I got excited a few months ago when I heard that the cookie diet, which has been around since I first started dieting (practically out of the womb), was still in existence.  Having put on an awful lot of weight in the last few years, I thought, heck I can do that for a few weeks.  Yes, I know it is not the proper way to eat, but why not?  Nothing else had been working – not low carb, intermittent fasting or eating vegetarian. I started to gain weight rapidly 2.5 years ago for no apparent reason. I was game for anything at this point.

Ingredients are important to me.  So what are the ingredients in these magical diet cookies? Good question.  Even with all my excellent research skills, I was not able to get any information.  Apparently, Dr. Siegal, who created the original Cookie Diet,  is still personally mixing the dough (at the age of 80) so his secret recipe never gets out.   I suspect there are GMO ingredients, possibly even artificial sweeteners.  But without actually getting a list of ingredients, its all conjecture.

Eat When You Are Hungry

I have never been a fan of eating 3 meals a day, 5 small meals, or any other sort of regimented eating schedule.  I really liked the idea of intermittent fasting when I heard about it a few years ago. A lot of people have very good success with this dietary lifestyle though it hasn’t helped me lose weight.  I really believe it is healthy to go long periods of time without food.  If we are going to eat a “natural diet”, well let’s face it, humans didn’t always have available food for a sit-down meal, 3 times a day. I bet humans went many hours,and days, without food at all. Eating all day long isn’t very “natural”.

Intermittent Fasting

Mike Mattson, a neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging, has observed studies with mice over 2 decades.  Mice who skipped feedings, lived longer and leaner, than the mice fed regularly.

In 2012, biologist Satchidananda Panda of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, observed that mice eating their food within an eight-hour window were less likely to develop metabolic diseases like diabetes.

Intermittent fasting isn’t necessarily for everyone, but it does seem to have health benefits.  If nothing else, it is a good practice in discipline.

Chinese Medicine

One of the oldest forms of medicine, Chinese medicine, has been helping people for thousands of years. Two weeks ago I started seeing an acupuncturist from China.   I have had two treatments so far and both times whined about my weight (not the reason I went to see him).  Both times he waved his hand and said to stop worrying about the weight.  He said “your body will lose the weight when you are healthy“.  His diet recommendations were very surprising.  All food must be cooked and warm. .  He explained in Chinese medicine if a body is not in balance, it needs only warm, cooked food.  When asked about the nutritional benefits of raw food versus cooked, he replied that the effort the body has to go through warming and digesting cold or raw food, was a greater burden on the body than eating cooked food with less nutrition.  That was an interesting viewpoint.  No GMO and minimal sugar were the only other comments on what to eat.  Well, the Chinese do eat everything, and I meant everything.

I am going to follow the advice of my acupuncturist for 6 weeks.  If I don’t start to lose weight by then, my  Plan B is the cookie diet. Always good to have a fall-back plan.

To your Health!

Peter Gillham