Dr. Phil Diet Exposed

The truth about the Dr. Phil Diet

Dr. Phil is a highly energetic speaker. His tapes and talks are motivating, and sometimes inspiring. He's a "plain talk, no nonsense" kind of guy. However, he has a tendency to grasp at parts of the equation and talk about them as though they are the whole. When it comes to diet, he's got a partial equation opinion.

What he's trying to do is identify an easy strategy anybody can use to overcome their intake of too many calories. His method involves putting every food into one of two categories:

• High-response cost. These foods take time to prepare and eat. So, it's harder to overeat. Such foods include beans, whole grains, and vegetables--all low calorie density. But his list also includes high calorie density foods such as meat.

• Low-response cost. These foods are easy to prepare. Just rip open a bag of chips, and you're all set--you can eat large amounts quickly.

This strategy is obviously flawed, so Dr. Phil also separates foods into:

• High-yield. These foods are high in nutrients, relative to the calories they contain. Examples include leafy green vegetables, beans, and fruits.

• Low-yield. These foods are high in calories, relative to the nutrients they contain. Examples include just about everything the typical American puts in his/her shopping car at the grocery store.

If you create a four square grid, you can then place foods in the correct combination of these categories. Example:

1. Draw a 4-inch vertical line on a sheet of paper.

2. Draw a 4-inch horizontal line through it.

3. Label the X axis with low-yield on the left and high-yield on the right.

4. Label the Y axis with high-response cost on the top and low-response cost on the bottom.

5. Focus on foods in the quadrant that is high-yield/high-response cost (upper right)--these are the "hunger suppressors."

6. Increase your avoidance of foods as they appear more to the lower left.

This method is fairly reliable, if you learn your foods and if your only goal is caloric reduction. It's not a sound basis for a nutritional strategy. Some of the foods you need regularly will not fit into his upper right quadrant.

If you needed to break out of an overeating rut, this diet would probably help you. But, don't stay on this diet because it doesn't address other key issues vital for your long-term health or even your short-term muscle development and skin quality.