The Hunger Type Diet by Lowri Turner

The Hunger Type Diet
By Lowri Turner
Published by Duncan Baird (30 December 2014)
ISBN: 978-1848992689

Publisher's description
What do most diets tell you to do? Eat only when you are hungry. Simple, right? NO! The trouble for many of us is that hunger comes in many forms, not just physical hunger, but boredom, stress, emotions and habit. The result: you gain weight. The Hunger Type Diet draws on the latest scientific research to help you identify exactly what is driving your over-eating. Then, by offering cutting-edge eating plans based around the role of hormones, it shows you how to lose and correct any hormone imbalances. To begin, there is a questionnaire that will help you to identify which Hunger Type you are. Once you have identified your weak spots, the 48-hour Hunger Rehab Plan puts you on track and highlights unhealthy eating patterns. This is followed by a 14-day Hunger Rehab Diet that will help you to kick those bad habits and may also se you losing up to 10 pounds in the process. After this, a maintenance stage offers delicious recipes that will help you to keep your hormones in balance and keep the weight off for good.

My verdict
I received this as a free e-book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Like many people, I'm always on the search for an ideal way to lose weight. In reality, the only true way to lose weight, and keep it off, is to eat less and exercise more. But this is easier said than done when you crave food all the time. This book focuses on how hormones affect hunger levels, what's driving your eating habits and why do you always feel hungry...

In her book, Lowri Turner discusses that there are three phases of eating - hunger, eating and satiation. For some people, the hunger never actually switches off. This all sounds very familiar to me as I could eat all day long.

First of all the book discusses how different hormones impact on hunger. This section was very easy to understand and well written. It established that cravings and hunger pangs could be due to sub-optimal levels of key brain neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, and hormones in the body, such as insulin and leptin.

According to the questionnaire I completed, I am a mixture of three hunger types - Anxious, Never-full and PMS. Although I would actually consider myself to be the Bored hunger type too. The book then provides advice on rebalancing my hormone levels, depending on my hunger type, with tips on what and what not to eat and meal plans. This was followed by the 48-hour Hunger Rehab to follow, to rebalance my hunger levels and learn how to recognise true physical hunger, rather than hunger driven by other factors.

There is a recipe section at the back of the book, split into breakfast, lunch, snacks and main meals. I will certainly be trying some of these recipes out, alongside the other recommendations (e.g. increasing my magnesium intake, cutting down on sugary foods, drinking green tea).

An interesting read for someone who knows how to eat healthily but is struggling to lose weight because they simply can't stop eating!