You see this guy on PBS all the time. I had that channel on in the background while I was doing some work today, and was wondering if anyone knew if this guy was for real or not. Poking around on the internet, I found a few mostly positive reviews. The diet plan is very restrictive (especially in the first 6 weeks), but still looks like it’s mostly good tasting food.
I will admit I don’t know, but most of those things are scams or not backed-up by science. I personally don’t give any credence to any self-help book or books about diets.
I’m in book publshing (I am a paginator and lay out the book). Anyway–I did a book on some diet that dealt with the raw food diet. Had to put in the photos of the gal who wrote it, and we had instructions to Photoshop the pics to “make her look healthier.”
It took a lot of Photoshop work to do that.
Just my opinion about books like that.
Part of my interest is whether PBS should be shilling stuff like this if it’s mostly woo. They are not just giving him air time, but helping him sell his memberships, books and DVDs.
The wikipedia page makes it sound like a high level of woo. He has been criticized for creating a micronutrient index that cannot be independently verified. His diet has been compared to fruitarianism, which I believe is generally regarded as unhealthy. I note this sentence in particular:
I don’t know if he’s wholly anti-vax, or just doesn’t like flu vaccines, but either way, he loses major credibility points for that.
I have no idea why PBS includes him, other that $$. He sounds like total bunk, except in the very basic sense that calorie restriction will cause you to lose weight. If you can follow his program in the short term, and it helps you lose weight, that’s probably fine. Longer term, you likely have to be concerned about having a more complete nutritional balance.
I read part of his book, to me he came across as a religious fanatic. There is a condition called orthorexiathat some of his claims remind me of (his claims nobody has to get sick or have strokes as long as they eat healthy, which is untrue. Everyone gets sick and dies eventually of something). I watched him in fat, sick and nearly dead and he said several untrue hyperbolic things.
Having said that, a healthy diet will improve your life expectancy and reduce morbidity. However what constitutes a healthy diet is a bit more complex than just eating fruits and vegetables. All fruits and vegetables are not the same. Some have better health properties than others.
Our local PBS station does lots of these kinds of shows during their fundraiser marathons (which seem to grow longer every year). The diets all seem to be very similar–don’t eat wheat, corn, soy, dairy, sugar, and possibly a few other things (i.e., anything that tastes good). One of these programs listed this as one of several “simple steps” to take for weight loss and to cure all of your health problems. :dubious: I think it’s irresponsible of PBS to show these programs, and I won’t give them money because of that.
Eat nothing but vegetables and fruit for 6 weeks and lose weight!! :)
Awesome. This guy is awesome. Figuring shit out, he is.