 The Cardiologist's Wife Weighs in on Dr. Mike Moreno's 17 Day Diet Mar 23, 2011 Editor's Note: Occasions Publishing Group's Audrey Watkins, along with several of her friends, will soon begin The 17 Day Diet. Before they began, Audrey asked The Cardiologist's Wife to weigh in. From time to time, I do a little research into a particular diet plan, and if it’s good, I’ll give a recommendation in one of my blogs. Sometimes I even try out these plans myself before recommending them. So I was curious when Audrey Watkins told me about The 17 Day Diet by Dr. Mike Moreno and asked me to check it out.
I didn’t have to read much to determine I liked what I was reading; in fact, Dr. Moreno’s book reminds me of what I preach all the time. You have to incorporate healthy habits into your life, meaning exercise and good, nutritious food, to remain healthy. He makes no bones about telling the reader that being overweight is unhealthy. The basis of this diet is getting the reader to switch to better eating habits, which includes eating vegetables, fruits, lean protein and whole grain carbohydrates, and forgoing the over processed crap which is full of fats and sugars plus things we can’t pronounce. He also, heavens forbid, wants us to exercise.
The diet plan is broken down into four 17-day cycles in which you eat healthy foods and start exercising just a bit. The 17-day cycles are manageable and promises results of 10 - 12 lbs. lost in the first 17 days. One thing I liked about this book is that is gives a great mini nutrition lesson in easy to understand terms. Dr. Moreno explains just what all that good food does for your body and the consequences of not eating well. He warns the reader not to let him or herself get too hungry or they will fall into binge mode. (Boy, have I been there!) At first, he only asks that you exercise 17 minutes a day, which does allow the non-exerciser to ease into better fitness. Dr. Moreno would also like the reader to give up sodas and drink lots of water and green tea.
The book gives sample menus and a few recipes to help you make better selections. It also has several helpful areas such as what to eat in restaurants, exercising on trips, and how to handle the holidays. The final cycle is where Dr. Moreno makes a big confession. He congratulates you on reaching your goal. BUT you will always need to follow the healthy way of eating outlined in the book and exercise to stay slim. There is no way around this and many will fall back on their evil ways and regain the weight they worked so hard to lose.
The drawbacks for me anyway, are that the diet asks you to consume eight glasses of water each day with the first one being a glass of hot water with a squeeze of lemon first thing in the morning. I have always had a problem drinking water and though I work on it, no way I am drinking hot water anytime. This diet plan does remind me of the South Beach Diet and just like South Beach, I see a major problem for those who don’t like to cook. If you aren’t cooking now, you aren’t going to stick with this plan long because you can’t find steamed fresh vegetables or lettuce wraps at KFC and eggs don‘t scramble themselves in the morning. If you still hide your veggies in your napkin, you are going to have a hard time adding them to your diet on this plan. Still, I agree with Dr. Moreno; grow up and eat your vegetables. I did find this book to be subtly aimed at women, which I thought unfair. There are plenty of men needing help too.
So if you are really at rock bottom and you realize you must make a major change in your life to preserve your health, give this book a look. You just may be glad you did. Until next week,
Lisa
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