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173 of 173 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Park Avenue Diet Doctor Dishes on Weight Loss!, January 10, 2006
This review is from: How the Rich Get Thin: Park Avenue's Top Diet Doctor Reveals the Secrets to Losing Weight and Feeling Great (Hardcover)
Jana Klauer an MD specializing in weight control with a private practise in the ritzy Park Avenue area of New York has penned a weight loss book describing how she helps her rich patients lose weight. She describes her diet as "the key to how successful, rich and busy modern men and women get it off and keep it off."
The title to the book sounded a bit gimmicky so I was surprised as I read the book to read alot of solid information. She stresses the importance of daily exercise, how protein can help suppress appetite, why calcium can increase your metabolism, how prescription drugs can cause weight gain and more. There is a lot of good information in this book and Dr. Klauer spells it out; weightloss takes effort and determination. She also includes a simple method to help with cravings that can really come in handy. (Set a stopwatch for 15 minutes, drink water, eat protein to normalize your blood sugar and wait it out.)
But despite the excellent information Klauer shares, the bottomline is "How The Rich Get Thin" is a high protein, low carb diet that will be very difficult to stay on. There are two phases. Phase 1 is the "Get It Done Phase". You follow this phase till you are within 5 pounds of your goal weight. Typical day: Breakfast: 2 omega 3 eggs with 1 ounce of low fat cheese and 1/2 cup of berries, coffee or tea. Midmorning: A cup of green tea. Lunch: A large mesclun salad with 4 grilled shrimp and lemon juice, tea, water. Afternoon snack: Caprese Salad, water, green tea. Dinner: Mixed green salad with 2oz Parmesan cheese and lemon juice, 4-5 oz red snapper, steamed asparagus, yogurt with cinnamon for desert. Phase 2 maintenance adds in some carbs but not many.
Not a lot of food. And you are also expected to exercise for 1 hour each day. My guess is anyone who can follow this plan is either already thin or will likely regain any weight they lose from following it. It's simply too restrictive.
Dr. Klauer intersperses her text with little quips and Park Avenue tales..these range from interesting to pretty silly.
For example she tells how embarrased one of her patients, Amber, was when she told her date to order dinner for her and then left to use the restroom when he ordered. When she returned she complimented him on his choice of the salmon only to be told it was not salmon but was a very rare, expensive wild Arctic char fish. "Amber was mortified and for the rest of the evening said very little to avoid making any other faux pas". Seems to me that a grown women who is "mortified" by mistaking one fish for another needs a little head examination..not a weight loss doctor.
Dr.Klauer also suggests you reach for the very fine quality food items and avoid processed foods. I am fine with this but as an example she would have you reach for the "20 gram presentation of Caviar Tsar Imperial Beluga" instead of the lumpfish from a tin. When I took a peek at prices for the Imperial Beluga..well lets just say that at $175 for a 50gram serving, most of us will be sticking with Chicken of the Sea tuna.
Dr. Klauer makes the case for avoiding processed foods and also encourages you to add more calcium to your diet. She says many of her patients enjoy Viactiv calcium chews. Main ingredient in the chews, corn syrup. Second ingredient, high fructose corn syrup. Not a good choice for one avoiding faux foods.
The 268 page book includes recipes such as Lauren's Marinated Tuna, Black Soybean Salsa with Cod, Greek Lamb Meatballs with Yogurt Tahini Salad, Baked Pears with Walnuts and Figs and Yogurt Cheesecake. Her preference would be you use organic eggs, fresh herbs and spices and and whole wheat flour when called for. It should be noted that splenda is used instead of sugar in the recipes.
The back of the book lists resources including mercury levels in fish, also restaurants and shops in New York where you can purchase high quality foods and there is reference section.
Bottomline..good overall information but unreasonably strict diet for the short or long haul no matter how much money you have.
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62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Calcium is King..., January 5, 2006
This review is from: How the Rich Get Thin: Park Avenue's Top Diet Doctor Reveals the Secrets to Losing Weight and Feeling Great (Hardcover)
I am very impressed with this book in regards to how simple it is to understand what the doctor is writing about when she is describing the human body and nutrition. Usually, I am so turned off by the medical jargon of how our bodies work and how nutrition plays a part in that...however, I was able to fully comprehend and plow through everything this author wrote (notice I did not say it was an enjoyable task...I wanted to skip forward to the diet part, but I am glad I didn't).
Now, as for the plan. The reason I gave this book only 4 stars is because the author does advocate giving up certain foods such as bread and dried pasta. Yes, this is a high-protein diet and carbs are restricted, even though the author never comes right out and says this.
The author suggests that you put forth a plan of action for losing weight, which includes exercising at least an hour per day and adhering to her minimum amount of calcium per day (note that you have to space out your consumption of calcium during the day due to our bodies natural tendency to only absorb a maximum of 500 mg at any one time...a little tidbit explained in the nutritional section, so please read it!). All processed foods are OUT. The author advises you to purge your fridge and cupboard of anything processed and anything that has ingredients you cannot pronounce. She also advises you to throw out all dried herbs and use only fresh herbs. Costly, yes. However, according to the author, your health is worth the added expense.
