Health, Nutrition, Diet, Weight Loss
Date Published: July 15, 2015
The Paleo. The Zone. The Gluten-free. Another day, another diet. We’re caught in a never-ending merry-go-round of weight loss plans, fueled by celebrity endorsers, TV doctors and companies angling for a piece of a $60 billion industry. But do these diets really work? And how healthy are they?
Registered Dietitian Lisa Tillinger Johansen examines dozens of the most wildly popular diets based on medical facts, not hype. And along the way, she reveals tried-and-true weight loss strategies, relying on her years of hospital experience, weight-loss seminars and community outreach efforts. With insight and humor, Stop The Diet, I Want To Get Offshows that the best answer is often not a trendy celebrity-endorsed diet, but easy-to-follow guidelines that are best for our health and our waistlines.
Interview
What is the hardest part of writing
your books?
Finding the time to
write is the hardest part for me. I’m a registered dietitian and I work as a
community health educator and speaker. I also do one-on-one consults with at-risk
senior adults. So I’m busy and sometimes have to just grab and hour here and
there to write.
What songs are most played on your
Ipod?
I mostly never left
the seventies musically, although I have some more current likes. And a lot of
my oldies but goodies continue to write new material and perform today. My all
time favorite band is Pink Floyd and I listen to them a lot. And I’m seeing
David Gilmour at the Hollywood Bowl next year. I have a “Lisa’s Playlist” on my
Ipod that also includes Bruce Springsteen, Train, Bonnie Tyler, Tom Petty, Bon
Jovi, R.E.M., Def Leppard and more. I also have a few opera recordings and show
tunes as well. I guess you’d say I have eclectic musical taste.
Do you have critique partners or
beta readers?
I have an editor who
takes a hard look at my books. Once that’s done, I do ask my husband, Roy
Johansen, who’s also a writer to read the book I’m working on. He’s a huge
help.
What book are you reading now?
I’m reading The Nature Of the Beast by Louise Penny.
It’s a Chief Inspector Gamache novel. I’m a huge mystery/thriller book fan and
I love her books!
How did you start your writing
career?
My husband was the
driving force. He encouraged me to write my first book, Fast Food Vindication. I was the real estate manager for McDonald’s
Corporation’s Southern California region prior to going back to school, getting
my master’s in nutritional science and becoming a registered dietitian. My
husband felt that my experience in the fast food industry and my knowledge
about diet and nutrition, including my stance that we can eat well, or poorly,
wherever we find ourselves (at home, at sit-down restaurants, fast food chains,
ballparks and more) was a story that needed to be shared.
My new book is Stop The Diet, I Want To Get Off! It
examines the pros and cons of dozens of fad and bad diets and ultimately
provides the reader with a healthy eating plan for life. I’m very pleased with
the response. I particularly love one of my latest, an IR Book Review. They
call Stop The Diet, I Want To Get Off! “a
common sense, fun but no-nonsense approach to food” and go on to say “Stop The
Diet, I Want To Get Off! is an easy-to-follow manual for people who want to
quit diet-hopping for good and pursue a healthy, sustainable ‘lite-style’.”
This corroborates with what others have been saying. So I’m thrilled that I’ve
produced something that can help others.
LISA TILLINGER JOHANSEN is a Registered Dietitian who counsels clients on a wide range of health issues. Her debut nutrition book, Fast Food Vindication, received the Discovery Award (sponsored by USA Today, Kirkus and The Huffington Post). She lives in Southern California.
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