Dr Paul G Anderson. Published by Junction Publishing, United Kingdom/New Zealand 2018. ISBN 978-1730979927. Soft covered, 90 pages. Price NZ$19.99. Kindle NZ$9.14.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KCSX538?tag=u04d7e-20

Paul Anderson is a New Zealander who trained in general surgery and works part-time in Australia and part-time in New Zealand. He has been a leader in minimally invasive weight loss surgery for 20 years; despite this there is not a word about surgery in the book! This is his fourth book, the other three being fiction.

This is not a weight loss manual or fad diet book. It is a book about why people put on weight, and how this might be managed. The book makes the point the this is a long-term issue, no short-term fix.

The book has 20 chapters but is written as two parts. Part one (chapter 1–10) called the “nasty facts” outlines issues around weight gain, the global change in body size, genes and epigenetics, the damages of sugar and cholesterol, as well as the effects of weight gain on an individual’s health. The book is damning of fast food outlets, and the profiteering of food industry pushing health where harm is the outcome and targeting lower social economic communities with junk food. The book explains the effects of being overweight, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, osteoarthritis and the cancer risks.

The second part of the book (Chapters 11–20) is called the “clever eating guide”. These chapters explain it is not just what you eat but how you eat it that is important. The chapters contain many things we have all heard before such as the importance of small plate size, portion size control, no seconds, regular meals, etc, but also makes it clear that the person wanting to lose weight must own this as their problem and arrange appropriate support and keep away from at-risk situations. This part of the book outlines situations where the person wanting to lose weight will be challenged. It also gives advice on supermarket shopping and provides some meal choices and health tips. Paul also points out that at times the person trying to lose weight will “fall off the horse”. He points out that this happens and not to give up. You need to think about things, get up and have another go.

The book is soft covered with good-sized pages and text. The pages are of good-quality paper. There are good supportive pictures and figures. The book is easy to read and informative. The second part can be used to remind oneself of certain things as required.

This is not a text book, it is meant for people wanting to lose weight and would be a useful addition to direct patients who want to lose weight and manage it themselves.

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