With Celebrities like Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson and Mandy Moore praising the results of Dr Siegel’s cookie diet, the diet has become an overnight sensation. But the question is does the cookie diet help you maintain a healthy weight and is it safe?
What is Dr’s Siegal’s Cookie Diet?
The official cookie diet web site states that the diet was created in 1975. The diet was created by Dr Sanford Siegal to help people control their hunger and stick to their diets. The web site claims that “to this day, Dr Siegal mixes every batch of his secret amino acid protein blend with his own hands in his private bakery”.
The diet recommends that a person eat six special cookies (which help control hunger) during the day. Then a person is to eat a reasonable dinner in the evening. This allows the a person to consume only around 1,000 calories a day. The web site does recommend checking with your doctor prior to following the diet to check to see if it is safe for you follow. The diet claims that by following this plan a person can lose an average of ten pounds per month.
Is the Cookie Diet Healthy?
The cookie diet’s web site does provide many testimonials of people who have lost weight on the diet. But it does not provide any substantial evidence the diet is safe or promotes long term weight maintenance. Currently no clinical research has been done to test the effectiveness or safety of the diet.
One concerning aspect of the diet is that it does not teach healthy eating habits. By going on this diet a person does not learn to choose healthy, low fat, low calorie foods. The diet simply just cuts calories. Because of this, a person must eat the cookies for the rest of their lives if they want to keep the weight off.
Following a low calorie diet for a long period of time puts a person at risk for a nutritional deficiency. Because Dr Siegal does not publish the ingredients in his cookies, it is impossible to know if they have any nutritional value. Eating only one meal a day does not provide the necessary vitamins, minerals and protein needed to maintain a healthy body.
The cookie diet by Dr. Siegal has all the tell tale signs of a fad diet. The diet does not have research to back it up. It is a quick fix that does not teach healthy eating habits and it does not guarantee weight maintenance.
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