Reset Your Appestat: A Successful Program for Achieving Permanent Weigh Control Without Rigid Diets or Strenuous Exercise

By Ben Douglas

Book Overview

Appestat is a mechanism in the central nervous system that controls food intake. If you are overweight and diets don't work, perhaps your appestat is set too high. This book tells how to reprogram... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0937552216
• ISBN13: 9780937552216
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Quail Ridge Pr
• Length: 182 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Amazing, It Works and no Dieting Required

I borrowed this book from the library many years ago and was so sceptical when I realised affirmations were a big part of the plan. Still, as diets never worked for me, and I have tried so many, I decided it was worth a try. Then I could prove once and for all that affirmations are useless mumbo jumbo. I followed the method as advised, scoring points each day according to his different categories to keep me on track. I decided that every "fat" thought, about food, clothes, weight etc would warrant an affirmation too, just to be sure I was giving it a fair chance.By day two or three I would sit down to eat a normal meal and think, "goodness, do I really have to eat all that?" All my binging stopped, I had no choice in the matter. I was thrilled, no dieting, no counting calories, fat or carbs. No will power needed even at parties. It was an amazing transformation and in the years since I did it I have not stopped telling people about it. Althouth my appetite diminished, I did not lose my enjoyment of food. In fact, I could really enjoy food and revel in it without worrying about it being fattening.I lost weight for some months, but after borrowing and reading it a few times the book disappeared from the library shelves and I could not locate a copy anywhere. So the down side is that you have to be motivated to keep doing the mental work and keep your score up or you will slip back, but after some time it should no longer be neccessary to use it as your beliefs should change. Now I have discovered I can get this book on the net, I can't wait for it to arrive, to re-read it, keep motivated and lose the weight.The up side is that previously I wasted a lot of thinking time worrying and obsessing about food and weight, whereas this method swaps those thoughts for positive thoughts so I felt much better about myself. This has opened up a whole new world where I now know I can change my life just by changing my thoughts (and especially my beliefs), and I have made so many changes in other areas as a result, such as using positive motivation for the kids instead of criticising them. Also the book is the only money you need spend, and that will soon be made up by money not spent on food.This book is very factual and down to earth, with lots of info about health and fitness and it encourages readers to keep healthy habits. The method is simple and set out well. I now realise that dieting is missing the point, that is why only about 2% keep the weight off in the long term. Change your thoughts, then everything will fall into place. Also, do a search on Ben H. Douglas and you will see he is an eminent professor and surgeon.So the bottom line is, yes it works, as long as you keep working the program, and believe me, this program is so much easier than having to resist fattening foods.

Nothing but success!!

I haven't tried this book, on losing weight. But I have used Dr. Ben Douglas book and his theories on taming the lizard brain in regards to drinking, fitness, credit card spending, and controlling attitude (depression). I think that the appestat (appetite--thermostat) is at the root of why people gain weight, binge, obsess, stress,...and lose control in their lives. It is this part of our [brain within a brain] lizard brain (the hypothalamus) and maybe the Freudian "id" (my suggestion--not his) that trumps most other diets. In 1988, I had the pleasure of marketing this book for Quail Ridge Press. I became good friends with Ben Douglas. I guess I felt guilty for not doing a better job with it, and haven't kept in better touch with he and his family. I didn't have much of a budget to do this book justice. Also, I felt like the cover design, and the editing we're weak. I did a commercial, but had no 1-800 # to get a fair measure of its impact (in Knoxville and Jackson, probably not the best "test cities"). This is a brilliant book by a brilliant man (see his other book on aging: "Ageless"). The problem with this book is that there are no pictures of formerly fat people giving testimonials. Or, Doctors making outragious claims without substantially researched data to back them up (see Dr. Atkins' issues in the book: Fat Free Lies. ) In other words, this book didn't get the big publisher treatment it deserved. While I was at Quail Ridge Press promoting this book, I talked to 50 to 100 people about thier experiences using his diet program. Almost all said something similar to this: "When I used it, it worked...I lost weight on it...You can still eat what you want...It's amazing" Only theorist, and cynics (like that other reviewer below) find fault with this book. ANYBODY, AND EVERYBODY THAT READS IT, AND USES THIS BOOK, LOVES IT!! His scientific theories alone (for me, whose thin) are worth the price of the book. They openned me up to new ways of thinking. I really hope he does a follow up, and that more people buy this book, and lose weight.

Totally Changed My Life

Because of this book, I'm no longer in bondage to my stomach. The ravenous demand to eat -- something, anything -- that controlled my life since I was a kid is gone. I used to snack on bread and peanut butter while cooking dinner because I couldn't wait. I sometimes ate until I was sick because I couldn't stop. Now I'm free. This book has set me free by radically changing my appetite for food. I still enjoy it, but now I eat when I want to eat, not because I have to eat something to satisfy my appetite. The hunger that used to run my life is gone, all from repeating phrases from a book to myself at intervals during the day. It's like a miracle. Many of the criticisms the other reviews mention are true. The method Dr. Douglas teaches you is really a form of appetite control through hypnotic suggestion, which he chooses not to mention in the book. Also, you could go to extremes and shut your appetite off completely, and if you do that you'll lose weight very fast and wind up in the hospital. But you would have to ignore Dr. Douglas's instructions to do that, because he wants you to lose a steady 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per week, and if you follow the instructions, that's what you lose. In addition, this is a 1988 book, and there are flaws because of its age. Some of the daily health-information readings are out of date now, and the book has you determine your target weight at the start using the Metropolitan Life Height and Weight tables, which we now know are sometimes very inaccurate. But all these criticisms are trivial. I've lost 17 pounds since last summer without ever being hungry or denying myself anything I wanted to eat, and it's still almost impossible to believe it, even though my scale tells me it's true. Most important, this is not a diet, so there's no reason I ever want to "cheat" on it and no reason I'd ever go off it. I just eat whatever I want, but what I "want" is gradually changing because of the phrases and readings. This is a life-changing program for controlling your weight.