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The Omni Diet: The Revolutionary 70% PLANT + 30% PROTEIN Program to Lose Weight, Reverse Disease, Fight Inflammation, and Change Your Life Forever
By the time she had reached her mid-30s, Tana Amen had nearly given up on good health. Through a lifetime of chronic medical ailments, including severe digestive issues, recurrent infections and, most devastatingly, a battle with thyroid cancer, there was never a point when Tana felt consistently healthy. Doctors ascribed her poor health to genetics, bad luck, and a family history of obesity and heart disease. But even when Tana committed to a standard fitness and eating regimen, her health failed to improve.That's when she realized that she needed to make a real change. She needed to figure out how to improve her health . . . for good. The Omni Diet is the culmination of a decade-long quest by Tana Amen to study the relationship between food and the body, and to understand how proper nutrition not only impacts weight loss, but actually holds the key to reversing chronic disease, decreasing inflammation, healing the body, and dramatically improving quality of life. So what is The Omni Diet ? It's an easy-to-follow plan based on a 70/30 plant-to-protein model. This is not a restrictive diet or another page in the high-protein vs. vegetarian diet wars, but a universal map to better health, one that Tana has distilled into a lean six-week program. It offers a simple plan that provides an abundance of illness-fighting nutrients from plant-based foods and high-quality protein to keep the brain sharp and muscles and organs functioning at peak condition. The balance of 70% plant-based foods and 30% protein restores energy, slashes risk of disease, optimizes brain and hormone functioning, produces dramatic weight loss, and promotes health from the inside out. With delicious and satisfying recipes, easy-to-follow exercises, and important advice and tips, you will see results -- in your weight and overall health – immediately. Follow this revolutionary, paradigm-shifting plan and experience its life-changing results as you unleash the healing power of food.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published April 16, 2013
102 people are currently reading
646 people want to read
About the author
Tana Amen
14 books30 followersTana K. Amen, BSN, has worked as a Trauma/Neurosurgical intensive care nurse and is the wife of Daniel G. Amen. Tana is the nutrition and fitness leader of the Amen household. She practices martial arts regularly, has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and enjoys a variety of other physical activities. Keeping her family focused on fitness and health is a primary value for Tana.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
December 24, 2013
If you are looking for a primer on clean eating, this is the book for you. I was introduced to this book through the author's husband, Dr. Amen. I have read many of his books on the intersection of brain function and diet and was looking forward to a more in depth study of the nutritional aspects of this theory. This book provides a lot of information in easily digestible chapters. The basic premise of the diet plan is that in order to achieve optimum health, one must avoid: sugar, dairy, and gluten and replace those items with a diet that is 70% plant based and 30% protein based. I will admit that I am a sugar addict. I was only able to follow the diet completely for about three to four weeks, before falling off the wagon and into a sugar overdose. I felt a lot healthier and more energetic when I Was on the diet and I enjoyed the food for the most part. I think, for me, this plan fits my aspirations for the type of diet that I would like to follow, were life not always getting in the way.
August 22, 2013
If you think you might like kale smoothies, the Omni Diet is for you.
I tried the Omni Diet for two weeks earlier this month, and by "tried," I mean I stuck with it 95% of the time. Author Tana Amen calls it "the revolutionary 70% plan + 30% protein program to lose weight, reverse disease, fight inflammation and change your life forever."
It was really, really hard. And it certainly won't change my life forever because there's no way I can give up cheese for good. But for the most part, it works.
I would describe it as a sophisticated organic version of the Adkins Diet. I lost 10 pounds in two weeks, plus or minus 3 pounds water weight. The first time I tried the South Beach Diet a decade ago, I lost 5-and-a-half pounds in two weeks.
Amen claims you won't get hungry. Baloney. The second week, I was literally starving, complete with the bad breath that comes from ketosis. And she claims you'll lose your cravings. Also baloney. I will crave Spicier Nacho Doritos and Dark Chocolate Reece's Peanut Butter Cups until the day I die.
The diet suggests plenty of anti-inflammatory foods (I ate more garlic and spinach in two weeks than I did the previous two months), vegetables like crazy, some fruit, nuts and seeds, and lean meats. Here's what you can't eat on the Omni Diet: Processed food (including sausage, bacon and deli meats), sugar, wheat, rice, corn, potatoes, dairy (yes, that excludes cheese) and alcohol (among the few times I cheated, I ate plain yogurt and corn on the cob).
The Omni Diet might have changed my life if I was suffering from ailments like arthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus or high blood pressure, but I'm generally pretty healthy, just weak-willed. Ironically, I think the gastrointestinal distress I endured the last three days of the diet was brought about by some inadequately washed spinach in one of the dozens of salads I ate while dieting.
The book has some good recipes, even some tasty ones for morning smoothies (the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie is like eating dessert!). I found a lot of ways to eat kale, too, but smoothies are not one of those ways and a small kale salad just isn't gonna cut it as an afternoon snack. Still, without relying on any processed foods, dinnertime was a huge chore. More than one evening, I was chopping, cooking, eating and cleaning for two hours. For one meal. Ouch.
I try diets like this every once in a while just because I'm sort of a freak and also because I think it introduces me to new foods and new perspectives. I'm using grape seed oil to cook with now instead of olive oil, for example. And I replaced my Splenda with Truvia. And I realized there is no reason whatsoever to eat hash browns for breakfast four times a week.
Amen has some good ideas, but the Omni Diet is just too extreme for me to enjoy -- or even endure -- for longer than two weeks.
I tried the Omni Diet for two weeks earlier this month, and by "tried," I mean I stuck with it 95% of the time. Author Tana Amen calls it "the revolutionary 70% plan + 30% protein program to lose weight, reverse disease, fight inflammation and change your life forever."
It was really, really hard. And it certainly won't change my life forever because there's no way I can give up cheese for good. But for the most part, it works.
I would describe it as a sophisticated organic version of the Adkins Diet. I lost 10 pounds in two weeks, plus or minus 3 pounds water weight. The first time I tried the South Beach Diet a decade ago, I lost 5-and-a-half pounds in two weeks.
