Chapter 7
Popular Diet Programs: Making Them Work for You

A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

—UNKNOWN

What if the guidelines from the last chapter are not enough for you? Do you want a specific diet to follow? Would you prefer shakes and bars, shopping lists, recipes, smartphone apps, in-person centers, a week away to get things started, food delivery, or other services and support to help provide a system, structure, and specific plan that you can follow?

The challenge is that there are always hundreds of different diets and diet programs that are popular at any given time. Just follow Oprah’s highly publicized efforts to lose weight, and you can get a snapshot of the diet trends of the last two decades. Oprah has done everything from liquid protein diets to high-carb/low-fat diets and vegan cleanses. (And we all know how that has worked out for her.) If you go online, walk into a bookstore, turn on the television, or open a magazine, you can’t get away from someone—a doctor, actress, chef, even Dr. Phil—telling you how to lose weight, what books to buy, what special diet products to eat, what workouts to do, and so on. It’s an ever-changing cast of characters and an ever-changing list of options. Should you eat like Gwyneth, Jen, or Angelina? Take weight loss and fitness advice from Jackie, Jillian, or “The Situation”? Detox, fast, master-cleanse, or go macrobiotic? Be a carb-lover, a carb-cycler, or carb-controlled? Go four-day g-free, or just be “you” on a diet? Be a “skinny bitch” or smash some fat? How about whole foods, raw foods, vegan, vegetarian, or caveman diets?

Is your head spinning? Mine is! Maybe we should just move to France—after all, French women don’t get fat!

Seriously, who has time to figure it out?

The truth is, I have looked at hundreds of popular diets, heard from thousands of thyroid patients who have tried to lose weight, and talked to dozens of the nation’s best thyroid, hormone, and nutrition experts, and based on that research, I have identified several approaches that I think you want to consider.

My criteria? The programs I highly recommend:

• Are fundamentally healthy and balanced

• Offer a way of eating that can be maintained relatively easily and without more exotic ingredients, as in you won’t be living on raw bok choy juice or ostrich burgers

• Do not require purchase of their own proprietary foods or supplements

• Do not involve your joining a multilevel marketing pyramid company

• Are not promoted by shady middle-of-the-night infomercials

• Are suited for and adaptable to thyroid patients

I’ve evaluated them in terms of what we know about effectiveness, general good health, and, perhaps most important, how they fit for us as thyroid patients, especially given that many of us are struggling with the challenge of an inefficient metabolism, compounded by insulin and leptin resistance.

What I have found is that a variety of programs that may be good fits for thyroid patients who want to lose weight and enjoy good health. These recommendations include:

• Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman’s Fat Flush Diet

• Dr. Ron Rosedale’s Rosedale Diet

• Kat James’ Truth About Beauty approach

• Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint Diet

• Dr. Mark Hyman’s UltraMetabolism Diet

• Dr. Arthur Agatston’s South Beach Diet

In this chapter, I’ll tell you a bit more about these diets and why I’m recommending them. But my recommendations do not mean to exclude other approaches or systems. In fact, I’ve also included a number of other popular approaches and systems that I feel have merit for thyroid patients and may be the right fit for you. And just because a diet or way of eating is not mentioned here or I don’t highly recommend it does not mean that it may not work for you individually.

Remember: for thyroid patients, one size does not fit all. That applies as much to choosing the optimal diet plan as it does to thyroid medications.

RECOMMENDED PROGRAMS

Fat Flush Diet: Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS

Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, is a naturopath and nutritionist who has tremendous insight into weight-loss challenges, particularly those facing women and thyroid patients. Dr. Gittleman herself has thyroid imbalances, and she has been a leader in understanding the relationships that connect hormones, allergies, parasites, metabolism, and weight loss.

The centerpiece of Dr. Gittleman’s weight-loss advice is found in her book The Fat Flush Plan, which focuses on supporting, cleansing, and detoxifying the liver while eating essential healthy fats, balanced proteins, and quality carbohydrates. The Fat Flush Plan specifically looks at what Dr. Gittleman refers to as the “five hidden factors that sabotage weight loss and vitality: liver health, food sensitivities and resulting waterlogged tissues, fear of eating fat, excess insulin/excess inflammation, and stress.”

Fat Flush has a two week jump-start period, followed by Phase 2, the active fat flush, along with an eating plan for ongoing weight management.

