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Print Here’s good news for anyone who has purchased a diet book this year: all diet books work. Yes, you read that right, they do work! First, stack all your diet books in a neat pile, pick them up, and walk up and down one flight of stairs for 20 repetitions. Do this every day for one week and I GUARANTEE you’ll begin to drop those unwanted pounds! But seriously, what do we do with all those different diet books that keep popping up in bookstores every month that offer yet another wacky way to lose weight? First, to know the truth, it’s essential that you read about food and eating from the experts—Registered Dietitians. In fact, if you don’t see the credentials “R.D.” behind the author’s name, then it is best to put that diet book back on the shelf. Not M.D….R.D. I’ll explain that in a moment. But first, allow me to briefly point to a number of titles familiar to you, and then give my synopsis/take on each. I need to start with the worst idea that ever sold: the no-carb diet. By name, we know it as the Atkins Diet, hashed out in Atkins For Life, by Robert Atkins, M.D. (deceased). This diet causes one’s body to enter into keto-acidosis, an emergency state in which one’s cells are forced to give up water. Losing weight via water loss is temporary and dangerous. The South Beach Diet, by Arthur Agatston, is a spin-off Atkins diet that allows some of the bad foods that Atkins prohibits. It’s more of the same no-carb/low-carb prescription that is guaranteed to produce failure in the area of permanent weight loss. Notice that neither Robert Atkins nor Arthur Agatston has the credentials R.D. following their names. My Big Fat Greek Diet, by Nick Yphantides, M.D. is an entertaining work that documents the year-long experiment that the author tried on himself. He weighed 467 pounds and lost down to 217 pounds. How did he do it? He stopped working, went to baseball games with his brother, and lived off SlimFast-type drinks for food. Not especially safe, mind you, but it worked. Maybe doctors shouldn’t be allowed to write diet books in the same way that college freshman aren’t allowed to write their own medicine prescriptions. Before I go on, there are two things I should explain before any of you throw food or drink at your laptop/monitor. First, my wife is a Registered Dietitian, licensed by the State of Georgia, graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.A. in Human Foods and Nutrition. And she probably does not approve of my article. That’s because R.D.’s are a cranky sort who spend most of their working life explaining to friends and family that they do not work in the elementary school lunchroom handing out cartons of milk. Second, the Food and Drug Administration has administered some strict guidelines about packaged foods and medicines. Any claims made about a product cannot be listed on the label, but can be made on a sign or advertisement. For example: a sign in a store window may advertise that a bottle of Weaseljuice can cause you to lose five pounds a week without exercise, but once you walk inside, read the label you’ll find (per FDA guidelines) on the ingredients: contains corn syrup and natural flavors. The FDA commands the truth. Now back to my amazing list of diet books… What Would Jesus Eat?, by Don Colbert, M.D., is an interesting twist on the WWJD marketing scheme that sold thousands of Christian bookstore novelties. Oh, my, there’s that pesky M.D. hovering just behind Dr. Colbert’s name. I’m sure some of the concepts in this book are interesting and even allude to Jewish dietary laws in the O.T., but his take on drinking red wine is false. Drinking red grape juice or eating red grapes is just as healthy as his suggestion of wine. And it won’t rot your liver. Don’t Eat This Book, by Morgan Spurlock, is sort of the companion guide to his film Super Size Me, which documents the 30 days he ate nothing but McDonald’s food for three meals per day. Spurlock gained 30 pounds, nearly poisoned his liver, and had serious chest pain only 20 days into his diet. It makes for fascinating reading or watching, and should be an alarm clock to a fast-food junkie like me. How We Lost Weight and Kept It Off, by Jim and Tammy Bakker (foreword by Pat & Shirley Boone). Written in 1977 before the collapse of the PTL empire (that’s Praise The Lord to those of you born after then), this book is chock full of sassy and exhortational ideas about losing weight. The Bakker’s main thesis here is that if you send in enough checks and cash from your pockets, then you will indeed lose weight. Guaranteed! The Detox Diet, by Alex Jamieson, is the antidote to Don’t Eat This Book by husband Morgan Spurlock. When she saw the damage that McDonald’s food was doing to her future hubby, she began formulating a regimented diet for her man to begin after his 30- day binge of Mickey D’s offerings. Jamieson is a vegan chef, which means that she is a strict vegetarian, yet the stuff she cooks looks and sounds fantastic! Strong Women Stay Slim, by Miriam Nelson, PhD. Dr. Nelson has written several books that emphasize exercise as a way to cure many of the ills that Americans have stricken themselves with. She is a Professor of Nutrition Science (I don’t know if she’s an RD), and she qualifies as an expert. I’m going to suggest the title for her next book she may write which is politically incorrect but may cut to the quick: Drop Your Fork and Get Off Your Lazy Duffs! Oh yeah, Dr. Nelson has appeared on OPRAH! (Doesn’t that make her legit?) Eat Carbs, Lose Weight, by Denise Austin and Amy Campbell, M.S., R.D., C.D.E. is the perfect antithesis to all the no-carb/low-carb Atkins style diet books. That’s because—SURPRISE!—carbohydrates are a necessary part of eating. Complex carbohydrates are foods that require energy to break down once eaten, whereas simple carbohydrates (e.g. a Krispy Kreme donut) go straight to your love handles like a magnet goes to steel. So, if you want the truth about diets and eating, go to eatright.org (official ADA website) or a-personaldietitian.com for excellent, professional advice from experts in the nutrition field. Go ahead, take a Registered Dietitian to lunch, order all the carbs you feel like eating, and when you shop for diet information, don’t eat this book.
ninetyandnine.com © 2005, Stuart D. Kent --------- Stuart D. Kent is the son of an overweight M.D. (surgeon). His own BMI is approaching the danger level. He is considering ordering Matt Furey’s book, Combat Conditioning, but will probably skip the chapter about not drinking coffee in the morning. |
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