Amen claims you won't get hungry. Baloney. The second week, I was literally starving, complete with the bad breath that comes from ketosis. And she claims you'll lose your cravings. Also baloney. I will crave Spicier Nacho Doritos and Dark Chocolate Reece's Peanut Butter Cups until the day I die.
The diet suggests plenty of anti-inflammatory foods (I ate more garlic and spinach in two weeks than I did the previous two months), vegetables like crazy, some fruit, nuts and seeds, and lean meats. Here's what you can't eat on the Omni Diet: Processed food (including sausage, bacon and deli meats), sugar, wheat, rice, corn, potatoes, dairy (yes, that excludes cheese) and alcohol (among the few times I cheated, I ate plain yogurt and corn on the cob).
The Omni Diet might have changed my life if I was suffering from ailments like arthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus or high blood pressure, but I'm generally pretty healthy, just weak-willed. Ironically, I think the gastrointestinal distress I endured the last three days of the diet was brought about by some inadequately washed spinach in one of the dozens of salads I ate while dieting.
The book has some good recipes, even some tasty ones for morning smoothies (the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Smoothie is like eating dessert!). I found a lot of ways to eat kale, too, but smoothies are not one of those ways and a small kale salad just isn't gonna cut it as an afternoon snack. Still, without relying on any processed foods, dinnertime was a huge chore. More than one evening, I was chopping, cooking, eating and cleaning for two hours. For one meal. Ouch.
I try diets like this every once in a while just because I'm sort of a freak and also because I think it introduces me to new foods and new perspectives. I'm using grape seed oil to cook with now instead of olive oil, for example. And I replaced my Splenda with Truvia. And I realized there is no reason whatsoever to eat hash browns for breakfast four times a week.
Amen has some good ideas, but the Omni Diet is just too extreme for me to enjoy -- or even endure -- for longer than two weeks.
June 25, 2020
Wow this book is a wealth of information to help guide you to the foods and personal diet choices that nourish and heal your body verses set it up to disease and health problems...
March 9, 2017
Like most diet books, this one is 90% blah blah blah sciency-sounding padding and "real life stories", 10% potentially useful information if you have zero knowledge of nutrition. Add in some specious claims about beans and dairy and a side dose of churchiness and that's pretty much it.
April 28, 2023
Most of what was in this book is talked about in other books. This isn't a low-carb high-fat lifestyle or a diet that is too hard. But when you tell people not to start the day with a breakfast that is sugar-laden, don't put the first breakfast to be a smoothie with 14.2 grams of sugar. For me, fasting is a good thing. I've been doing it for around a year now and I can see the benefits from this practice. Don't tell me I have to eat breakfast an hour after waking up because that doesn't work for me. I don't have to eat 3 meals a day plus 2 snacks. I'm not too impressed with this diet or this book.
January 29, 2021
Loved this book and the work of Tana and her husband the neuroscientist Dr Daniel amen. I liked all the science behind how different foods affect the body, as well as the information near the end of the book on sugar & how to manage sugar cravings as I’ve always had a sweet tooth. I appreciated the sample meal plans in the back for the three different phases as well as the recipes. Here are my notes from the book with highlights:
Even though your brain makes up only 2 percent of your body’s weight, about 3 lbs, it uses 20-30 percent of the calories you consume. It is the most energy hungry organ in your body. The nutrition you give your brain is either helping it to function properly and repair itself, or hurting and tearing down the most important organ in your body….as your weight goes up, the size and function of your brain go down. -viiii
Food can be your best medicine or your worst enemy. The typical western diet of bad fat, salt and sugar — think cheeseburgers, fries and sodas— promotes inflammation and has been associated with depression, ADD, dementia, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. …fast food makes me tired and stupid.-xi
Like many young adults, I thought if I exercised enough, I could eat whatever I wanted. -1
In my experience lifestyle choices always catch up with you at some point. -2
Experts agree that eating a lot of fresh plant foods helps lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other diseases.-4
Simply follow the omni diet for 2 weeks and then let me know if you want to stick to it.-5
Inflammation is your body’s way of coping with injury or insult….but injury and infection arent the only things that trigger inflammation. Environmental toxins, hormone imbalances, emotional stress, excess body fat— especially belly fat— and blood sugar, along with certain kinds of foods, also cause inflammation. This kind of inflammation though low level is chronic and stays turned on indefinitely. Over time, chronic, out of control inflammation damaged your body. -10
Inflammatory foods- fast food, sugar, simple carbs, dairy products, trans fats, some animal derived saturated fats, excess omega-6 fatty acids, and foods that are processed, engineered or refined.
Foods that reduce inflammation- fresh vegetables and fruit, fish that are rich in omega-3, nuts, seeds, certain herbs and spices(like turmeric). -11
You can fight for your health and actually change the way your genes behave. -11
Genetics loads the gun, but your environment determines whether or not the trigger gets pulled….our diet alters our genetic expression and our genes don’t have absolute control over our destiny. -12
as long as your immune system is healthy it works like it’s supposed to. But if your immune “ guard dog” isn’t healthy, it goes mad, it can turn on its owner and attack. That’s what happens with auto immune disorders. The immune system attacks your body instead of protecting it.-16
Immunity starts in the gut. -17
food directly impacts neurotransmitters and us can have an immediate effect on your mood.
As your weight goes up, the physical size of your brain goes down.-19
Eating protein chases away hunger by balancing the hormones of metabolism… Leptin tells your brain when you are full and should stop eating. 31
Simple carbohydrates such as sugar, bread (Not just white bread), Pasta, white rice, potatoes, and baked goods spike your blood sugar, cause insulin resistance, trigger inflammation and are low in fiber… The instant energy that comes from a blood sugar spike is quickly followed by an insulin spike, leading to a quick drop in blood sugar, leaving you feeling foggy and craving more simple carbs. Eating simple carbs and sugar keeps you addicted to sugar.
