Diet Recovery 2 Paperback – May 21, 2013

I had only heard of Matt Stone on a blog before I came here to order the book. Before buying it, I read other's reviews here and based on those was expecting a crass guy that would remind me of a dishwasher at a truck stop that randomly dropped F-bombs and hit on chicks leaving the women's bathroom. NOT REMOTELY THE CASE! This is way less suggestive than others reported, so buy it for Grandma or your friends at church - they CAN handle it, if they have left the house in the last 40 years.HERE is what I got from it: (and know, that every single human who reads this will leave with a totally unique/personal take away) YOUR BODY KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED, the question is...are you READY to trust it?Truthfully, since I became a teenager and up until recently - I would NOT have been ready for this book. I would not have been willing to give up my mind's information about all of the BAD BAD BAD horrible FOOD that my body craves and ALLOW my body to dictate what I ate.My relationship with my body is so loaded with chaotic beliefs, that I can not even articulate clearly now how many layers of disconnect were formed long ago. As a female I have placed some very heavy demands on my body, that were in truth IMPOSSIBLE. I wanted it to make me lovable, powerful, confident, sexual without being insecure, kinky without being out of control, fearless without being stupid, strong enough to be safe- yet vulnerable. My body has been what I was supposed to use to ATTRACT others and to SHIELD me from others. Worth and Protection.In other words, my ideals for my body are something only Hunter S. Thompson would endorse. We are talking MADDDNESSSS!So YES, the moment you are ready for THIS INFORMATION is a moment that actually is a mental/spiritual surrender TO YOUR BODY'S WISDOM over your mind. I CAN'T tell you how to get to that point. Nor does this book. It just explains that your body's desires ACTUALLY ARE what your body needs to heal and have the energy to take in this world AS IT IS, and AS YOU ARE.My body has been telling me all along "PLEASE let me FEEL FULL and allow me to BE VITALLY ALIVE right NOW."I will be blunt; if you are new to "dieting" and "eating healthy" then I genuinely do not know if this book will be helpful for you. If you have not spent at least 30% of your life on a diet, or are related to Honey Boo Boo's clan, then this book may not be where you need to be looking. I have no idea where you would look, but this book seems useful to getting a body/mind that has been restricted with laws against every ingestible item -> towards Liberation. If you have been fearlessly flying the winds of Doritos and Ding Dongs for years, I have no suggestions for you...other than I envy your freedom as much as I fear it. Initially, I would suggest you try an apple, but after my years of imprisonment I wouldn't wish the food jail of "good vs evil" on anyone.Lastly, I just want to give a shout out TO MY BODY> THIS poor thing has put up with my INSANE demands, which it has tried DESPERATELY to fulfill year, after futile year. I have blamed it for nearly everything, and still it rose with the sun to bust its hump to try to give me MORE of whatever new demands I made of it. I apologize from the depths of my soul for being such an oblivious ingrate. I regret that I didn't listen to its voice or allow it to get its needs met ...and I promise with all of my heart to try to SUPPORT its wisdom more fiercely, so that my insecure self loathing heart and mind have less control over it, then I have allowed them in the past. I love you, BODY. I wish I could be as loyal to myself or anyone else, as you have been for all of these years. THANK YOU FOR RALLYING, NO MATTER WHAT!ps- and THANKS Matt Stone for giving my mind something to munch on, that supports my body's SCREEECHING suggestions all along :)

