DIETS STILL DON'T WORK  

DIETS STILL DON'T WORK  by Bob Schwartz, PhD, Breakthru Publishing, Houston, Texas, 202 pp, $9.95 © 1990, by Robert M. Schwartz, ISBN: 0-942540-04-2. Review by Del Meyer, MD

The Really Bad News

Dr. Bob Schwartz summarizes a lot of his first book, Diets Don't Work, (some thought this was a joke book) written in 1982 (with several subsequent editions), in the first chapter of the present book. He owned twenty-six health clubs in the west and southwest during his thirties. He had been on a hundred different diets during that ten-year period and was successful every time at reaching his weight-loss goal. But his weight always returned once he stopped dieting. He had lost more than 2000 pounds during that decade but ended up weighing more.

One day as he was looking through the monthly weight and measurement files in his health clubs, he ran across an old record of one of his members who had been dieting and exercising for 20 years. Comparing her present day records with those of 20 years earlier, he discovered that her present day weight and measurements were bigger than when she had first started dieting and exercising. An idea began to form in his head.

Some people go to a health club to gain weight. What would happen if he were to put underweight people on the same diet that overweight people were on to lose weight? Would they also gain weight?

The program was a hit. He found many volunteers and they all gained weight.

Why?

Doctor Schwartz discovered two basic reasons for this phenomenon. One is that diets lower your metabolism, or the rate at which your body burns food. When the amount of food that your body has been receiving drops drastically, your body figures that the planet has temporarily run out of food and your metabolism slows down in order to compensate. The problem is that when you go back to normal eating, your metabolism does not seem to pop right back up to where it started. It moves up very cautiously. Some people have dieted so often that they can actually starve and not lose any weight at all.

The other reason why diets don't work, however, seems to be the more important. He discovered that ANYTHING THAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE DEPRIVED OF, THEY BECOME OBSESSIVE ABOUT. Diets are supposed to have you think less about food, but just the reverse happens. We begin to think about food all of the time. We even have dreams about eating.

Part Two of his first book, Diets Don't Work, is on "Dismantling the Dysfunctional Diet Mentality." After this book was published, Schwartz received countless letters from readers who were thrilled that they were losing weight without dieting. They were most grateful, however, because they had finally lost their obsession about food. They were amazed that this longtime problem had vanished.

The Secret of Naturally Thin People

Dr. Schwartz then started studying in greater depth the naturally thin people who had never had a weight problem. He found that some of them had a high metabolic rate. But they were young and he knew their metabolism would eventually slow down at which time they would probably have a weight problem.

Surprisingly he found that as these naturally thin people grew older and their metabolism slowed down, their eating slowed down. How did they do it?

He would ask these naturally thin people questions that every fat person knows the answers to, such as, "How many calories are in (whatever food they were eating)?" To Schwartz' amazement, they had no clue. He finally saw the light. Only fat people knew about calories.

How did the naturally thin people avoid putting more food in their bodies than needed? That would be the secret to weight loss and keeping it off. The naturally thin people had different eating habits. Some ate well-balanced meals while others ate mostly fast foods. Some exercised regularly, but some did not exercise at all. Some ate three meals a day, some ate one, and some ate six times a day. What was the secret?

The Results of Schwartz' Research

1.          For almost everyone, being thin is a natural state.

2.          It can be as easy and as natural to lose weight as it is to gain it.

3.          Naturally thin people do four simple things that fat people don't, and they never diet. (See below)

4.          People gain and keep weight for specific reasons and there are specific ways to get and keep weight off.

5.          It's not weight that's the real problem - it's the mentality behind it. Get rid of the mentality, and the weight comes off by itself, as quickly and as naturally as it was put on.

How Thin People Think and Eat: The Real Secret

Schwartz recognizes the ultimate secret sounds deceptively simple, but don't be fooled. It may be the most difficult challenge you've ever faced. The fundamentals of naturally thin people are as follows:

1.          They don't eat unless their body is HUNGRY.

2.          They eat EXACTLY what they want - EXACTLY what will satisfy them.

3.          They don't eat unconsciously; they ENJOY every bit of what they are eating and they are aware of the effect the food is having on their bodies.

4.          They STOP eating when their bodies are no longer hungry.

To read the rest of the book review, please go to

 www.delmeyer.net/bkrev_DietsStillDon'tWork.htm.

To read other diet reviews, please go to www.healthcarecom.net/bkrev_Health.htm#Diets.

subscribe

The Zone Diet by Barry Sears, PhD

The other day at the nursing station, I observed the ward clerk reading "Weight Watchers" as she devoured a "Babe Ruth." . . . I guess that keeps the scales balanced and the economy moving. It also contributes to the epidemic in America – 50-60% of the population are overweight with 25-33% affected with obesity. We consumed 15% more calories in 1994 than we did in 1970 and today we dine out twice as often. If obesity was an infectious disease, we would call it a national crisis.

Of all the books that cross my desk, there is at least one or two each month about dieting. The "diet industry" is flourishing. But is there really any new information? At one bookstore I counted 107 different diet books. At another there were over 200 titles. It is interesting that as this deluge of new books were filling up the shelves, some "dated" diet books that spoke of revolutionary new medical dietary evidence were now on sale at 10% of their initial listing.

There are number of diet books written by celebrities. These authors are obviously without credentials. However, some of these books are quite basic and meet a need because of a co-author with credentials, e.g., MS, PhD or MD, although the latter group may not always be as knowledgeable as the public assumes.

A brief review of some of these books will describe this self-perpetuating industry. The questions still remain. Are they of value to the overweight Americans? Are they helpful to those with other dietary problems such as hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, or diabetes? Do they provide complete lifelong nutritional programs? Do they incorporate exercise and stress management? There are at least three that do.

A couple of years ago, my RN-NP introduced me to The Zone Diet by Barry Sears, PhD. Since then he has written additional volumes, including Mastering the Zone, which I received in the current package of audio tapes (Harper Audio, $25). Dr. Sears gives a very comprehensive nutritional program which is easily put into action. After a discussion of the ill effects of hyperinsulinism, he presents a system of balanced eating so one always remains "in the zone." If you're "in the zone" of normal insulin levels one should not have postprandial lethargy. The current presentation seems more complete than what I have encountered in the past. He also states that only in America can one go to a gym and find valet parking. He advises that one should park at the most remote regions of a parking lot and walk. He even suggests that we park our cars about 15 minutes from work to provide at least 15 minutes of exercise every morning and every evening. He sees no need to buy exercise equipment or join a gym or pay to exercise. As physicians we have people run in place for a two minute exercise pulse in an eight foot exam room. Americans have a hard time thinking that anything happens unless they spend money. Much of the world feels we have too much of that. I found his system very easy to follow and quite effective.  

To purchase the book at Amazon: www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=as2&path=ASIN/0722536925&tag=delmeyernet-20&camp=1789&creative=9325

To read the review online, go to www.delmeyer.net/bkrev_DietsDon'tWork.htm.

To read the others, please go to http://healthcarecom.net/Diets.htm#The%20Zone%20Diet.

Diets: Reviews by Del Meyer, MD

Diets Don't Work  by Bob Schwartz, PhD

Breakthru Publishing, Houston, Texas, Third Revised Edition, 149 pp, $12.95 © 1996, by Bob Schwartz, PhD, ISBN: 0-942540-16-6.

We invite you to sign up for this biweekly newsletter.