The more sugar and simple carbs you eat, the hungrier you will be. -41
once you let go of sugar, your cravings will subside as well. Within a short time, usually several days, of eliminating sugar and simple carbs, your hormones begin to regulate. Your hunger/satiation signals normalize.-42
complex carbohydrates are found in unprocessed plant foods such as vegetables. They do not spike blood sugar and provide a healthy steady source of energy without the dramatic peaks and valleys you experience with simple carbs. If you buy into the idea that all carbs are bad, you eliminate a food group that contains more life-saving nutrients than any other.
Vegetarian diets are often high simple carbs and sugar and low in person. This can keep levels of insulin and cortisol chronically elevated, which can lead to rapid aging, muscle wasting, and visceral belly fat also known as muffin top. This explains why many vegans and vegetarians are often soft around the middle even if they are slim. I recommend illuminating sugar and simple carbs from your diet completely, and then consuming very small amounts on a long-term basis.… Once you take All bread, most grains, white rice, white flour and sugar out of your diet, and replace them with lean protein, healthy fats, and a lot of whole, fresh vegetables, your carbohydrate fixation will quickly start to disappear.-43
consuming high fiber foods such as broccoli, berries, onions, flaxseeds, nuts, green beans, cauliflower, celery, and sweet potatoes makes you feel full faster and longer and helps keep blood sugar low and stable. 43
limit your fruit to half a cup or one serving per day. The best choices are organic strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries which have less of an impact on blood sugar and more nutritional value than starchy or high sugar fruits such as bananas and pineapples. 45
Omega-3 fatty acid and unsaturated fats are both good fat. Omega 6 are necessary but harmful if eaten in excess. Saturated fats can be good and bad for example coconut oil is a good saturated fat. Trans fat are the worst . it raises LDL the bad cholesterol and lowers HDL the good cholesterol. These are found in shortening, margarine, commercially prepared fried foods, packaged baked goods, including donuts, crackers, and snack foods.-48
Eat naturally raised meat only from organic, grass fed, hormone free, antibiotic free animals.… Industrially raised animals consume up to 80% of the antibiotics used in this country.-50
Wild fish, such as salmon, mahi-mahi, albacore, shrimp, trout, and tilapia are an excellent source of nutrition. Seafood is one of my favorite sources of protein. I also like eggs because they are protein rich, easy to prepare, and easy to pack for on the go eating. Be sure to choose cage free, organic, dha enriched eggs from vegetarian fed chickens. 51
Although calorie restriction seems to be beneficial for people who are overweight or obese, it may not have the same affect on those who are lean. There’s some evidence that calorie restriction in lean people may actually be harmful. 58
Are you willing to make a two week commitment to see these kinds of changes? You may feel a bit grumpy and fatigued for a few days, and think the Sugar is calling your name. But you will soon get over it and get healthy! 60
You should have 70% of your food come from whole plant foods, freshly prepared vegetables, vegetable juice, a little fruit, nuts, and seeds, and 30% of calories coming from high-quality lean proteins.60
Tip: Choose one eating place in your house, the kitchen table is the best place for most people. Make that your one and only eating place for meals and snacks. If your chosen eating place has a television nearby, do yourself a favor and disconnect it. Watching television while you eat enables my list snacking and makes fully conscious eating nearly impossible. 61
To be crystal clear, the quality of your diet really, really matters. Even if you cut calories, if you eat an anti-nutritious, sugar filled diet, you will probably not lose weight, or if you do you’ll quickly plateau. Many people actually gain weight when consuming processed pseudo- food filled with sugar. And eventually you will most likely begin to see signs of chronic disease from a lack of nutrients and increasing inflammation. 61
Choose 5 healthy habits you can commit to for 14 days….she has things like: Exercise one extra day each week, lift weights at least twice each week, drink one extra glass of water daily, eat one extra cup of vegetables daily, write in a food journal every day, find an accountability buddy, talk to your accountability buddy twice a week, pray or meditate for five minutes daily, drink fresh green drinks twice a week, write down five things you’re grateful for every morning, do the work of Byron Katie on her website www.thework.com to identify and question your automatic thoughts, mentor someone who wants to improve their health, list your daily victories in a victory journal, review your goals and values, put up a picture of someone you admire who mirrors your goals. 64
Tip: going to the movies used to be a constant battle for me. My always on the move personality doesn’t allow me to sit still without munching on some thing. Used to be candy and popcorn, but now I plan ahead. I took a bag of nuts, some cherries, or cut up vegetables and a small container from us in my purse along with a bottle of herbal tea or lemon water.
Tip: She loves cake so when she was going to a party where there would be cake she would eat a snack or meal with protein and good fat before the party because protein and fat increase satiety and decrease craving. 74
Make a list of healthy snacks you love and tape it to your fridge
Simple carbohydrates are found in just about anything white, table sugar, flour, and nearly all bread, pasta, and rice as well as sugary beverages and fruit juice. All of these foods are converted into glucose very quickly by your body. In contrast, complex carbohydrates, found in fibrous foods such as vegetables, whole fruits, and some whole grains, take longer to break down. 94
Tip: create a mantra like: I am a fit mama of five, not a fat mama five. Or I am a living example of health and fitness, especially to my children. Or I eat to nourish my body and feel my best. This is the way.
Repeat this sentence to yourself when you need help getting through a difficult challenge
96
With the Omni diet, you succeed every time you take a single step toward good health. You’re a winner every time you drink a glass of water, go for a walk, do one workout, eat a bowl of broccoli, throw out a bag of chips, ask for support from your accountability, write down your next days menu, writing your food journal, you get the idea. Even just taking a deep breath, closing your eyes, and reminding yourself that you have committed fully to living a healthier life makes you a success. Remember, when it’s this easy to succeed, failure is not an option. 100
The more sugar and simple carbs you eat, the more insulin your pancreas must secrete in order to deal with dietary sugar. This can lead to a situation called hyper insulinemia.
