Reviews
Amazon.co.uk
Bill Phillips had been publishing body-building
magazines and marketing nutritional supplements for years when he had
a weird revelation at a trade show: many of the most loyal and
enthusiastic readers he had were totally out of shape. From that
uncomfortable realisation came his popular Physique Transformation
Contest (top prize that first year: Phillips's own Lamborghini), now
world famous, and this book. The three-times-a-week weightlifting
program in Body for Life is deceptively simple. If you have
spent any time in the gym, you have already done all the exercises.
But Phillips includes a couple of high-intensity sets at the end of
each exercise that should compound the training effect on each muscle
group. Same goes for the cardiovascular exercise he recommends: just
20 minutes, three times a week. But those 20 minutes are spent jacking
the intensity up and down, accomplishing more in less time.
Phillips arranges all this into a 12-week programme,
along with nutritional and motivational tips. Be warned that the
nutritional advice gets a little spacey. For example, he puts
"carbohydrates" and "vegetables" into separate
categories, and recommends three daily doses of a nutritional
supplement called Myoplex, which his company manufactures.
(Fortunately, he gives tips on how to make each dose taste different,
such as by adding drops of peppermint extract.) Despite this
strangeness, Body for Life still motivates because so many
others have achieved astounding results in similar 12-week windows,
and the pictures and testimonials are here as evidence. --Lou
Schuler
Synopsis
Introduces a twelve-week motivational program designed
to promote a lifetime of mental and physical fitness, offering
step-by-step guidelines, detailed routines, self-assessment
techniques, and inspirational tips.
Customer
Comments
A reader from Durham England , 7 November, 2000 
Gives structure to your fitness
If you have some experience of training and nutrition
through the gym or magazines, this book will tell you nothing new.
What it does do is help structure your workout time and diet making it
easier to stick with it. You still need commitment and be willing to
push yourself hard if you are to reach your goals. Stick with it and
the program does work. EAS products are pushed but they are not a
necessity and with a bit of imagination you can get the same effect
without them.
A reader from England , 22 August, 2000
A good book, but not for hard gainers
If you are overweight or out of shape, then this is the
book for you, however if like me (skinny hard gainer), then this may
not be the book you. I brought this book after watching the body of
work video (very inspirational), but found the book was really for
people who needed to lose weight and build muscle. There are other
books and methods available for the skinny guys out there who want to
build up, however this is a good read and the diet and exercise
methods are very easy to follow. I would recommend it to any of my
out-of-shape friends.
A reader from Swansea , 28 July, 2000
Haven't got a clue? Start here
Despite the number of probably disillusioned and
undisciplined reviewers of this book who rate it so low, if you are a
complete novice to weight training this is a good, cheap,
uncomplicated and comprehensive start and most importantly it can
motivate you. Unless you're a pessimist, but how many pessimists ever
achieved anything? Ignore the commerciality because the fundamentals
are there and can't be faulted. This is 'a' way to make the radical
change in your body and life and Bill Phillips didn't invent it but he
believes in it. Be fit by other means sure but if you want the
physique that shows just how strong a mental attitude you have and
that you can achieve big things give it a try. The book contains
simple, very simple advice on what and how much to eat and equally
simple routines to work out effectively by. If you don't believe
anything that doesn't take a degree in nuclear physics to understand
or is backed up by 10 zillion medical studies, give up now and save
yourself a ton of confusion and dissapointment. Great book, give it a
try!
A reader from London , 26 July, 2000
Second time around
As a European, hard sell marketing tactics, such as
before and after pictures, actually discourage me from buying a
product. I saw this in Kansas City, Missouri mid-way through a 10 week
project. I bought it out of sheer boredom, but endded up reading it
from cover to cover, weeks before going to a gym. I did the plan for
three weeks and did loose weight (about 5lbs)and probably converted
another 5lbs into muscle. Overall, it worked for me in that I did get
a realistic result and really did not suffer any major pains and aches
in the process. What this book basically does is that it adds definite
structure to excercise, with an easy to follow approach. It also
eliminates most of the guess work and thinking required to do a set of
excercises in an optimal fashion. I did no more than the plan required
and it was easier than expected. Unfortunately, I left my book on the
plane and now I am back here to buy another copy.
A reader from Florida , 17 April, 2000 
Fantastic program, great easy read, nicely detailed.
After reading several of the "poor" reviews,
I noticed there seem to be a pattern. Those giving it one star and
bashing the book seemed to all adhere to the idea that the book is
nothing more than a marketing tool for EAS supplements. These critics
apparently did not read the book. Part of the program is to eat 6
small meals per day - 3 of which CAN be replaced with supplements.
Bill Phillips suggests this as a convenience, and certainly to
advertise his product, but in NO way does following the program
REQUIRE this. One review mentioned you have to spend $500-1000 on
supplements. NOT TRUE. The supplements DO NOT have to be used. Anyway,
for me, the book is phenomenal, the program is excellent, and I thank
Bill Phillips for giving me the tools to take back my life.
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Reviews
Synopsis
Dr Andrew Weil focuses on how food can influence health
and well-being. He makes clear that an optimal diet should not only
supply the basic needs of the body for calories and nutrients but
should also reduce risks of disease and fortify the body's defences
and intrinsic mechanisms of healing. Dr Weil establishes that how we
eat is an important determinant of how we feel and how we age, and
that food can function as medicine to influence a variety of common
aliments.
Customer
Comments
A reader , 24 November, 2000
Important and informative
After reading the previous customer review, I purchased
both this book and Sonia Uvezian's "Recipes and Remembrances from
an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen". They are two of the best
investments I have ever made. My family and I have already benefited
greatly from Dr. Weil's excellent advice, and although I own dozens of
volumes on Mediterranean cuisine I now find myself cooking from
Uvezian's book more than from any other. Her recipes yield incredibly
delicious results and offer much better nutritional value than most
so-called health food cookery provides. Both Weil's and Uvezian's
books really stand out, and they are well worth buying even if you
already have other titles on these subjects.
A reader from USA , 9 July, 2000
Indispensable reading
Of the many health books I have read, this is
undoubtedly one of the best. In addition to providing a wealth of
nutritional information, Dr. Weil evaluates various diet plans and
exposes the dangers inherent in a number of currently popular ones. He
offers medically sound and practical guidelines for healthy and
enjoyable eating, stressing that for a diet to be followed
successfully over a lifetime it must be a source not only of ample
nourishment but also of ample pleasure and that healthful food need
involve no compromise in taste. An especially useful feature of the
book is the tips it contains for shopping and menu planning as well as
for making sensible choices when dining out. Readers will also find
Dr. Weil's advice very helpful when consulting cookbooks. For example,
following the basic principles set forth in his book, I have
discovered a gold mine of great eating in Sonia Uvezian's masterpiece,
"Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean
Kitchen", which is filled with recipes for a myriad of
easy-to-prepare, utterly delicious, and wonderfully healthful dishes
that have earned raves from my family and guests.
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