For those who struggle to lose weight and also have significant gastrointestinal issues such as irritable bowel symptoms, her book The Gut Flush Plan is a good starting point to help calm and rebalance the intestinal system.

Her website, AnnLouise.com, has information about her books, a health blog, weight loss and health resources, and information about recommended products. She also has an active community that connects and shares information at her website’s forums, and many of her fans are women with thyroid conditions.

Dr. Gittleman herself is very thyroid-savvy and is on the record as not recommending unfermented soy products or excessive raw goitrogens.

You can follow the Fat Flush Diet using foods readily available at your grocery, and no special products or supplements are required for the diet.

Dr. Ann Gittleman is the formulator of the protein powder that I personally find the best on the market for thyroid patients. It’s called Body Protein, and it’s a plant-based protein powder for use in smoothies. It’s soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, lactose-free, low-glycemic, carbohydrate-controlled, and suitable for vegans and vegetarians. She has assembled a terrific combination of weight-loss supplements that I personally like and use that she calls the Fat Flush Kit. The kit includes her Dieters’ Multivitamin and Mineral, a multivitamin that provides key nutrients helpful when dieting and for general health. (There is an iron-free version for thyroid patients who want to take the vitamin at the same time as their thyroid medication.) The kit also includes GLA-90—which contains the essential fatty acid gamma-linolenic acid—and her Weight Loss Formula contains chromium and acetyl-L-carnitine. The GLA and Weight Loss Formula are taken with meals, to help stabilize blood sugar and enhance metabolic efficiency.

Books: Selected books by Ann Louise Gittleman include: The Fat Flush Plan, The Gut Flush Plan, Fat Flush for Life, Get the Sugar Out, The Fast Track Detox Diet, Zapped, and Guess What Came to Dinner: Parasites and Your Health.

Websites: www.annlouise.com, www.unikeyhealth.com

The Rosedale Diet: Ron Rosedale, MD

Ron Rosedale, MD, is a physician with expertise in nutritional and metabolic medicine who says his goal is to eliminate or reduce the need for insulin in diabetics and reduce heart disease in patients, without drugs or surgery. Weight loss is not, therefore, Dr. Rosedale’s primary objective. At the same time, as one of the more hormone-savvy doctors working in the field of nutrition, he has created a diet that is carbohydrate-controlled, yet also extremely healthy, in that it encourages sufficient but not excessive healthy protein, nutritious vegetables, and good fat.

Dr. Rosedale also focuses very specifically on reversing insulin and leptin resistance, and has some very specific approaches that are designed to help balance these hormones and activate the body’s own ability to burn fat more effectively. Dr. Rosedale sums up the reason for his diet quite clearly:

The idea of the medical profession to go on a high complex carbohydrate, low saturated-fat diet is an absolute oxymoron, because those high complex carbohydrate diets are nothing but a high glucose diet, or a high sugar diet, and your body is just going to store it as saturated fat.

The basic rules of the Rosedale Diet are straightforward: avoid sugar and non-fiber-containing starch—including potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, cereal, corn, and for the first several weeks whole grains. He generally suggests a diet heavy on vegetables (excluding starchy or sugary vegetables such as beets, yams, carrots, or tomatoes). He also advocates sufficient lower-fat protein, such as fish or poultry, but in a controlled, portion limited way. This is not in any way an “all the steak and bacon you can eat” diet.

Dr. Rosedale recommends limiting protein based on a person’s size. His basic guideline is to estimate your optimal lean muscle weight in kilograms, and eat about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of desired weight per day, divided up in three servings per day. According to Dr. Rosedale, most people will require around 40 to 60 grams of protein a day.

Here’s an example. If your target weight is 140 pounds, with 20 percent body fat, that means that your target lean muscle weight is 112 pounds (20 percent of 140 is 28, and 140 – 28 is 112), and 112 pounds is 50.8 kilograms. So you would be aiming for three servings of around 17 grams of protein each.

He recommends limiting fruit to a small serving of berries daily, limiting red meat, and snacking on nuts and olives. Also to be avoided: artificial sweeteners. Eating slowly, not eating for at least three hours before bedtime, and gentle exercise (including a walk after dinner) are also part of his approach.

Dr. Rosedale explains the science behind his recommendations very well, and his rules, while somewhat stringent by some standards, make for a healthy, carbohydrate-controlled diet.