Sugars and simple carbs are broken down easily and quickly,. Complex carbs take longer, which is why complex carbs are better for controlling blood sugar. 101
When you have high levels of insulin in your blood, your body craves sugar to prevent hypoglycemia. Your body thinks this chronic hypoglycemic state is a stress response. The stress hormone, cortisol comes to the rescue to help increase blood sugar, and starts converting protein from your own muscles into sugar in a process called gluconeogenesis. Cortisol leads to muscle wasting and excess fat being deposited around your middle and creating a muffin top of fat that hangs over the waistband of your pants. This is actually visceral fat that accumulates around your organs, and it is a very dangerous kind of fat. 103
sugar leads to elevated triglycerides. And you become very efficient at forming fat from three sources, sugar, insulin, and cortisol.… Cancer feeds on sugar. Most cancer cells have metabolic needs that are about eight times higher than normal cells, so cancer cells need instant and constant energy, which it gets from a sugary diet. 103
When you focus on feeling grateful, blood flow increases to the areas of the brain that impact focus, judgment, and decision making. When focusing on negative thoughts a drop in overall brain activity occurs. 104
I Provide only healthy food in the house and I educate my daughter continually about how sweet affects the body 105
Many humans have trouble digesting dairy products. After the age of two, fewer than 35% of humans produce the enzyme lactase, which is needed to break down lactose, milk sugar, and Digest milk. 108
you need calcium but you are better off getting calcium from plants. The calcium in milk is not easily utilized by the body, and there’s no solid proof that it improves bone strength or prevents bone thinning and osteoporosis. Research with non-milk drinking Asians has found the Asians get all the calcium they need from plant foods. Osteoporosis rates are much lower in milk free Asians than milk addicted Americans.… Dairy products are actually associated with an increased risk in acne, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and joint pain. 110
The presence of lectins in legumes is a major reason that I advise consuming legumes like a condiment if you consume them at all. 118
Sugar raises blood sugar, causes rapid releases of insulin, is full of empty calories, feeds cancer cells, and causes many other unhealthy reactions in the body.
Sugar is sugar, including honey and maple syrup…their effect on your blood sugar, insulin, liver and cholesterol are the same (even though they do contain trace amounts of vitamins and minerals). 131
An appropriate amount of healthy fat is not what makes people fat. Sugar makes people fat. Sugar and simple carbs increase triglycerides which convert cholesterol to the dangerous dense form. Not all LDL cholesterol is the same. Big fluffy molecules are less damaging to arteries than small dense molecules. Think of repeatedly throwing a tennis ball at a wall. It doesn’t do much damage. But if you repeatedly throw a golf ball at the wall it begins to cause significant damage in a short time. Sugar helps to convert large fluffy molecules of LDL into small dents molecules which are far more damaging to arteries. 136
When you’re on the Omni diet, you don’t eat fake foods foisted on you by the corporate food Giants. You don’t consume chemical sweeteners that are some food manufacturers science experiment. You eat whole, natural, nutrient rich foods that are manufactured by mother nature, not laboratory workers. Once you break free from your addiction to unnatural food substitutes, you discover and enjoy the natural flavors of foods. You break the bonds of artificial sweeteners and reduced fat food like substances and feast on real foods that you were born to eat. When you leave fake foods behind, your body will thrive and your health will soar. 136
Give yourself permission to be sweaty….(this is my philosophy too!!) “ after you work out, give your armpits a quick wash, and then get on with your day. Shower, spruce up, and change clothes if you have time or if you really need to. Otherwise get used to caring around a stick of deodorant…. Better to be sweaty and healthy than perfectly coiffed and unhealthy.“ 164
nutrition is about 80% responsible for weight loss. Exercise is 20% responsible for weight loss.
Exercise is a critical component for reversing disease, improving health, and maintaining youth. 168
Take a lesson from your GPS… when you take a wrong turn you make your next legal U-turn. It doesn’t yell at you or judge you or call you a failure. instead it tells you to make the first possible correction and continue on your journey. That’s what we should do when we’re following a diet or exercise plan 169
As Muscle tissue increases, fat burns- provided you don’t add calories to your daily diet. Even when you’re not moving, your muscle cells burn far more calories than your fat cells. 172
Believe it or not, the easiest, most successful way to break your addiction to sugar is not to wean yourself off it a little at a time, but to stop all at once.
For example, when you eat sugar and other simple carbs, your blood sugar typically shoots up within minutes, stays elevated for a short time, and then plummets. As it falls your body gets an urgent message: eat more sugar and carbohydrates! Then the cravings start all over again… Eating sugar makes you crave sugar. Eating simple carbohydrates makes you crave simple carbohydrates. 179
The same goes for all of the health sapping foods I recommend taking out of your diet, including processed foods, grains, alcohol, gluten, and milk. Cut them all out at once and replace them with an entirely new menu of deliciously healthy, nutrient dense alternatives that will nourish your body in a way it was designed to be nourished. 179
During the first phase of the Omni diet, you’ll eat no grains, Sugar, Bread, white flour, or simple carbohydrates of any kind. 189
Sample menu phase 1 for 2 weeks pg 198
Keep a food journal. And write down the times for eating, that way you can know and understand your negative eating patterns and devise solutions. 207
Sample menu phase 2, for 2 weeks pg211
If you followed Omni diet 90% of the time, you can be a bit more relaxed with your food choices 10% of the time. 227
I do not advocate setting aside an entire day every week for you to go off your diet and eat anything and everything you see. While many programs suggest this, I have yet to see it work well for anyone long-term. There are several inherent problems with this thinking.
1. I’ve seen people eat up to 4000 cal of sugar and fat in hours just because they have designated one day a week for that purpose. This can sabotage the entire week of dedication and sweat
2. If you can’t wait to go off your program, it means you haven’t committed to real change in your life so, and you were still thinking of the program as a restrictive punishment rather than a path to good health.
3. Even a one day gorge on unhealthy foods can trigger the process of inflammation in your body.
4. Binging on sugary foods can reignite your sugar addiction. Planning a day of cheating with high sugar foods is like sending a drug attic’s into a crack house for one day. It was foolish and set you up to fail.
So how does the 90/10 philosophy work? It is a little extra room built into your program so you can enjoy the social aspect of your life. Also, there may be times you have less than optimal choices to to travel or other circumstances. You should still avoid trigger foods and foods that cause trouble with your health.
