Schwarzbein, Diana 1960-

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SCHWARZBEIN, Diana 1960-

PERSONAL: Born 1960; married. Education: University of Southern California, M.D.

ADDRESSES: Home—Santa Barbara, CA. Office—The Schwarzbein Institute, 5901 Encina Rd., Ste. A, Goleta, CA 93117.

CAREER: Writer, physician, endocrinologist, and health expert. Schwarzbein Principle Institute, founder and physician, 1993–.

WRITINGS:

(With Nancy Deville and Evelyn Jacob Jaffe) The Schwarzbein Principle Cookbook, Health Communications (Deerfield Beach, FL), 1999.

(With Nancy Deville) The Schwarzbein Principle: The Truth about Losing Weight, Being Healthy, and Feeling Younger, Health Communications (Deerfield Beach, FL), 1999.

(With Nancy Deville and Evelyn Jacob Jaffe) The Schwarzbein Principle Vegetarian Cookbook, Health Communications (Deerfield Beach, FL), 1999.

(With Marilyn Brown) The Schwarzbein Principle II: The Transition: A Regeneration Process to Prevent and Reverse Accelerated Aging, Health Communications (Deerfield Beach, FL), 2002.

The Schwarzbein Principle: The Program: Losing Weight the Healthy Way: An Easy, Five-step, No-nonsense Approach, Health Communications (Deerfield Beach, FL), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Author, physician, endocrinologist, and fitness and diet expert Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., is the founder of the Schwarzbein Institute, a treatment center in Santa Barbara, California, that specializes in diabetes, osteoporosis, menopause, metabolic disorders, and thyroid conditions. A lecturer and public speaker, Schwarzbein has appeared on numerous television programs. In addition to her limited medical practice, Schwarzbein focuses on writing, conducting public seminars, and educating other medical professionals in the techniques of her program.

The Schwarzbein Principle: The Program: Losing Weight the Healthy Way: An Easy, Five-step, No-nonsense Approach describes Schwarzbein's program for losing weight, improving health, and reducing the effects of aging by controlling the body's metabolic function through the application of her program. First, she recommends that people get proper nutrition and a healthy diet. Counting calories does not help; Schwarzbein suggests that the proper way to eat is to consume up to five meals a day—as much as is wanted—but to make sure that each meal is nutritionally balanced. Skipping meals is also discouraged. Second, she encourages stress management, including a mandatory eight hours of sleep per night and dedicated relaxation time during the day. Third, she prescribes eliminating toxic chemicals from one's intake. These include alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, refined and artificial sugars, and several types of over-the-counter and prescription drugs. In the book, she offers sound suggestions for tapering off the toxic chemicals without causing any undue physical or psychological stress. Fourth, Schwarzbein encourages moderate exercise designed to take advantage of cross-training for strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance. Too much exercise, she says, is damaging to the heart and metabolism and causes more problems than it solves. Finally, she recommends hormone replacement therapy for those whose bodies are not producing sufficient amounts of specific hormones. Schwarzbein's "moderate plan is almost revolutionary in these exaggerated dieting times," observed a Publishers Weekly reviewer.

The Schwarzbein Principle II: The Transition: A Regeneration Process to Prevent and Reverse Accelerated Aging reiterates the core concepts of the Schwarzbein Principle and provides practical suggestions for implementing each of the five steps. The Schwarzbein Principle II is geared toward readers with four distinct metabolic types: insulin-sensitive with healthy adrenal glands, insulin-resistant with healthy adrenal glands, insulin-sensitive with burned-out adrenal glands, and insulin-resistant with burned-out adrenal glands. Schwarzbein provides carefully constructed advice and techniques for applying the five-step principle to improve the health of anyone possessing any of the four metabolic types. She describes the uses of and differences in insulin, adrenaline, and cortisol, and "explains clearly sobering subjects in an upbeat, positive way that should leave many readers feeling refreshed and hopeful," commented reviewer Leo Uzych in Family and Community Health. Schwarzbein encourages as well as instructs her readers, providing useful information in layperson's language and assisting them in identifying those areas where improvement could be had. She gives them the tools to abandon unhealthful practices and improve their physical health and psychological well-being. "This absorbing, well-written book should be of considerable interest and value to anyone interested in healthy living," Uzych remarked.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Family and Community Health, October-December, 2003, Leo Uzych, review of The Schwarzbein Principle II: The Transition: A Regeneration Process to Prevent and Reverse Accelerated Aging, p. 355.

Library Journal, January 1, 2005, Susan Hagloch, "Starting on a Lighter Note: Get Slim and Trim with These Twenty Diet/Fitness Books," review of The Schwarzbein Principle: The Program: Losing Weight the Healthy Way: An Easy, Five-step, No-Nonsense Approach, p. 144.

Publishers Weekly, August 2, 1999, Judy Quinn, "Science of Sugar Brings Sweet Diet Book Sales," p. 21; October 25, 2004, review of The Schwarzbein Principle, p. 41.