Dr. Rosedale does not have a diet empire or a support system at his website. However, at his site you will find enough information to start the diet right away. I recommend his book for greater detail, explanation, and background. (Also, health advocate Kat James’ Total Transformation workshops and teleseminars generally follow many of Dr. Rosedale’s principles, and Dr. Rosedale has publicly supported Kat’s approach, which is discussed later in this section.)

Book: The Rosedale Diet

Website: www.drrosedale.com

The Truth About Beauty and Total Transformation: Kat James

I’ve included Kat James, her book The Truth About Beauty, and her in-person and teleseminar-based Total Transformation program because she has an incredibly sensible, basic, and grounded view of food, eating, diet, and fitness. Kat is not a physician or health care practitioner—she actually started out in the world of beauty as a makeup artist in New York City. Kat battled an eating disorder and weight gain until she had her own “total transformation,” completely changing the way she thought about her body, the way she ate, the way she exercised and moved, and her overall mind-set. The result? Kat dropped ten sizes and now maintains a slim size 4 figure without rigorous diet and exercise. And Kat is hypothyroid herself.

Kat’s secret? A balanced, mindful eating program based on whole foods and incorporating many of the principles of Dr. Ron Rosedale’s Rosedale Diet, along with some recommended supplements and lifestyle changes.

Frankly, I think every woman should own a copy of The Truth About Beauty, simply because Kat explains, in a sensible, no-nonsense way, how beauty really is from the inside out—and that applies not only to body shape and weight loss but also to skin, hair, nails, and aging.

I would have to describe Kat’s dietary approach as much more Zen—it’s not a structured “eat this and here’s how to make it” book. There are no phases, and Kat does not have a line of protein bars or supplements for sale. I don’t think there’s even a single recipe in it.

The book is inspiring, featuring stories of transformations and how they happen. Kat gets right down into the nitty-gritty of the fact that most people who need to lose weight—even those who have thyroid conditions—also have an unhealthy relationship with food, and addressing that dysfunctional relationship needs to be the first step of any successful effort to lose weight.

You can follow Kat’s approach simply by reading her book, which also includes an information-packed resources section featuring some of her favorite and recommended products and tools.

Kat also offers the opportunity to jump-start a transformative weight-loss effort by participating in one of her five-day Total Transformation programs in person, or one of her Total Transformation teleseminars. The in-person program includes food, drinks, and personal coaching. Both programs include educational information and one-on-one time with Kat herself.

In addition to her book and programs, Kat also hosts a weekly syndicated radio program, The Kat James Show, focusing on health issues.

Book: The Truth About Beauty

Website: www.informedbeauty.com

Total Transformation Program: www.totaltransformation.com

Radio Show: www.totaltransformation.com/kat_james_radio .html

Primal Blueprint (Paleo) Diet: Mark Sisson

A Paleolithic diet is a carbohydrate-controlled approach, focused on eating like a “caveman,” so to speak. The idea is to return to the way that our earliest ancestors ate, focusing on meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, roots, and nuts and excluding grains, legumes, dairy products, salt, refined sugar, processed oils, and processed foods in general.

Loren Cordain started the trend with his book The Paleo Diet, but the book I think is the best on the topic is Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint and his popular website, Mark’s Daily Apple.

Sisson explains his basic premise: “The Primal Blueprint is a set of simple instructions (the blueprint) that allows you to control how your genes express themselves in order to build the strongest, leanest, healthiest body possible, taking clues from evolutionary biology (that’s the primal part).”

Sisson’s book combines science and common sense. Sisson is a former world-class endurance athlete, marathoner, Ironman, and now a health and fitness consultant, so he knows his stuff. In Primal Blueprint, he challenges what he calls “Conventional Wisdom”—always using the capital C and W—by outlining the science behind his recommendations that we follow some basic rules. These rules include eating animals and plants, moving a lot at a slow pace, lifting heavy things, running fast once in a while, getting a lot of sleep, playing, getting daily sunlight, avoiding trauma, avoiding poisonous things, and using your mind.

Sisson goes into much greater detail and provides guidelines on how to apply these rules to daily life. But the end result is a healthy, carbohydrate-controlled diet that does not involve measuring, calorie counting, or portion control.

One of Sisson’s key tenets is that low-fat, grain-based diets are actually the root cause of many illnesses, diseases, and weight problems, and that excessive exercise may suppress the immune system and sabotage weight loss.