Her trigger food is cake. She couldn’t take a bite for months because it would trigger major cravings. No after years of clean eating She says, “On the rare occasion that I take a bite of cake, I have no desire for more. The key is, I only take a bite.
Or follow the 3-bite rule. If after careful consideration you decide to eat something off plan, follow the three bite rule. Think about it, the majority of enjoyment comes from the first three bites, after that your taste buds start getting bored and you’re no longer getting the bang for the buck that came with the first three bites. As you have your three bites, be fully present and conscious so you can really concentrate on enjoying the food. After three bites throw the rest away. Don’t keep it in your house. 229
Plan ahead for special occasions. Make the decision to have one food that is not on your Omni diet plan that day. Don’t use the excuse that since you made one unhealthy choice you might as well eat lousy for the entire day and then resume your program the following day. This really works for people that makes it harder to get on track. 229
Phase 3, 2 week menu pg231
Even though your brain makes up only 2 percent of your body’s weight, about 3 lbs, it uses 20-30 percent of the calories you consume. It is the most energy hungry organ in your body. The nutrition you give your brain is either helping it to function properly and repair itself, or hurting and tearing down the most important organ in your body….as your weight goes up, the size and function of your brain go down. -viiii
Food can be your best medicine or your worst enemy. The typical western diet of bad fat, salt and sugar — think cheeseburgers, fries and sodas— promotes inflammation and has been associated with depression, ADD, dementia, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. …fast food makes me tired and stupid.-xi
Like many young adults, I thought if I exercised enough, I could eat whatever I wanted. -1
In my experience lifestyle choices always catch up with you at some point. -2
Experts agree that eating a lot of fresh plant foods helps lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other diseases.-4
Simply follow the omni diet for 2 weeks and then let me know if you want to stick to it.-5
Inflammation is your body’s way of coping with injury or insult….but injury and infection arent the only things that trigger inflammation. Environmental toxins, hormone imbalances, emotional stress, excess body fat— especially belly fat— and blood sugar, along with certain kinds of foods, also cause inflammation. This kind of inflammation though low level is chronic and stays turned on indefinitely. Over time, chronic, out of control inflammation damaged your body. -10
Inflammatory foods- fast food, sugar, simple carbs, dairy products, trans fats, some animal derived saturated fats, excess omega-6 fatty acids, and foods that are processed, engineered or refined.
Foods that reduce inflammation- fresh vegetables and fruit, fish that are rich in omega-3, nuts, seeds, certain herbs and spices(like turmeric). -11
You can fight for your health and actually change the way your genes behave. -11
Genetics loads the gun, but your environment determines whether or not the trigger gets pulled….our diet alters our genetic expression and our genes don’t have absolute control over our destiny. -12
as long as your immune system is healthy it works like it’s supposed to. But if your immune “ guard dog” isn’t healthy, it goes mad, it can turn on its owner and attack. That’s what happens with auto immune disorders. The immune system attacks your body instead of protecting it.-16
Immunity starts in the gut. -17
food directly impacts neurotransmitters and us can have an immediate effect on your mood.
As your weight goes up, the physical size of your brain goes down.-19
Eating protein chases away hunger by balancing the hormones of metabolism… Leptin tells your brain when you are full and should stop eating. 31
Simple carbohydrates such as sugar, bread (Not just white bread), Pasta, white rice, potatoes, and baked goods spike your blood sugar, cause insulin resistance, trigger inflammation and are low in fiber… The instant energy that comes from a blood sugar spike is quickly followed by an insulin spike, leading to a quick drop in blood sugar, leaving you feeling foggy and craving more simple carbs. Eating simple carbs and sugar keeps you addicted to sugar.
The more sugar and simple carbs you eat, the hungrier you will be. -41
once you let go of sugar, your cravings will subside as well. Within a short time, usually several days, of eliminating sugar and simple carbs, your hormones begin to regulate. Your hunger/satiation signals normalize.-42
complex carbohydrates are found in unprocessed plant foods such as vegetables. They do not spike blood sugar and provide a healthy steady source of energy without the dramatic peaks and valleys you experience with simple carbs. If you buy into the idea that all carbs are bad, you eliminate a food group that contains more life-saving nutrients than any other.
Vegetarian diets are often high simple carbs and sugar and low in person. This can keep levels of insulin and cortisol chronically elevated, which can lead to rapid aging, muscle wasting, and visceral belly fat also known as muffin top. This explains why many vegans and vegetarians are often soft around the middle even if they are slim. I recommend illuminating sugar and simple carbs from your diet completely, and then consuming very small amounts on a long-term basis.… Once you take All bread, most grains, white rice, white flour and sugar out of your diet, and replace them with lean protein, healthy fats, and a lot of whole, fresh vegetables, your carbohydrate fixation will quickly start to disappear.-43
consuming high fiber foods such as broccoli, berries, onions, flaxseeds, nuts, green beans, cauliflower, celery, and sweet potatoes makes you feel full faster and longer and helps keep blood sugar low and stable. 43
limit your fruit to half a cup or one serving per day. The best choices are organic strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries which have less of an impact on blood sugar and more nutritional value than starchy or high sugar fruits such as bananas and pineapples. 45
Omega-3 fatty acid and unsaturated fats are both good fat. Omega 6 are necessary but harmful if eaten in excess. Saturated fats can be good and bad for example coconut oil is a good saturated fat. Trans fat are the worst . it raises LDL the bad cholesterol and lowers HDL the good cholesterol. These are found in shortening, margarine, commercially prepared fried foods, packaged baked goods, including donuts, crackers, and snack foods.-48
Eat naturally raised meat only from organic, grass fed, hormone free, antibiotic free animals.… Industrially raised animals consume up to 80% of the antibiotics used in this country.-50
