Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I was at the library picking up some CDs that I had ordered and I saw this book sitting in the highlighted books section. I picked it up and decided to read it to review it for Starling Fitness. I find this diet plan iffy and based on unproven science. The ideas at the beginning of the book, however, are very helpful motivators.

• The Thin Commandments

The Thin Commandments are as follows:

• Strategy is stronger than willpower: He suggests eating every 3-4 hours to prevent the kind of hunger that can spawn a binge. He also recommends keeping a food diary.

• Think historically, not just calorically: This commandment is repeated so many times throughout the book that I don’t know why he didn’t put it first. I don’t know why he didn’t use it as the title of the book. He suggests analyzing your food history and identifying foods and situations that have been involved with bingeing. Then, he says that you are powerless against these foods and should never eat them again. I don’t agree with that premise and I think it’s much better to learn to live with your Vulnerability Foods.

• The problem may be in the food, not in you: This phrase may sound empowering, but what the author is really saying is that you have no control over certain foods. He suggests avoiding the food to desensitize yourself from it with no plan for slowly reintroducing it. I disagree with anything that suggests that I am powerless.

• Structure gives control: He suggests eating a snack with protein and fiber during the 3pm – 5pm hours. Bring your own snacks and not depend on fate to provide for you. Plan ahead so that you won’t get too hungry. These are all good tips. If you are on a different sleep schedule, you will need to find when you’re sleepiest time of the day is and plan a protein/fiber snack during that time of the day.

• Separate mood from food and strategies for preventing mood eating: These are good strategies strikingly similar to the Weight Watchers Tools For Living.

• Take control of your favorite foods: He suggests adopting the phrase, “I don’t begin, I don’t have any problem.” Aside from grammatically awkward, I disagree with this commandment because I refuse to live my life without my favorite foods. You CAN live a healthy life at a healthy weight and enjoy your favorite foods in moderation, no matter what the author of this book says.

• Slips should teach you, not defeat you: The Weight Watcher equivalent to this is, “There are no failures, only feedback.” This is a really good commandment with lots of ideas on how to recover from a binge and how to learn from it.

• Stop feeling deprived: This is also a really good section about changing your mindset from deprivation to concentrating on a healthy life. He suggests substitution, not deprivation. I’ve never found that to work for me, but many of the ideas that he has here are great ways to concentrate on healthier eating habits.

• Treat your calories like dollars: This is a concept that most newbies learn from Weight Watchers in the first week. Is it “Point-Worthy?” is something that I learned to ask myself very quickly. The same is true for calories. If the food is not very filling, but has a lot of calories, you need to make a conscious decision to know whether you feel it’s worth eating. There are a lot of tips in this section about nutrition. Some of them are based on unproven science: the thermogenic effect of food, “magic” foods (like cinnamon, fish, fiber and calcium) help you lose weight and The Dairy Myth. Some of them are good advice: Fill up on fruit, drink water to feel full, exercise your body and your judgment.

• Losing weight is half the job; keeping it off is the other half: Instead of teaching you how to slowly add trigger foods back into your life, he suggests avoiding them forever. There are a few other tips to maintain, which are basically, watch for the inevitable weight gain and go back on the diet.

Worst Quote:

“No matter how intelligent you are, or how secure you feel, you’re no match for the force that is your body’s physiological response to food.”

I don’t believe that to be true. You are not powerless over food. Take back your power and use it to get healthy and strong.

On the whole, this is a relatively good book. The motivational thoughts and the ideas like creating meditation tapes may not be original, but they are helpful. I would follow a sensible eating plan like Eat More, Lose More or Weight Watchers and use this book for a motivational boost.