Do you want escape the responsibility of thinking critically, blindly follow meticulous protocols from "credentialed" medical "experts," spend your waking hours fretting over precise macronutrient ratios and taking 20 supplements, and ignore the fact that the "healthier" you are the sicker you become? If so, this is NOT the book for you.On the other hand, if your quality of life has suffered from preoccupation with healthy eating, and you want to remember (or discover for the first time) what it feels like to trust yourself and your body's signals, Matt Stone's "Diet Recovery 2" will be a tremendous force for encouraging you to LIVE.This book should definitely appeal to chronic dieters, but I think it is also very valuable to those who followed strict nutrition protocols for "health reasons" rather than weight loss. I was always a thin, active person who never saw the need to restrict calories or follow rigorous exercise programs. However, after college I began endurance running for "fun," and that began a multiple-year journey into textbook and internet health research that consumed my life. The more I learned the more restrictive I became. Improving my health became a fulltime job, with thousands of hours spent learning and practicing Paleo, gluten-free, casein-free, local organic plastic-free vegetarianism, etc. The healthier I became, the sicker and more anxious I felt. Over three years I experienced a dramatic decline into hypothyroidism (FT3 2.0), anemia (B12, folate, and iron deficient), fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, low cortisol, "stage 6" adrenal fatigue, Wilson's temperature syndrome, MTHFR mutation, dysautonomia, etc. Life was nothing more than a series of protocols, nutrition numbers, blood tests, and comparing ineffective treatments with other really sick people on message boards and blogs. I nearly took a medical leave from work, and literally thought I was going to die from aching exhaustion. What's worse, I felt so hopeless and in such despair about ever getting better from "chronic fatigue" that I almost didn't have the motivation to live.So eventually my body just gave up and I was forced to take a few days off from exercise for the first time in three years. I ate some junk food. Remarkably, I felt warmer and better than I had since I'd started being "healthy."A few days later I discovered Matt Stone's 180DegreeHealth and saw that he excelled in working with people whose stories were similar to mine: those who had eaten and exercised themselves into withered, lifeless, frozen states. Matt had gone through his own health journey and had a first-hand understanding of self-induced metabolic damage. Because I am a biochemistry professor with a good deal of expertise in cell physiology, I was especially impressed by Matt's thorough and accurate explanations of carbohydrate metabolism, insulin cycles, sleep and its effect on the hypothalamus, etc.--all of the details that "expert" mainstream health gurus AND alternative practitioners often misinterpret or don't understand. Matt clearly has the knowledge equivalent to multiple PhDs in this field. Most importantly, I was delighted by Matt's attitude. When he found new information, he didn't ignore it or manipulate it to fit into his preconceived theories. He didn't critique his readers for asking him questions or challenging his ideas. Because he deeply cares about what he does, he is honest with himself, with reality, and with his readers.Thanks to Matt's blog and earlier books, I'm slowly but steadily recovering from my self-induced health problems, and realizing that I never had adrenal fatigue or chronic fatigue, etc. I didn't need 17 adaptogenic herbs. I needed food and rest. I was underfed and overtrained, and had let nutrition numbers take priority over my life passions and my happiness.I highly recommend everyone read Matt's blog in its entirety and track the fascinating development of his recommendations for metabolic healing. And if you're looking the most recent, up-to-date, immediately useful information to regain your health, "Diet Recovery 2" is an excellent way to get started! Matt's writing is fun and accessible, while at the same time being grounded in years of serious and intense research supported by studies, thousands of anecdotes, "common sense," and listening to one's body.If you want to experience great health and emotional happiness while finally enjoying life again, "Diet Recovery 2" is a fantastic companion on your personal journey. It will help you understand that any diet (or "lifestyle") that makes you unhappy is NOT healthy. It will inspire you to believe that healthiness IS happiness.

Disappointed with this really - apart from an excellent section near the end about "living life" rather than pursuing an unattainable perfection. But much of the rest of it is filler. I like alot of Matt Stone's honesty and insigh in his writing - I think alot of what he says NEEDS to be said in this era of anorexia, orthorexia and fitness obsession. But I think his book "12 myths of Paleo" was better generally. The photos of women's bottoms was just weird/tacky and not funny.The "recovery" he writes about in this book is really only meant for people who have REALLY screwed up their metabolism by over-dieting and over-training e.g. the temperature of their hands and feet are cold as a result (his main test for poor metabolism) or for those who have done extreme dieting/training for a long time and in doing so have excluded important foods and food groups and made themselves ill. For your average person I think most of his "re-feeding" recommendations are not applicable - its just a case of going back to eating a wider range of foods and not obsessing!

