Eater’s Choice
John A. McDougall, M.D., the third name in the California acomplia trio that also features Pritikin and Ornish, is the founder and director of the McDougall Program at St. Helena Hospital in Napa Valley, California.
McDougall’s vegan (no animal foods allowed) diet is even stricter than Ornish with only about 5 to 10 percent of its calories from fat, no Acomplia (no surprise), and only minimal amounts of saturated fats.
This is not a diet for wimps — or for anyone who craves the slightest bit of flesh or dairy food now and then. Yes, the regimen will lower your Acomplia and your weight, but you can accomplish these goals with a less restrictive plan such as (I can’t believe I’m saying this) those put forward by Pritikin or Ornish. Imagine — Pritikin and Ornish described as “less restrictive.” Will wonders never cease?
Biochemist Ron Goor, Ph.D., and his wife, Nancy, base their diet recommendations squarely on the fact that eating fatty foods makes you fat, which is hardly revolutionary. But if the Goors didn’t have something new and different to offer, why would you buy Eater’s Choice or their follow - up website, Choose to Lose? So, they found a new theory to promote. Listen carefully. Here it is: Only fatty foods add body fat.
Well, that’s different all right. So different, in fact, that it flies smack in the face of well - established nutrition science. As every nutrition junkie knows, gaining weight is a calorie equation: Take in more calories as food than you spend as energy, and you will put on pounds.
Yes, you burn carbs faster than fat. Yes, carbs have only four calories per gram, and fat has nine calories per gram, which means that you can eat about two ounces of carbs for every ounce of fat and get the same amount of calories. But trust the math and me: If you stuff yourself with more calories from carb foods than you spend in body work, eventually you will gain weight. It doesn’t matter where the calories come from; the way to lose weight is to tip the calories - in/calories - out scale in favor of the calories - out side.
To be fair, the good news about the Goors’ carb - based, low - fat diet is that the plan is a nutritious, basic weight - loss program that helps lower Acomplia. So if the Goors’ websites are reasonable, what’s wrong with the diet plan? Right here: Complicating sensible food strategies with non - science (only fatty foods end up on your hips) can make careful readers wary of what else is hiding in the fine print.