All in all, this book was a great read for me and I will be incorporating the plan into my lifestyle. The author's tone is friendly, authoritative and encouraging without being too overbearing. Anyone who has read and enjoyed books on the French lifestyle (i.e. Fat Fallacy, FWDGF, etc) will find that this book fits nicely into their library - it will even put to use those yogurt machines we all purchased after reading French Women Don't Get Fat!
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48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Whittle Down Your Waistline with Increased Calcium, February 9, 2006
This review is from: How the Rich Get Thin: Park Avenue's Top Diet Doctor Reveals the Secrets to Losing Weight and Feeling Great (Hardcover)
First and foremost, despite the fad title, I love the diet proposed in Jana Klauer's "How the Rich Get Thin." Not only does it make perfect sense, but after eating on this plan for two weeks, I can successfully report that I have indeed lost weight as benchmarked by the near perfect fit of my favorite pair of `weight-testing' jeans.
After a few years of attempting the other Dr. "Klauer's" (Clower's) French diet, where slow eating small portions and no snacking supposedly add up to more pleasure and a smaller waistline, I found this Park Avenue Dr. Klauer's phase 1 diet to be flush with good choices (of course only real food prevails here-no processed foods allowed) that more than adequately satisfied both my nutritional needs and food satiety for the day. Plus, a strategy actually exists that takes into account what we know about nutrition today; instead of epitomizing the clueless American merely observing the French who apparently luck out on their eating alternatives, Klauer tells you why certain combinations will work for you and provides menus that allow you to accomplish your goal with greater understanding that hopefully will offer no-brainer, non-weight increasing options while you are in the maintenance phase.
Yes, some of the reviews have deemed this plan to be stringent and some of the food ideas exorbitantly expensive, but I think you need to judge that and the results for yourself and simply substitute less lavish food selections. A three day "jump-start" kicks off the diet with the objective of driving your metabolism into high gear while shedding some of the bloat and maintaining muscle mass. An all-important hour's worth of exercise performed before eating breakfast gets your body moving even if you are only willing or able to walk. Strictly high protein, this three days of omega-3 eggs, low-fat yogurt, low-fat cheese, canned tuna, fresh grilled or baked fish, salad, water, green tea and raw vegetables will ready your body for the longer "Get It Done" Phase 1 of the Diet.
Until you are within 5 to 7 pounds of your goal weight, Phase 1 expands the food selections found in the Jump-Start without any nutritional deprivation. A daily quotient of food includes the three basic meals with the addition of two snacks-one actually providing something more substantial than a cup of green tea. For example, breakfast consists of a complete meal -- berries, eggs and low-fat cheese, coffee or tea with low-fat milk if desired. A mesclun salad with balsamic vinaigrette and 4 grilled shrimp provides an adequate lunch followed by a mid-afternoon snack of mozzarella, basil and tomato salad. Dinner includes 4 to 5 ounces of grilled fish, served with salad and asparagus and finished with a dessert of low-fat yogurt spiked with cinnamon and Splenda. (Caveat: Forego the Splenda. The author's recommendation of Splenda as an engineered sugar substitute sets this reviewer's teeth on edge as this is a relatively new product and thereby unproven as safe.) Prior to bedtime two calcium citrate capsules insure at least 1200 mg of calcium absorption on a daily basis.
The author goes into such great length discussing the merits of including calcium in the form of dairy to each meal that at times I wondered if she was being funded by the American Dairy Association. I checked on her data with my own health care provider and yes, it seems that not only does added calcium in this format help to lower blood pressure and reduces cancer risk; it helps one dieting to lose weight on a significantly higher percentage level than one might expect.
Note that during phase 1 of the diet, one's protein choices are limited to fish, low-fat dairy and omega-3 eggs. When goal weight nears fruition, the introduction of other good food choices becomes paramount on a weekly basis. Week 1 substitutes some chicken, turkey and meat for the fish. Week 2 adds a piece of fruit to the mid-afternoon snack. Legumes make their reappearance in week 3 as do sweet potatoes in week 4. Week 5 reintroduces nuts - always a bone of contention with me as I love them so, but don't feel that they help me maintain my weight----Klauer provides a nice sidebar which explains the nuts per calories ration. During week 6 complex carbs like whole grains and breads may be included 2 to 3 times a week. A modicum of wine can be included only after achieving goal weight.
Klauer rounds out the dieting plan by including information-rich chapters on the drug-weight connection, exercise, stress relief, and anti-aging nutrition and finishes with nearly 70 pages of recipes, on-line organic food sources and Manhattan restaurant suggestions just in case you find yourself powering your way through the Big Apple.
Bottom line: Forget the title, the Park Avenue shmaltz and the suggestions to indulge in caviar at $200 an ounce. Follow the plan and constantly refer to the sidebars which will fill your head and stomach with good sense options that will keep your food choices from getting boring. Recommended to anyone who wants to lose weight using the most effective and sensible plan out there at any age.
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