The Automatic Diet [Hardcover]

Charles Platkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 16, 2004

A bestselling author and one of the country's leading weight-loss advocates offers readers a proven behavior-based program to end yo-yo dieting once and for all

Sensible becomes sexy in the face of fad diets that have left chronic dieters frustrated and fat.

In The Automatic Diet, Charles Stuart Platkin, one of the country's leading weight-loss advocates and popular syndicated columnist of "The Diet Detective," synthesizes cutting-edge weight-loss research into an easy-to-follow 10-step process that can become automatic for anyone, a process that has proven successful for tens of thousands of the author's clients as well as for the author himself, who has lost 50 pounds-and kept it off for over 10 years-using the principles in this book. Research has proven repeatedly that fad diets are misguided in their focus on advocating or restricting particular foods and that the only way to permanently lose and maintain weight is through behavioral and lifestyle modification. Learning to identify one's "fat patterns"-the behavioral reasons why when we lose weight we always gain it back again-and how to break them enables readers to relearn how to create a relationship with food and fitness that is comfortable and maintainable, and shows that an individual's weight is completely within his or her control-regardless of genetics, metabolism, or other hard-to-control factors.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ten steps to losing weight forever--how many times have you heard this before? But this time, the claim delivers. In The Automatic Diet, weight-loss and behavioral-change expert Charles Stuart Platkin identifies the 10 steps to understanding and changing your personal pattern of eating and weight gain. You'll examine your habits, master diet traps, craft strategies, and make change happen.

Platkin's program is not a diet, and not a one-size-fits-all program. Based on empowerment, not will power, it's a carefully organized, research-based plan for understanding your own pattern and making changes for life. If you follow his steps, exercises, and strategies, the plan will work because you'll learn to eat consciously, eliminate overeating triggers and habits, and make food substitutions using "calorie bargains" instead of comfort foods.

Platkin, a leading weight loss/ nutrition expert, with daily columns in 155 U.S. newspapers, founded three obesity and weight-control companies: The Institute for Nutrition & Behavioral Sciences, iWellness Solutions, and Nutricise. His earlier bestseller, Breaking the Pattern, has been used as a behavioral-change text in 20 universities. Highly recommended for people who want to understand and change their weight-gain and eating patterns once and for all, and are willing to do some work to get there. --Joan Price

From Publishers Weekly

One-size-fits-all diets don't work, says Platkin. The way to lose weight and keep it off, he explains, is to understand "your individual fat pattern." In this refreshing guide to dropping pounds, readers learn how to assess their own bodies and whatever mental approaches they may have to dieting. As they move through Platkin's 10 steps, they will learn to recognize their "diet traps" (maybe it's social eating or comfort eating), stop making excuses, craft a weight-loss strategy and stick to it. Platkin (Breaking the Pattern: The Five Principles You Need to Remodel Your Life) has not come up with a groundbreaking approach to losing weight; on the contrary, his approach is blessedly jargon-free and commonsense. Reading this book should help readers identify their negative eating patterns so that they can break them and replace them with healthier "automatic" ones.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Hudson Street Press (December 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594630003
• ISBN-13: 978-1594630002
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,176,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

CHARLES PLATKIN, Ph.D.,M.P.H., THE DIET DETECTIVE is one of the country's leading nutrition and public health advocates, whose syndicated health, nutrition and fitness column, the Diet Detective appears in more than 100 daily newspapers nationally. Platkin is also the founder of DietDetective.com, (an Everyday Health / Waterfront Media License) which offers nutrition, food, and fitness information along with a weight-loss program that provides customizable meal plans and fitness regimens that put his wellness principles into action. Platkin is a health expert and blogger featured on Everydayhealth.com, Active.com and Fitnessmagazine.com. Additionally, Platkin is an assistant professor (visiting) at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City.

Platkin has been quoted as a health expert in thousands of publications, including USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Oprah, Time, Newsweek, Ladies Home Journal, Men's Health, Shape, Self and Fitness. He has also appeared on NBC's The Today Show, ABC News Nightline, National Public Radio, CNN, CNBC, CBS's The Early Show, the BBC, and others. Platkin was the host of WE tv's series, I Want To Save Your Life.

He is a member of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, the American Obesity Association, Society for Public Health Education, Society for Nutrition Education, The American Public Health Association, Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Society), the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health and the American Council on Exercise. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, a law degree from Fordham University, a Master of Public Health from Florida International University, and a Ph.D. in Public Health from Florida International University. He is also an ACE certified personal trainer.

Platkin is the author of five books. His first book, "Breaking the Pattern" was a bestseller in hardcover; it has been used by addiction clinics to assist patients with resolving drug and alcohol-related issues and more than 20 universities around the country as a text to teach behavioral change techniques to nutrition and dietetic counseling students. His latest books are The Diet Detective's Count Down (Simon and Schuster, 2007) and The Diet Detective's Calorie Bargain Bible (Simon and Schuster, 2008). Currently, he is working on his sixth book called The Diet Detective's All American Diet to be published by Rodale (www.Rodale.com) in January 2012.