Wild fish, such as salmon, mahi-mahi, albacore, shrimp, trout, and tilapia are an excellent source of nutrition. Seafood is one of my favorite sources of protein. I also like eggs because they are protein rich, easy to prepare, and easy to pack for on the go eating. Be sure to choose cage free, organic, dha enriched eggs from vegetarian fed chickens. 51
Although calorie restriction seems to be beneficial for people who are overweight or obese, it may not have the same affect on those who are lean. There’s some evidence that calorie restriction in lean people may actually be harmful. 58
Are you willing to make a two week commitment to see these kinds of changes? You may feel a bit grumpy and fatigued for a few days, and think the Sugar is calling your name. But you will soon get over it and get healthy! 60
You should have 70% of your food come from whole plant foods, freshly prepared vegetables, vegetable juice, a little fruit, nuts, and seeds, and 30% of calories coming from high-quality lean proteins.60
Tip: Choose one eating place in your house, the kitchen table is the best place for most people. Make that your one and only eating place for meals and snacks. If your chosen eating place has a television nearby, do yourself a favor and disconnect it. Watching television while you eat enables my list snacking and makes fully conscious eating nearly impossible. 61
To be crystal clear, the quality of your diet really, really matters. Even if you cut calories, if you eat an anti-nutritious, sugar filled diet, you will probably not lose weight, or if you do you’ll quickly plateau. Many people actually gain weight when consuming processed pseudo- food filled with sugar. And eventually you will most likely begin to see signs of chronic disease from a lack of nutrients and increasing inflammation. 61
Choose 5 healthy habits you can commit to for 14 days….she has things like: Exercise one extra day each week, lift weights at least twice each week, drink one extra glass of water daily, eat one extra cup of vegetables daily, write in a food journal every day, find an accountability buddy, talk to your accountability buddy twice a week, pray or meditate for five minutes daily, drink fresh green drinks twice a week, write down five things you’re grateful for every morning, do the work of Byron Katie on her website www.thework.com to identify and question your automatic thoughts, mentor someone who wants to improve their health, list your daily victories in a victory journal, review your goals and values, put up a picture of someone you admire who mirrors your goals. 64
Tip: going to the movies used to be a constant battle for me. My always on the move personality doesn’t allow me to sit still without munching on some thing. Used to be candy and popcorn, but now I plan ahead. I took a bag of nuts, some cherries, or cut up vegetables and a small container from us in my purse along with a bottle of herbal tea or lemon water.
Tip: She loves cake so when she was going to a party where there would be cake she would eat a snack or meal with protein and good fat before the party because protein and fat increase satiety and decrease craving. 74
Make a list of healthy snacks you love and tape it to your fridge
Simple carbohydrates are found in just about anything white, table sugar, flour, and nearly all bread, pasta, and rice as well as sugary beverages and fruit juice. All of these foods are converted into glucose very quickly by your body. In contrast, complex carbohydrates, found in fibrous foods such as vegetables, whole fruits, and some whole grains, take longer to break down. 94
Tip: create a mantra like: I am a fit mama of five, not a fat mama five. Or I am a living example of health and fitness, especially to my children. Or I eat to nourish my body and feel my best. This is the way.
Repeat this sentence to yourself when you need help getting through a difficult challenge
96
With the Omni diet, you succeed every time you take a single step toward good health. You’re a winner every time you drink a glass of water, go for a walk, do one workout, eat a bowl of broccoli, throw out a bag of chips, ask for support from your accountability, write down your next days menu, writing your food journal, you get the idea. Even just taking a deep breath, closing your eyes, and reminding yourself that you have committed fully to living a healthier life makes you a success. Remember, when it’s this easy to succeed, failure is not an option. 100
The more sugar and simple carbs you eat, the more insulin your pancreas must secrete in order to deal with dietary sugar. This can lead to a situation called hyper insulinemia.
Sugars and simple carbs are broken down easily and quickly,. Complex carbs take longer, which is why complex carbs are better for controlling blood sugar. 101
When you have high levels of insulin in your blood, your body craves sugar to prevent hypoglycemia. Your body thinks this chronic hypoglycemic state is a stress response. The stress hormone, cortisol comes to the rescue to help increase blood sugar, and starts converting protein from your own muscles into sugar in a process called gluconeogenesis. Cortisol leads to muscle wasting and excess fat being deposited around your middle and creating a muffin top of fat that hangs over the waistband of your pants. This is actually visceral fat that accumulates around your organs, and it is a very dangerous kind of fat. 103
sugar leads to elevated triglycerides. And you become very efficient at forming fat from three sources, sugar, insulin, and cortisol.… Cancer feeds on sugar. Most cancer cells have metabolic needs that are about eight times higher than normal cells, so cancer cells need instant and constant energy, which it gets from a sugary diet. 103
When you focus on feeling grateful, blood flow increases to the areas of the brain that impact focus, judgment, and decision making. When focusing on negative thoughts a drop in overall brain activity occurs. 104
I Provide only healthy food in the house and I educate my daughter continually about how sweet affects the body 105
Many humans have trouble digesting dairy products. After the age of two, fewer than 35% of humans produce the enzyme lactase, which is needed to break down lactose, milk sugar, and Digest milk. 108
you need calcium but you are better off getting calcium from plants. The calcium in milk is not easily utilized by the body, and there’s no solid proof that it improves bone strength or prevents bone thinning and osteoporosis. Research with non-milk drinking Asians has found the Asians get all the calcium they need from plant foods. Osteoporosis rates are much lower in milk free Asians than milk addicted Americans.… Dairy products are actually associated with an increased risk in acne, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and joint pain. 110
The presence of lectins in legumes is a major reason that I advise consuming legumes like a condiment if you consume them at all. 118
Sugar raises blood sugar, causes rapid releases of insulin, is full of empty calories, feeds cancer cells, and causes many other unhealthy reactions in the body.
