“YOU - on a Diet” Review
On January 2, 2009, Health, the online version of Health magazine published a list of “America’s Top 10 Healthiest Diets,” composed by a panel of experts. Number 9 on the list was The Sonoma Diet. Number 8 was YOU - on a Diet.
I’m interested in both of those diets because they are Mediterranean-style.
Here’s my review of YOU - on a Diet, a book by Michael Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet Oz, M.D., published in 2006. Oz is the doctor you see so often on Oprah’s TV show.
These authors absolve you of responsibility if you are fat: the problem is a brain chemical imbalance. Take the authors’ weight-loss advice, and they promise to balance the chemicals, without hunger, without thinking about how much you’re eating.
Sound too good to be true?
Roizen and Oz recommend eating whole grain products, fruits, vegetables, nuts, olive and vegetable oils, fish, eggs, chicken, and low-fat dairy. Alcohol and specific commercial fast foods are allowed. This is healthy, Mediterranean-style eating. The foods are readily available and easy to prepare. Forty-two recipes are provided. No beef, pork, potatoes, or peas. Other forbidden or strictly limited items are simple sugars, high fructose corn syrup, enriched/refined flour, trans fats, and saturated fats.
The authors tell you what to eat daily for one week. Week two is the same, and helps to establish new habits. Variety is limited by design. They say that too much variety leads to overeating. You choose from among four different breakfasts and four lunches. Seven different evening meals are spelled out for you, taking 30 minutes or less to prepare. You repeat the pattern until you reach the authors’ healthy goal: waist circumferences of 32.5 inches or less for women, 35 or less for men. Weight is not important in this scheme. Although never divulged by the authors, I estimate you are allowed 1,450 calories per day. There is no allowance for your sex or baseline weight. Roizen and Oz don’t want you to focus on calories.
Incredibly, they don’t address what you do after you reach your goal waist size. Just add more of the same foods? How much? Can you ever again eat beef, pork, potatoes, or peas? Maintenance of weight loss is certainly problematic, but that’s no reason to ignore it.
The authors make several controversial claims without offering supportive documents such as scientific references or a bibliography. I guess we are supposed to just trust them since they are medical doctors. Examples: 1. Having sex will curb your appetite, 2. Aluminum in deodorants promotes weight gain, 3. ½ tsp of cinnamon daily will help you lose weight, 4. Red pepper helps with weight loss, 5. Willpower is not important because it always fails, 6. Eating 70 calories of nuts 20 minutes before meals will help you avoid overeating.
Roizen and Oz provide great information on the process of digestion and the importance of exercise. Their exercise program is detailed and readily achievable: 30 minutes of daily walking, along with strength training.
The book is a quick, easy read. The cutesy style will amuse some readers, irritate others. Lots of pop celebrity references. And neologisms, such as “YOU-reka!” Sexual intercourse is mentioned more than anyone would expect.
Bottom line: This is a fair weight-loss program for most overweight women. After they reach their goal waist size, however, they are left without guidance. This is worrisome, and almost guarantees weight regain. So I don’t recommend the book. We have many science-based methods for prevention of weight regain. For women over 210 pounds and for nearly all overweight men, 1,450 calories per day is not enough. These folks won’t be able to follow the diet for more than four days—their hunger will be too great.
The book is a still a consistently good seller, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the authors fix these problems in a second edition.
February 9th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
How many people find the perfect new diet only to gain back more fat than they started with? Thanks for the review.
Wish they would not make claims unless they have proof to back them up.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Does it bother you as much as it bothers me that these guys are always wearing scrubs. WTF?
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Funny observation, Darya. I noticed the scrubs, too. I think Oz actually is a surgeon. I see him on TV so much - in scrubs - that I was wondering if he still practices medicine.
The TV show “ER” has made scrubs the uniform for many media physicians.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:22 am
By chance, I met a patient last night who said Dr. Oz did his heart transplant. So he is a surgeon.
Patients generally like to have a celebrity surgeon or physician, which I can understand. When I lived in Texas and Oklahoma, patients with coronary artery bypass grafting always let me know if it was done by Dr. Cooley or Dr. Denton in Houston. They were pioneering legends, and rivals.