THE ENDOCRINE CONTROL DIET: How to Beat the Metabolic Trap and Lose Weight Permanently

Once popular high-protein, low-carbohydrate, very low-calorie weight-loss diets have lost favor in recent years, but that route is what endocrinologist Ezrin (Medicine, UCLA) recommends for people with a lot of weight to lose. Ezrin has fine-tuned the system used in liquid protein programs and in the once-best-selling books of Robert Atkins (Dr. Atkins' Health Revolution, 1988, etc.), who allowed far more dietary fat and scanted on exercise; and he introduces it here with an explanation of the role of insulin in overweight and the ""metabolic trap"" that makes it hard to diet and to lose. Also provided here by Ezrin and best-selling coauthor Kowalski (The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure--not reviewed), are a regimen of meal plans (a mere 650 to 850 calories; no fruit; severely limited starches), exercise (a very moderate walking program), and support strategies. These last can be pretty silly. (Instead of sweets, stuff the cooking jar with little notes to yourself, rolled up and fled with ribbons, suggesting ""treats"" such as doing a crossword puzzle.) The recipes skimp on red meat and make most of their high-protein dishes of fish or chicken, which is fine, but recommend a breakfast egg a day for those with normal cholesterol (!), egg substitutes if your cholesterol is high. Like most such books this comes with the caution that the program should not be undertaken without medical supervision. That sounds like a good idea.