Sugar is sugar, including honey and maple syrup…their effect on your blood sugar, insulin, liver and cholesterol are the same (even though they do contain trace amounts of vitamins and minerals). 131
An appropriate amount of healthy fat is not what makes people fat. Sugar makes people fat. Sugar and simple carbs increase triglycerides which convert cholesterol to the dangerous dense form. Not all LDL cholesterol is the same. Big fluffy molecules are less damaging to arteries than small dense molecules. Think of repeatedly throwing a tennis ball at a wall. It doesn’t do much damage. But if you repeatedly throw a golf ball at the wall it begins to cause significant damage in a short time. Sugar helps to convert large fluffy molecules of LDL into small dents molecules which are far more damaging to arteries. 136
When you’re on the Omni diet, you don’t eat fake foods foisted on you by the corporate food Giants. You don’t consume chemical sweeteners that are some food manufacturers science experiment. You eat whole, natural, nutrient rich foods that are manufactured by mother nature, not laboratory workers. Once you break free from your addiction to unnatural food substitutes, you discover and enjoy the natural flavors of foods. You break the bonds of artificial sweeteners and reduced fat food like substances and feast on real foods that you were born to eat. When you leave fake foods behind, your body will thrive and your health will soar. 136
Give yourself permission to be sweaty….(this is my philosophy too!!) “ after you work out, give your armpits a quick wash, and then get on with your day. Shower, spruce up, and change clothes if you have time or if you really need to. Otherwise get used to caring around a stick of deodorant…. Better to be sweaty and healthy than perfectly coiffed and unhealthy.“ 164
nutrition is about 80% responsible for weight loss. Exercise is 20% responsible for weight loss.
Exercise is a critical component for reversing disease, improving health, and maintaining youth. 168
Take a lesson from your GPS… when you take a wrong turn you make your next legal U-turn. It doesn’t yell at you or judge you or call you a failure. instead it tells you to make the first possible correction and continue on your journey. That’s what we should do when we’re following a diet or exercise plan 169
As Muscle tissue increases, fat burns- provided you don’t add calories to your daily diet. Even when you’re not moving, your muscle cells burn far more calories than your fat cells. 172
Believe it or not, the easiest, most successful way to break your addiction to sugar is not to wean yourself off it a little at a time, but to stop all at once.
For example, when you eat sugar and other simple carbs, your blood sugar typically shoots up within minutes, stays elevated for a short time, and then plummets. As it falls your body gets an urgent message: eat more sugar and carbohydrates! Then the cravings start all over again… Eating sugar makes you crave sugar. Eating simple carbohydrates makes you crave simple carbohydrates. 179
The same goes for all of the health sapping foods I recommend taking out of your diet, including processed foods, grains, alcohol, gluten, and milk. Cut them all out at once and replace them with an entirely new menu of deliciously healthy, nutrient dense alternatives that will nourish your body in a way it was designed to be nourished. 179
During the first phase of the Omni diet, you’ll eat no grains, Sugar, Bread, white flour, or simple carbohydrates of any kind. 189
Sample menu phase 1 for 2 weeks pg 198
Keep a food journal. And write down the times for eating, that way you can know and understand your negative eating patterns and devise solutions. 207
Sample menu phase 2, for 2 weeks pg211
If you followed Omni diet 90% of the time, you can be a bit more relaxed with your food choices 10% of the time. 227
I do not advocate setting aside an entire day every week for you to go off your diet and eat anything and everything you see. While many programs suggest this, I have yet to see it work well for anyone long-term. There are several inherent problems with this thinking.
1. I’ve seen people eat up to 4000 cal of sugar and fat in hours just because they have designated one day a week for that purpose. This can sabotage the entire week of dedication and sweat
2. If you can’t wait to go off your program, it means you haven’t committed to real change in your life so, and you were still thinking of the program as a restrictive punishment rather than a path to good health.
3. Even a one day gorge on unhealthy foods can trigger the process of inflammation in your body.
4. Binging on sugary foods can reignite your sugar addiction. Planning a day of cheating with high sugar foods is like sending a drug attic’s into a crack house for one day. It was foolish and set you up to fail.
So how does the 90/10 philosophy work? It is a little extra room built into your program so you can enjoy the social aspect of your life. Also, there may be times you have less than optimal choices to to travel or other circumstances. You should still avoid trigger foods and foods that cause trouble with your health.
Her trigger food is cake. She couldn’t take a bite for months because it would trigger major cravings. No after years of clean eating She says, “On the rare occasion that I take a bite of cake, I have no desire for more. The key is, I only take a bite.
Or follow the 3-bite rule. If after careful consideration you decide to eat something off plan, follow the three bite rule. Think about it, the majority of enjoyment comes from the first three bites, after that your taste buds start getting bored and you’re no longer getting the bang for the buck that came with the first three bites. As you have your three bites, be fully present and conscious so you can really concentrate on enjoying the food. After three bites throw the rest away. Don’t keep it in your house. 229
Plan ahead for special occasions. Make the decision to have one food that is not on your Omni diet plan that day. Don’t use the excuse that since you made one unhealthy choice you might as well eat lousy for the entire day and then resume your program the following day. This really works for people that makes it harder to get on track. 229
Phase 3, 2 week menu pg231
September 1, 2013
Tana Amen has written a book that helps people change the way they eat and think about food. Although I am a vegetarian, gluten intolerant and have a host of other food issues which prevent me from using the plan the way she laid it out - I do agree with her basic tenet, which basically boils down to maintaining an alkaline diet (the 70/30 rule. Disease cannot thrive in an alkaline environment, so choosing foods that help to keep your body alkaline only makes sense. The book is well laid out and the recipes section has a lot to offer. If you have been eating mostly processed foods or dealing with chronic health issues, this book can help put you on the path to renewed health and a better understanding of why to eat real whole foods, and how to do it.
July 19, 2013
Excellent information in the beginning and how and what to eat even if you don't follow their plan. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to making a lifestyle overhaul.
October 22, 2019
There is excellent advice in this book relating to diet, and I've made many positive changes as a result. It is hard to make and stick with all the recommended changes, and perhaps that is not Amen's goal. Her goal might be more to force us to look deeper into ourselves and our eating habits and make changes where applicable. Most things in this book makes sense.
February 23, 2021
This is definitely a must read twice book. There were so many information, useful information that I feel I need must time to digest the new knowledge.
I am going to select this book for my summer selection. I will be able to break the book into parts per month while putting the plant to work.
I am going to select this book for my summer selection. I will be able to break the book into parts per month while putting the plant to work.
