitamins and minerals, perhaps this was an overstatement.One pet peeve--she mentions some foods in certain chapters and then doesn't include them on the ORAC point chart. The charts are spread out through the book and I have to keep flipping around to find the ORAC points for certain foods. The chart from the website is also not consistent with the charts in the book (such as different serving sizes), which is irritating. The author mentions several times that coffee is very high in antioxidants but doesn't give the readers how many ORAC points are in a cup of coffee.I never intended to do the cleanse nor follow her regimented eating plan; rather, my intent was to apply the principles to my eating. The book has made me more aware of what I put in my mouth (always good). I find the Abs Diet (another book published by Rodale) to be a much better philosophy towards overall eating, and one could then add some antioxidant-rich foods from the O2 Diet. You can go to [...] and download the food charts with all the ORAC points and skip buying the book. It would be great if someday in the future the ORAC score of a food will be a part of the nutritional label, so we can easily see how antioxidant-rich that food is.

What's great about this diet is that instead of limiting yourself to a certain calorie count or point count or carb count, you are MAXIMIZING what you eat and you have a goal of getting as much of something as possible!! It is so liberating to let go of being restrained and to embrace the idea of nourishing yourself. I have totally let go of thinking about calories/ fat/ carbs and I've lost 7 lbs effortlessly. The real idea is... *****eating healthy = a healthy you*****!!!! Sounds too easy? It IS!The style in which the book is written feels like one of my girlfriends is talking to me- it's so user/ reader friendly and easy to understand. I love how casual the author is able to word it all - while still educating me!The recipes, meal plans and guides are very easy to use and extremely delicious. I've found such delights that I never expected. I LOVE the "blueberry soda" and drink it all day long. I'm moving on to other flavors and I even made it with apple-cinnamon tea and added cinnamon to boot (talking about super antioxidants)! I've now become a herb junkie and I'm adding oregano and other herbs to everything I cook. Not only am I getting huge amounts of antioxidants into my diet but my food tastes tons better... and with zero added guilt.I've developed my own "cinnamon dip" to have with my afternoon apple snack based on the information in this book. My coworkers are all gobbling up my apples and cinnamon!! Talk about delicious!I also love the "beauty" section with the homemade facial treatments. Sighs! Talk about feeling indulgent. This is one health/ diet book you should definitely add to your library. You won't regret it! Stop limiting yourself today and start living healthy. Nourish yourself and love yourself - the rest will all fall into place!

Love this book. This diet - which is healthy eating vs a fad diet works well for me and I’ve used it several times over the years. 8 love the recipes and so do my family. This is the second purchase of this book for me. I loaned my original out a couple of years ago and it was never returned. I guess she liked it too!

This book changed my life, I now can meal plan myself, I exercise 5-6 days a week this book put me on the right track. Definitely a good choice!

Learning lots about antioxidant foods and how they affect our body. Hoping to lose a lot of weight over the next several months.

I like the fact that you don't count calories and concentrate on eating a healthy choices. Just have to be careful with portion size.

Love this program