More Information:
Diet Detective Information: http://iwellsolutions.com/platkin/platkinreel.mov
Diet Detective TV Show Trailer: http://iwellsolutions.com/platkin/DietDetectiveTrailer.php.htm
Diet Detective Featured on ABC News Nightline: http://iwellsolutions.com/platkin/Nightline.php.htm
Diet Detective on Mike and Juliet: http://iwellsolutions.com/platkin/mikeandjuliet.php.htm
Diet Detective on Rachel Ray: http://iwellsolutions.com/platkin/rachelray.php.htm
Meet the Diet Detective: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid271548328?bctid=19896554001
Diet Detective on Dr. Oz Show: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/diet-detective-low-calorie-spaghetti-and-meatballs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lasting Changes through Conscious Effort, June 1, 2005

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Automatic Diet (Hardcover)

"Muscle mass is the body's most ancient furnace." ~Charles Stuart Platkin

Charles Stuart Platkin's "Breaking the Pattern" helped me to analyze my self-sabotaging behaviors and again in The Automatic Diet, he presents strategies for overcoming negative patterns in eating.

The Automatic Diet presents ideas for promoting overall health, controlling weight and enhancing your self-esteem. Charles Stuart Platkin unveils misconceptions about weight control and shows you how to have long-term success.

The Diet Detective takes you through your eating behaviors and you can decide if you want to include behavior modification strategies to your everyday diet. Through self-analysis you start to break negative patterns and destructive eating tendencies. He explains how most diets deliver temporary results and most people gain the weight back. How is this diet different?

This is not a diet where you have to give up chocolate (Who could give up Leonidas Belgium chocolates?) or your favorite foods. What the author seeks to encourage is a healthier lifestyle. Since most diets don't bring the results we are looking for, Charles Stuart Platkin advises a lifestyle change. In most cases, he doesn't take away foods like popcorn and carrots; he shows you the best choice. There are a few lists of "items you ought to think about throwing out." These include the usual suspects - sugar, soda, ice cream. I was a little shocked to learn about the calories in the Starbucks Classic Coffee Cake.

I still think in moderation, you can handle a little ice cream, although I must say I feel terrible if I eat too much sugar in a day and it can produce the feeling of chronic fatigue for 24 hours. The author recommends good protein sources, a good variety of vegetables and healthy starch choices.

I am happy to see that another author is talking about the muscle mass issue, because this could help many dieters over the initial hurdles of initial weight gain when you start to exercise. The author also explains why a drastic reduction in calories triggers the body's famine-survival mechanism. This of course slows down your metabolism.

There are also ideas about "excuse busters" and self-talk is definitely your friend or enemy. My most recent self-talk to increase my exercise includes telling myself how good I'm going to feel after I exercise and eat my fruits and vegetables. Being proactive and buying clothes that are too small also seems to be good motivation. I also threw out any clothes that are too big for me, so I simply will have nothing to wear if I don't exercise.

Another idea is not buying anything that you know you should not be eating and buying lots of things you know you should be eating. Then, when you are home and hungry, you make better choices. Doing Yoga also seems to help because it generally puts you in a much calmer state of mind and you feel more in control of your choices.

If you are heading towards 40, then you may also want to read The Metabolic Plan to learn about amazing supplements and how you can stop the aging process, increase muscle mass and feel younger each year.

~The Rebecca Review

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Automatic Diet, March 12, 2005

By 

Bibliophile from Lake Suzy "Jes" (Lake Suzy, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Automatic Diet (Hardcover)

After losing 40 pounds on Weight Watchers, tremendously improving my health, my appearance, and my pleasure in life, I started regaining weight and could not stop gaining. Rejoining Weight Watchers did not help. I kept gaining! I was at the point where I could not stick to a diet for more than four hours! I was desparate by the time I'd regained 25 of the 40 pounds I'd lost. Fortunately, I found Charles Platkin's The Automatic Diet and was able to turn things around. He explains not only what to do but also how to do it and make it part of a lifestyle I can comfortably live with. One week after starting to follow his suggestions, I was down four pounds and am actually enjoying my life while losing! Many of his suggestions are things I already knew but it was like taking an advanced course after completing a beginners course. I've read many wonderful books on fitness and nutrition, but Charles Platkin just puts everything together in a simple way that works and that I (or anyone) can enjoy living with!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth A Read, January 4, 2005

By 

Jessica Reilly (Homestead, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Automatic Diet (Hardcover)

I read Charles Platkin's Diet Detective column each week and his advice is always sensible and easy to apply in everyday life. I've been looking forward to this book for awhile, and I wasn't disappointed.

This book is not is one of the "magic" diets! It stops short of being just "common sense" weight loss advice by using the idea of organizing your life so the weight loss can be automatic. I didn't finish this book feeling like I had some master plan to follow exactly, which I suppose is good for weight loss, bad for immediate gratification.  I will be referring back to it often for guidance. I'd recommend it if you feel ready for a guide to help you actually do the things you already know you should(isn't that the hard part!).