The popularity and success of this book has spawned several new books which target certain body parts, or are designed for those of us that are more overweight. Do you really need all of the books? Is the website worth the subscription fee? 3FC will review several of these books, as well as Cruise's membership based website, throughout the month of August.

According to Cruise, being fat is not the source of the problem, it is just a symptom. The real source of the problem is a lack of lean muscle tissue from a sedentary lifestyle. Having less lean muscle tissue means you burn less calories all throughout the day.

8 Minutes in the Morning, the book, is divided into 4 parts. The first part, Jorge and You, enlightens us with Cruise's own story of growing up surrounded by food and how he almost was destined for obesity. We learn how he turned his health around, and chose fitness as a career. We then learn why we are fat, according to Cruise, and how we have been misled in the past. Cruise explains how our muscle mass affects our metabolism and weight, and why previous attempts to lose weight were not successful. This is reinforced with facts on obesity, such as in 1991, only four states had obesity rates of more than 14% of their populations. By 1998, this had risen to 37 states. Finally, this part deals with the Emotional Advantage, which tackles emotional eating.

Part 2 dives into the nutrition program, showing us what to eat. The diet involves eliminating simple carbs, and concentrates on good carbs and good fats. The program is very similar to the South Beach Diet, though it's been around longer. Unlike the South Beach Diet, however, this plan gives us a set number of calories per day, depending on our weight. This ranges between 1200 and 2000 calories. To make it easy, the book includes an Eating Card System which is to be copied for daily use. The cards include check boxes for each necessary food component, to help us track our daily intake.

Part 3 is the nitty gritty program. It contains a daily journal for 4 weeks, photographs to show us how do do the exercises, and tips for making it through the plan. This section is filled with success stories, including before and after photos, to help inspire us along the way.

The final section of the book includes resources to make the plan easy. We are given detailed food lists, menus, and recipes. The recipes are very simple, and we suspect may be bland in flavor. Due to the similarities in plans, you may be able to use the South Beach Cookbook, for more variety and inspiration.

8 Minutes in the Morning appears to be a very do-able program. The book is well written, takes you through it step by step without the need to guess, and offers enough resources to keep you busy. It's simple advice, without gimmicks, which may just help you reach your weight loss goal.

In the coming weeks, we will review other 8 Minute books, and we will sign up for Cruise's online service to see how useful it is. If you have tried the 8 Minutes program and would like to share your experience, please email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it