YOU: On a Diet Review

Diet Review

By Myatt Murphy

Dr. Michael Roizen's spin-off book, "YOU: On a Diet" based on his bestselling "YOU: The Owner’s Manual," isn’t what you would expect from a diet book. The bulk of the book spends its time offering a plethora of information that most diet manuals on the market don’t, such as explanations on how your body reacts to what you eat, the different types of fat your body stores, how hormones play into your appetite, how your body actually digests food and more. It’s very much a nutritional textbook, written in an easy-to-understand, entertaining style that many dieters will find extremely helpful -- especially when it comes to understanding “how” each nutritional decision they make in their lives affects their health and physique.

The actual eating plan itself is only about 75 pages long -- and over half of those pages are devoted to recipes alone. Some might feel cheated that there’s not more to the actual diet plan itself, but because its formula is so basic and easy to follow -- plus the fact that it’s only a 14-day program -- spending any more time to explain it would be overkill.

The foods that the diet recommends are all classically healthy choices that most nutritionists can’t argue with. And because there isn’t any clever spin or hook to the diet that raises any eyebrows, it’s pretty sound in its approach to changing a dieter’s way of eating for the better. Another strong plus to the diet is how it incorporates exercise as an integral part of the program. Dieters following the plan to the letter will actually find themselves exercising -- safely -- for over twice as long as the average 90 minutes a week that most experts recommend. On this plan, dieters do three and a half hours of light cardiovascular exercise and 60 minutes of resistance training/stretching.

There are just a few things that struck some experts as strange -- such as being told to eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch each and every day if possible. The authors claim that dieters have more success by sticking with the same foods each and every day -- yet ironically, they contradict that logic by also asking dieters to eat something different for dinner every night of the week-long plan. Eating the same things day in and day out may help you adopt better eating habits faster -- according to the authors -- but many experts find that it could make the plan too redundant for some dieters, making them quit too soon if variety is a necessity.

Is the diet healthy?

Yes. The plan endorses the same underpinnings that most good diets are based on: Eat five to six smaller meals a day, avoid simple carbohydrates, saturated and trans fats, add plenty of vegetables, fruits and other fibrous foods to your diet, and limit your portion sizes. Because it’s so simplistic in its design -- eat more good foods and avoid the bad foods -- and it’s not too constrictive with its calories, the program is pretty safe and most likely healthier than what most people generally eat. Another reason that it’s unique is that it advocates doing some form of strength training three days each week and light cardiovascular exercise every day -- in the form of thirty minutes of walking. Most diets tend to promise that simply watching what you eat is all you need to lose weight, but the program in "YOU: On a Diet" makes it clear that exercising and eating right are important to do together to turn back the clock.

What do the experts say?

“The book definitely outlines a sensible eating program,” says Jeannie Gazzaniga-Moloo PhD, RD, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. “What’s really nice is how the book also stresses seeing a doctor, and it focuses on exercise as well -- most people can do the fitness routines prescribed in the book, regardless of their level of exercise.” When it comes to having dieters eat the same foods over and over again, experts aren’t opposed to the idea. In fact, it can help dieters in several ways: “One, it can certainly assist them with portion control -- by eating the same meals over and over again, they start to get used to eating the smaller-sized portions they should be having throughout the day,” says Gazzaniga-Moloo. “Two, when you take a lot of flexibility out of any diet in its initial stages, it really helps dieters focus on the quantity of food that they’re eating.” However, experts also feel that once you follow the program for a certain amount of time, some dieters may start to get tired of eating the same meals repeatedly. “However, once they’ve adopted the right eating habits outlined in this program, they can certainly branch out and begin to make similar healthy choices that can add more variety in their daily menu.” The only concern: The diet de-emphasizes the importance of counting calories. “This may be fine for some dieters, but for many people that are just learning about how to eat right, the act of counting calories can help build an awareness about what’s actually in the foods that they’re eating,” says Gazzaniga-Moloo.

Who should consider the diet?

Any dieter looking to truly grasp how their body works “on” a diet will really like this book. It’s also perfect for dieters who want to dabble in eating healthier, but are gun-shy of programs that seem too complex, too skeptical or simply too time-consuming.

Bottom Line

With its uncomplicated design and lack of any grand promises -- beyond losing two inches from your waistline in the first two weeks, that is -- this simple two-week plan is actually a great way to show dieters how and what they should be eating in an easy-to-follow, non-intimidating manner. Even if dieters stop using the program, the additional information it explains about the human body and how it reacts to certain foods, fats, hormones, etc., is worth the price alone.

Foods

For breakfast, dieters have their choice of eating things such as: cereal with skim milk; fruit and a glass of soy milk; a "mostly" egg white omelet or two eggs with lean turkey or tofu sausage; whole wheat bread with peanut butter; or drinking a blended protein shake from the book.

For lunch, expect plenty of veggies: either a chopped salad with walnuts, and either salmon, turkey or chicken; homemade soups from recipes in the book (including vegetable lentil and black bean); homemade salads from the book (such as Greek Feta with peppers and onions or Orient Express salad with peanuts and cucumbers) and veggie burgers.

The recommended dinners are recipes straight from the book, which include: spicy chili; stuffed whole-wheat pizza; turkey tortilla wraps; broiled trout; and apricot chicken with green beans.

The snacks dieters are asked to eat are also your typical healthy fare, such as yogurt, whole-grain cereal, nuts, apples, popcorn, bananas, sautéed or cut-up vegetables and canned peaches or mandarin oranges.

You’ll also drink plenty of water on the diet, as well as skim milk, coffee, hot tea, vegetable juice, 100 percent orange or grapefruit juice and diet soda.

See YOU: On a Diet at a Glance