Product Description

The first book to provide an easy-to-follow dietary and lifestyle program to enhance the body's natural rhythms for optimum health.

All living things are subject to natural patterns of eating, sleeping, and other vital functions. Disrupting these daily, or circadian, rhythms through poor diet or lifestyle results in a wide range of conditions, from fatigue and emotional imbalance to intensified symptoms of insulin resistance and other chronic health problems.

The Circadian Prescription offers a breakthrough, scientifically sound 10-point program to help anyone:

sleep better and feel energized all day long;
alleviate symptoms of menopause, jet lag, and ADD;
treat and prevent infertility, prostate disease, and Syndrome X;
enhance mental acuity and emotional balance; and
achieve and maintain ideal weight.

At the core of the program is a powerful eating plan that gives the body what it needs when it needs it by simply increasing protein intake in the early part of the day and moving most carbohydrates to the evening. The straightforward, nonrestrictive diet incorporates specific foods that provide vital information to the body to reduce risk factors for chronic disease. Plus, practical techniques--exercise, breathing, and meditation--help bring the entire body into balance.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272732 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-08
• Released on: 2002-04-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Amazon.com
Each of us has a circadian rhythm--daily cyclical changes in chemistry and behavior--that are measured by shifts in body temperature, blood pressure, heartbeat, breathing, and body chemistries. When our circadian rhythms are disrupted by poor lifestyle choices, optimum health is sacrificed. The Circadian Prescription: Get in Step with Your Body's Natural Rhythms to Maximize Energy, Vitality, and Longevity by alternative health expert Sidney Baker, M.D., with Karen Baar, M.P.H., provides a simple 10-step plan to right your rhythms.

This thought-provoking, clearly written book based on experimental science and the experiences of Dr. Baker's patients will challenge many commonly held nutritional beliefs. At the center of the prescription is the Circadian Diet, a flexible eating plan designed to give the body the fuel it needs when it needs it (according to Baker, that means protein during the day and carbohydrates at night). The plan also includes breathing and meditation techniques, rhythmic exercise, and tips to improve sleep habits, beat jet lag, and overcome odd work shifts. Separate chapters are also devoted to weight loss, the role of intestinal flora and phytonutrients, and the specific needs of women, men, and children. --Ellen Albertston

Woman's World
The weight-loss breakthrough of the year.

About the Author
Sidney M. Baker, M.D., is a leader in the alternative-health movement and formerly the director of the Gesell Institute of Human Development, his private practice and research emphasizes nutritional, environmental, and biochemical aspects of chronic health problems in adults and children. He is the author or coauthor of several books, including Child Behavior and Your Ten to Fourteen-Year-Old.
Karen Baar, M.P.H., has written articles on alternative medicine, nutrition, health, and fitness for The New York Times, and Natural Health, among others. She is the coauthor of American Indian Healing Arts with E. Barrie Kavasch.

Customer Reviews

great great book
This guy makes a lot of sense. check it out.

At last, a palatable diet that's easy to stick to!
Wish I'd read this book before moving to Seattle, one of the darkest cities in North America, and living there for 17 years! Each year when the rains started and lasted for months and months, I'd typically gain 15-25 pounds. If the sun came out long enough in the summer, I'd sometimes lose most of my winter weight. When the sun was out, diet was easy. When the sun was not shining, I could not stop eating. I arrived in Seattle weighing a petite 103 pounds and wearing a size 5 and left Seattle barely able to sqeeze into a size 14-16.

Now I've moved to a sunny state and have quite a few pounds to lose. The high-carb, low-fat diets left me hungry all the time. The low-carb diets left me feeling depressed. The carbohydrate addicts diet was too restrictive, no carbs except at one meal per day. On the Circadian diet, I don't feel an overwhelming urge to eat all the time. In fact, last night, after a very small dinner, I felt more full than I usually do after a very large meal. The diet is palatable, too. While protein is emphasized during the day, a little bit of carbohydrate is allowed, and it makes the meals a lot more appetizing. So, I can have a few chunks of pineapple with my cup of cottage cheese when I'm in a hurry and have to prepare a quickie lunch. Or I can have a piece of high fiber bread with my omlette at breakfast. And I can have some protein with my carbs at dinner. Eating out is easy. After failing at high-carb, low-carb, Weight Watchers, Diet Center, et cetera, I finally have a satisfying way to eat and am losing weight. In fact, I easily lost three pounds my first week on the diet. I learned a lot of useful information from other diet books but could not stick to the diets. After reading The Circadian Prescription, I find losing weight is pretty easy! With the other suggestions in the book, I overall feel much better than I have in years!

The Best Diet Book Ever!
This book is a literally a lifesaver! For years I have struggled to stay awake, alert and function with ADD, Candida and other health problems....the diet that is recommeneded allows me to feel alert when I need to be alert and relaxed when necessary by eating differently at different times of the day,and not be famished and weak with hunger in-between. This concept is radically different from anything else that I've ever read..but it works! I've always assumed that somehow each individual was so unique that we needed different diets ....this is a diet that seems to work for everybody, regardless or age, sex, health or lack of it...The breakfast shake in particular is a gem..and can even be used for lunch if needed..it gives me lots of energy and carries me to lunch without the usual mid-morning hunger that usually plagues me.
I have even introduced a friend to the concept and she was blown away too. Thank you Dr. MacDonald, from the bottom of my heart.