Mark Hyman - Is he just selling stuff?

(Insert witty quote here) #1

I bought the Eat Fat Get Thin audio book. The book is great, and he has a lot of good advice. However, I’m a bit concerned because he keeps mentioning the “Eat Fat Get Thin Plan.” OK…I get it, he wants to sell his “plan.” Fine. Then, reading the pdf “plan,” (that came with the audio book), I find that it’s not really a plan at all - it’s more of a “how to.” OK. But THEN I find the section on the supplements and Thrive. Ah-ha! He’s pushing supplements, and his other books, it seems. Don’t get me wrong, I know he’s making money - I’m not naive. I am however, skeptical when someone pushes very targeted supplements and “courses” and whatnot. I’m a little miffed because I really NEED a plan. I need very specific things to eat. When I’m left to my own devices, it can take me HOURS to develop a meal plan. I was hoping the plan in his book would be something I could follow, but sadly, it’s not.

How do you guys feel about this? Is he just selling stuff? I thought Thrive was one of those pyramid schemes. What do you think about Thrive - is it a scheme or an actual, healthy supplement?

(Julie Anderson) #2

I am not familiar with Mark Hyman, so I can’t comment on your questions regarding him & Thrive.

However, if you feel like you would do better following a specific meal plan, check out the Diet Doctor website. They have a variety of meal plans available for free. They also have a meal plan subscription that you pay for monthly (1st month is free).

You could probably do well rotating through the free meal plans that are available. It would give you a good start on learning the types of foods you can eat in this way of life.

Julie

(eat more) #3

i think all of the authors have sponsors/affiliation these days…
i always look at it as recommended but not required…i’m a little rebellious though LOL

Leanne Vogel also has meal plans in her book and website…her philosophies are geared more towards women and paleo
i think she has a free plan available as well as subscription/purchase

edit:
ruled.me, ibreatheimhungry, and ketodietapp also have meal plans (there’s prob more…my brain is a little slow today)

(Siobhan) #4

Yeah… I’m not sure if he’s JUST selling stuff. But for some books (Always Hungry, Eat Fat Get Thin) there is some sort of plan or “take this supplement” thing that takes up like half the book. I guess maybe it’s helpful for people just starting… and usually they’re each a little different. But I always skip them because with keto I don’t really need a “plan”.

#5

The KetoDiet Blog with Martina Slajerova has plans, some free to download and some in her cookbooks. I haven’t cooked anything from her books that hasn’t been great.
Re: Mark Hyman. I like his kind of medicine. A naturopath generally always has a supplement plan. If any disappointment, I think his material is generally the same message but a different cover. Hope you can find a simple plan that meets your needs.

#6

Love Leanne Vogel’s material.

(Tim W) #8

I always wonder what the incentives are.

I know that authors got to eat too but I worry when Jimmy Moore and Dr. Nally start releasing their own line of supplments etc… so much trash in the market as it is. I do trust those two though and if what they are producing is filling an open niche, great.

I do think that we can replicate the benefits of most/if not all supplements with diet and maybe a few minerals, someone pushing their own supplement a “little too hard” and making ANY kind of claim that you can’t achieve optimum health without it, they lose me quickly.

(carl) #9

My plan: bacon and eggs

:slight_smile:

(Allie) #10

Yes Martina’s recipes are fantastic - I have all three books and the app :slight_smile:

(Tim W) #11

Funny how reading multiple sites often leads to connections.

Reading “early retirment extreme” I ran across this quote:

“Particularly not in a society that has been sold on technology (the magic of our era). The establishment sells methods and products to people while giving people the impression that their problems are much too hard or complicated to solve on their own. This is done partially through selling complex “solutions”. Having only seen complex solutions and not thinking big, basically, and simply, it is easily presumed that no other solutions exist.”

Here’s a link to the article it was taken from:

http://earlyretirementextreme.com/think-big-basically-and-simpl.html

#12

What I can tell you about Thrive is that once you provide a credit card number they are charging you for membership longer than you want. If you sign up for the trial and don’t want to continue, you’ll be billed. If you sign up for a year and then decide to not continue, you’ll be billed. The second one is what happened with me (a couple years ago). It took going through my credit card company to finally be done with them. The service itself is a nice idea, but for charging $60 a year they really should have a much larger selection. I had a string of e-mails showing I had requested my service be stopped (the only way to contact them at least at that time) starting about 3 months before the end of my subscription (with them basically continually saying “are you sure?” after each e-mail) and still they charged me at the end of the year.

#13

As for a plan, I search for recipes a lot, but I also just think about what I would eat before and make that… hamburgers, steak, eggs and bacon, tacos… just make modifications as needed… If it comes to giving up stuff, I’d MUCH rather give up the carbs than all the fatty yummy stuff.

(Tim W) #14

The old “easy to sign up/hard to cancel” business model.

That alone should demonstrate their focus/values/quality…

(Insert witty quote here) #15

I can absolutely skip/substitute specific recommendations - he is pushing specific brands of supplements, which, you know - whatever, I can work around those and buy recommended supplements that are not “his” brand. i just feel like his book is half useful information and half advertising. I didn’t have this problem with the Obesity Code. It’s just an annoyance more than anything, I guess. @infromsea is much better at articulating what I’m thinking in his response. :slight_smile:

ETA: I have the basics down - I understand the framework. If it was just me eating, I would totally eat eggs and bacon for every meal. I have kids and a husband, though. All of which eat ALL the time, and are very picky. So, that’s why I need a plan. I guess this is coming from a place where, I’m overwhelmed in general, not just in nutrition, and I find myself trying to weed out the “good” advice from the superfluous information. This is probably me over-thinking things, which is a result of my anxiety, not necessarily anything keto related, whether it be supplements, plans, etc.

#16

I like Maria Emmerich’s cookbooks and in the Quick and Easy Ketogenic Cooking she provides several meal plans (with her recipes, of course) for both weight loss and maintenance. Similar with Ketogenic Cleanse. She also discusses ingredients and the Ketogenic way of eating. I have 4 of her cookbooks and enjoy the information they contain along with the recipes! If I had to choose one, I’d go with the Quick and Easy cookbook, however, her latest, Keto Comfort Foods has some amazing looking recipes. I did make the pizza with the woven bacon crust! :bacon: Yummy!

(Insert witty quote here) #17

That sounds delicious!

#18

It was amazing!

(Alan Williamson) #19

Mark is part of the Cleveland Clinic. I subscribed to it on FB and they post some crazy pseudo-medicine.

(Skip Cody) #20

I think we are a ripe group to target because we are trying anything to heal. I have been doing this for 3 years and I find that the only supplement that actually made a change was salt. Other then that the rest just cost money. I do however take a one a day that I have taken for years.