This book is written for Saint Bernards like you and me, who for years have tried every diet around hoping to become Greyhounds... and have finally realized that Saint Bernards can't change into Greyhounds. We are a sizable (no pun intended) group, for only five percent of all dieters ever keep off what they take off. So what's our next best hope? Well if we have to remain Saint Bernards, let's become the healthiest St. Bernards we can possibly be. And in addition, let's learn to be happy as Saint Bernards.

But let's get one other thing straight; this book isn't telling fat Greyhounds not to become thin Greyhounds. If you happen to be one of those small percent who can take it off and keep it off, go for it. But if you've been yo-yoing your weight up and down for the past decade or two, or maybe even three, it's time to try a new approach. Folks who are destined to be heavy can indeed be healthy. Weight is only one factor in our total health profile, and if you can get the other factors in line, your weight need make little difference; in fact it will probably correct itself .

Let me also underline that the word diet does not appear in the title of this book! This program has nothing to do with dieting. Diets rarely work. Oh, you may knock off 20, 25, 30 pounds... even much more weight on one diet or another, but as soon as you go off of it, you'll gain back 25, 35, 45 pounds or more weight than you originally lost. Sound familiar? It should. Remember, national averages show that less than five percent of all of us ever keep off the weight we took off on all the various diets we've tried all our lives. The yo-yoing of our weight during and between diets is probably more-unhealthy than the weight we originally wanted to take off. These yo-yo fad diets can cause mental distress, upset your metabolism, can seriously disturb your electrolyte and body chemical balance, can cause cardiac disturbances, kidney problems and other psychological and health problems. Almost all diets are fads. They are temporary. Most can be dangerous to your health.

This book does not put you on a diet! In fact, if you follow this program you'll never diet again! And, if you follow this program, a year from today you'll in the best shape you can be... possibly the best you have ever been! That's the goal and the guarantee of this program, pure and simple.

There are some of us, perhaps most of us, who are just not destined to be Madison Avenue gods or goddesses or match a predetermined spot on a weight chart or the BMI. Neither the weight charts, BMI nor Madison Avenue are necessarily the best health standards for us to set our goals toward. And just because we don't match up... or rather down to those arbitrary standards, does not mean we are any less valuable a person or are less healthy than the skinny folks.

In this program we will set more realistic weight and health standards for you. We'll forget weight charts, which were invented by insurance companies and not public health authorities or physicians... the BMI which is in my opinion just as useless - but rather help you determine your own Ideal Body Weight. Ideal Body Weight is a concept that makes a lot more sense, is far more realistic and does not threaten your health in trying to attain it through every insane fad diet that comes along. Over the past decade alone there have been hundreds, perhaps thousands of diet books published... and yet our population is probably more out of shape, obese and unhealthy than ever before. In this program we'll propose no new fad diet but will only discuss good nutrition. You'll probably be surprised to discover that most overweight people are also malnourished. If we can correct this malnourishment we've gone a long way to improving our health and we'll begin to approach our own personal Ideal Body Weight. We are not going to talk about how few calories we can restrict you to. We aren't going to talk calorie restriction at all. If mal-nourishment is what's behind most excess weight, we will speak only of proper nourishment. We won't count calories, but will concentrate on teaching you about calorie dense or calorie lean foods you like and how to balance them.

No chart or beauty standard set by the marketing moguls of Madison Avenue can determine what you as an individual should weigh. That would be as ridiculous as Madison Avenue or some insurance company telling you what your personality, attitudes, life goals, likes and dislikes and all other traits that make you an individual should be. You are an individual, a real person, not some standardized concept of what you should be. Your characteristics and physical attributes go into determining the average, but you can never be the average. For you to become the average would destroy you the individual. Any changes you make in you characteristics have to be tuned to your own personality, build, habits, needs that define you as an individual. There is no average standardized person so don't let society or weight charts try to turn you into one. It's impossible and can only lead you to frustration.

If after all those diets you've been on and off of, you finally realized that you're just destined to spend the rest of your life "portly," weighing well over what those charts say you should weigh, then this program is for you! This program will help you find that Ideal Body Weight which is yours and yours alone... and will help you to attain and maintain that weight and the best health you can possibly have. You can be both "HEAVY AND HEALTHY!" You'll be far healthier than if you continue to try to reach and maintain a weight that is plainly unrealistic for you and going onto every insane, faddish, yo-yo diet that comes along.

And so, let's get on with this program...