May 27, 2017
The book was more reaffirming than affirming. Overall, the information is useful but hardly new. It took a lot to get through the "infomercial" half of the book to access pertinent information on the actual diet. The "70% plant plus 30% protein" part of the book title pretty much says it all.
September 25, 2018
If I hadn’t read any of Daniel Amen’s books I would have enjoyed this one but that was not the case.
For future readers of this book: choose one spouse or the other - their work is very similar and high quality and their advice is scientifically sound.
For future readers of this book: choose one spouse or the other - their work is very similar and high quality and their advice is scientifically sound.
January 23, 2025
There is a lot of good information in this book especially if you have health issues.
August 17, 2013
The Omni Diet caught my attention because over the years of fighting Fibromyalgia and Chronic Pain I have become aware that eating a whole foods, natural diet is beneficial and helpful to combatting pain, weight gain and inflammation. I was excited to see what looked like a helpful tool that was easy and budget friendly.
One of my concerns is that Tana says she can reverse disease and illnesses and personally I don't believe that you can reverse Fibromyalgia. Yes, most illnesses and disease are partially caused by Unhealthy Diets and our Environment - however some of them are also caused by genetic disorders. I do however, believe that eating a whole foods diet and limiting or eliminating environmental stressors and unhealthy choices can make a difference.
Read more at: http://givingnsharing.blogspot.com/20... (for all my thoughts & a video about the book)
One of my concerns is that Tana says she can reverse disease and illnesses and personally I don't believe that you can reverse Fibromyalgia. Yes, most illnesses and disease are partially caused by Unhealthy Diets and our Environment - however some of them are also caused by genetic disorders. I do however, believe that eating a whole foods diet and limiting or eliminating environmental stressors and unhealthy choices can make a difference.
Read more at: http://givingnsharing.blogspot.com/20... (for all my thoughts & a video about the book)
July 10, 2014
I found this book to be really interesting. There is a lot of great information about how our bodies use and process food as well as food's effect on our health and illnesses.
After a few friends read this book I picked it up as a resource for post-partum weight loss and health. While I doubt I will fully adopt Amen's practices, I do think I will work some of them into my diet. There are a lot of great recipes in the back of the book. We tried two or three of them, and everyone was very happy with them.
If you are in a position where you need to lose weight or get healthy I recommend this book. There is a lot of science crammed into it making me feel comfortable recommending it to others.
After a few friends read this book I picked it up as a resource for post-partum weight loss and health. While I doubt I will fully adopt Amen's practices, I do think I will work some of them into my diet. There are a lot of great recipes in the back of the book. We tried two or three of them, and everyone was very happy with them.
If you are in a position where you need to lose weight or get healthy I recommend this book. There is a lot of science crammed into it making me feel comfortable recommending it to others.
April 26, 2016
This book has some good nutritional information and suggestions, but once again, the recipes require ingredients that are not easy to find or too expensive for the average consumer, like leg of lamb or rib eye steak. Liquid stevia in different flavors is suggested for adding sweetness to smoothies and dessert recipes, which I have not found in grocery stores. For this ordinary mom of many, I have learned a few good things about increasing my vegetables, decreasing my carbs, decreasing my sugar intake, increasing protein in plant foods, exercise is necessary, and discovering there is such a thing as chocolate flavored liquid Stevia.
July 19, 2013
A little too much promotion of supplements, but picked out a few more recipes. The message is good. I like the message that we need to consider that we should look at food as medicine for the brain and body in general. Wish it was easy to give up sugar. It is so easy to go back to eating food that is socially acceptable and not good for me and then I wonder why my joints are swollen and I'm retaining fluids. Hmmm
January 1, 2014
I believe that if you followed Tara's diet you would lose weight and be healthier. The diet consists of eating mostly vegetables, lean cuts of protein with a small amount of fruit and nuts. The information about why certain foods are not just fattening but unhealthy is interesting but I found it a bit repetitive. I decided that the diet was not for me although I did take away information that will help me eat healthier.
July 4, 2013
Simply put with some very practical things you can do/eat/add to your diet to better your health. While some of the recipes are complicated, you do not have to follow them exactly to understand the basics of what you should eat- easy to modify to fit your own life. I didnt do the whole plan and i'm not trying to lose weight, rather i read it for health information and have used it in that way.
September 12, 2013
Very well done in my opinion.... very informative. The biggest drawback, however, is though Tana does at least discuss MSG and neurotoxins briefly and says to avoid them, some of her recommended products such as pea protein for an addition to smoothies and some other products listed in the back of the book are highly probable to contain such neurotoxins.
October 3, 2013
very similar to true paleo with the exception of nightshades and legumes items I cannot eat due to intolerance anyway. nothing new or ground breaking here and it takes almost 160pg to get to the point. a lot of repetitive data and pimping of the wonders of the diet without getting into the diet until pg162. felt like an infomercial.
March 6, 2013
I didn't want this book to follow the diet step by step but to help gather ideas for a healthy diet and this book had some great ideas. I have some family members that have health concerns and I think this book would be great for them.
I received a free copy of this book through GoodReads.
I received a free copy of this book through GoodReads.
January 7, 2014
Lots of good information, but as I've discovered with other health books, all the "experts" don't necessarily agree on what you should and shouldn't eat. Still, adopting this diet instead of the typical American diet would be a HUGE step in the direction of health.
January 6, 2015
I have been very careful with carbs, following the New Atkins plan. I picked up Tana Amen's book looking for new recipes. There are many tasty ones but many with ingredients that are difficult to find and likely to be expensive if you found them. Otherwise, the book is clear and well documented.
October 22, 2013
I liked this book. Very good information, a little too severe for me, but the explanations are excellent and will make me a more discerning consumer.
December 18, 2013
Excellent book! I think both myself and my husband will attempt this after Christmas!
March 1, 2014
Great smoothie recipes and info
January 25, 2014
absolutely nothing new in this book. nothing you don't already know
February 26, 2014
A book full of duh I already knew that.
May 14, 2014
Interesting...I like the smoothie recipes.
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