Like many others, I stumbled upon this book after trying numerous diet systems in search of weight control and optimum health. But since my heath deteriorated last year with my autoimmune disease, and GAPS diet was doing nothing to improve the condition after 3 months, I gave this book a go. I must admit, it was scary at first - everything written in this book is opposite of what people are saying recently to achieve better quality of life. But within a couple of days, my psychedelic split vision from Myasthenia Gravis stabilised and on top that, all the other symptoms that I thought were side-effects from my medication disappeared!Matt's writing is easy to follow and I like the fact that he leaves the responsibility of looking after your body on your hand by paying attention to your bio-feedback rather than telling people to follow one particular strict programme. Also, whilst many e-books are guilty of repeating the same information again and again to inflate the contents for the sake of it, this book doesn't do that and I found it very refreshing.Thanks, Matt for putting out the information and keep up the good work!

This book will go against everything you have been told about how to eat for a long and healthy life. But if you read it with an open mind, it might change your relationship to food and diet, and maybe even your body forever ...After reading Matt Stone’s books, I committed to never going on a calorie restriction diet EVER again. The yo-yo-ing is just awful and soul destroying. This approach is the opposite, it is totally life affirming. It provides a way to recover from chronic and obsessive dieting and/or over training, for long term health and perhaps more to the point, deep peace, calm and sanity around food.Of all his books, this is probably the best. He has clearly done his research over the years, but this one is the best structured and summarises most of his findings to date in one easy read. He has a natural style (lots of 'boy's own' humour, which is probably not to everyone's taste, but I find it amusing) and he manages to communicate complex scientific findings in very simple, clear language (A sign that he is on top of his field of study). He also has probably the easiest 'programme 'you have ever followed in your life. (hey, no scales of any kind in sight!),. The book helps you to understand your love/hate relationship with food. (How could food be the enemy? .. I mean really??? cos that is what many in the health and fitness game would have us believe.) It also shows you how to find, in its place, a healthy, pleasure-filled, non-victimised relationship to food where your weight will remain steady and you will no longer have to stress about food - calories, food choices, intolerances, etc etc, any of it.I am not saying that the programme is an easy ride. so If you follow it, be prepared to have moments of extreme doubt. The worst part is the initial weight gain, not just because its horrible gaining weight, but also because you know that you can no longer go back to the good ol' days of calorie restriction, guilt and starvation because you will know how and why this only make things worse for yourself in the long run. Matt is honest about the fact that for some people (about 10 per cent) the programme doesnt work, and some people never lose the weight that they initially gain on the programme. That is probably the most scary thing for an addicted dieter. I am four months in, and have gained more weight than ever before, but the book warns you that this happens for most people at first so I was prepared for it. I am also willing to give it time, mainly because, I finally want out of the crazy cycle of dieting and binging that I have done for most of my adult life. So there is a commitment that has to be made here. I have already decided to give it a year, though I think for some people it can all happen much more quickly .. After four months, yes I have gained weight, but my metabolism is slowly on the rise. The most dramatic change is that I hardly think about food anymore (probably because I am not starving myself anymore). Not only does this makes life a lot less stressful, I now have brain time for other far more important things .. So THANK YOU Matt Stone.

What the author has written makes a lot of sense, and it is nice to hear that your body functioning efficiently does not mean you have to suffer and employ huge amounts of will power. I like the underlying idea that the body is smart and it self-regulates. I have finally stopped restricting my food, and relaxed on my exercise. It has been two weeks now, and I am already seeing most of the effects described in the book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has dieted or is considering dieting (it will stop them from putting their body through all the unnecessary stress!)

Read this book, then go home and burn every diet and health book you've ever bought as you won't be needing them anymore. Matt's book will set you free from the vicious cycle of bingeing, dieting and excessive exercise. It's scary reading if you've spent years reading about nutrition from the mainstream doctrines on health, but since mainstream isn't working, it's time to try something that does....