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THE BIO-DIET by

THE BIO-DIET

By

Pub Date: March 16th, 1982
Publisher: Crown

A low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet that purports--questionably--to manipulate body chemistry and interactions with foods to hasten weight loss. Guerra credits ""recent research"" with helping him work out ways to activate natural appetite suppressants; but he touches only briefly--and without documentation--on the specific substances that may signal to the brain that satiety has been reached. One such substance, cholecystokinin (CCK), may be activated by foods that increase stomach acid; so Guerra's menus begin with the appropriate items and must be followed in order. Not only is the evidence scanty, the resulting menu is bleak: during one of the ""work"" weeks of strict dieting (which alternates with slightly more lenient ""break"" weeks), a typical breakfast consists of coffee, followed by three strawberries and two tablespoons of plain yogurt--a depressing prospect, whatever the promised benefits. For a similar alternating-week, low-calorie diet regimen, but one more soundly based and much easier to live with, see The I Love New York Diet, by Bess Myerson and Bill Adler (1981, p. 1516).