Book: The Primal Blueprint

Websites: www.primalblueprint.com, www.marksdailyapple.com

UltraMetabolism Diet: Mark Hyman, MD

Integrative physician Mark Hyman’s healthy, sensible weight-loss program prepares the body for automatic weight loss. His book UltraMetabolism takes you through an eight-week program that promises to reboot your metabolism by focusing on improving the fundamental health problems that cause obesity and disease. For Dr. Hyman, that means optimizing your brain chemistry, especially by eating healthy fats such as omega-3s and avoiding processed carbohydrates. Dr. Hyman also believes in eliminating gluten and supporting the thyroid. His book The UltraSimple Diet describes an accelerated seven-day plan to revitalize your health and is a simplified version of UltraMetabolism.

Keep in mind that Dr. Hyman’s program does suggest incorporating soy protein, which can sabotage the thyroid in some people or impair a thyroid patient’s success at weight loss, so you may want to substitute other options.

But generally, UltraMetabolism can be a healthy way to follow an eight-week program that takes a good look at a cross-section of health issues in order to optimize your health.

Books: Dr. Hyman has a number of books, but the two key books are UltraMetabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss and The UltraSimple Diet: Kick-Start Your Metabolism and Safely Lose Up to 10 Pounds in 7 Days.

Websites: www.ultrametabolism.com, www.drhyman.com

South Beach Diet: Arthur Agatston, MD

South Beach Diet is an empire, with many millions of books sold, a series of cookbooks, a Web-based paid membership program, and a line of South Beach convenience foods and products.

If you shift away from the processed convenience foods and use the South Beach guidelines to follow a more whole-foods-based diet, South Beach can be a healthy, low-glycemic program that is not confusing to follow.

When starting South Beach, the first phase of the diet, which usually runs for two weeks, is designed to detox somewhat, help eliminate carbohydrate cravings, and kick-start the weight-loss process. During the first phase, a goal is also to help stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels, making it a good fit for thyroid patients who are insulin-resistant, prediabetic, or diabetic. In Phase 2, healthy low-glycemic carbohydrates are added to the Phase 1 food list. Phase 3 is maintenance and allows for a wider range of foods. It can be continued as a general way of eating for a lifetime.

The South Beach website is packed with features, including meal planners, a shopping list generator, a recipe finder, discussion groups, support forums where dieters interact with each other, guides for dining out and fast-food restaurants, a weight tracker, and much more.

Books: There are numerous South Beach books, including recipe books, restaurant dining guides, and more, but the key book is South Beach Diet Supercharged: Faster Weight Loss and Better Health for Life.

Website: www.southbeachdiet.com

CARBOHYDRATE-CONTROLLED AND LOW-CARB DIETS

Atkins Diet

The Atkins Diet conquered the planet more than thirty years ago with a new concept in dieting: replace carbohydrates with protein and fat. There is much controversy as to whether or not low-carb, high-protein, high-fat diets are healthy. This famous diet program has a free website, which explains the four-phase plan with interactive tools, food ideas, recipes, success stories, an active online community, a food journal, a shopping list, a recipe box, a BMI calculator, and Atkins food products.

Atkins emphasizes protein and fat in the diet, with carefully controlled carbohydrates. Atkins does not count total carbs, but rather a concept called “net carbs,” where you subtract the fiber grams from the total carb grams, to come up with the net level. The Atkins Diet uses this net carb calculation on the premise that fiber-rich carbohydrates do not affect blood sugar the same way as simple carbohydrates do.

In the early stages of the diet, most carbohydrates come from high-fiber, nonstarchy vegetables, while low-glycemic fruits, starchier vegetables, and legumes are introduced later.

Atkins has suffered from the reputation that it’s an all-you-can-eat steak-and-bacon diet. Jimmy Moore, a professional health blogger and author—and founder of the Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb website, book, and podcasts—has advocated for low-carbohydrate diets like Atkins for a number of years. Says Moore:

The Atkins Diet never said anything about just eating meat and bacon—they always promoted vegetables, and never encouraged people to gorge on meat and bacon. This idea of unlimited steak and cheese and fatty food became the media’s shorthand to mock Dr. Atkins. That’s why, when people say to me, “I went on the Atkins Diet,” but they ate only meat, eggs, and cheese, I say, “That’s the media version of the Atkins Diet.”

The New Atkins for a New You book and approach are attempting to shift that perception, and now include a daily requirement of a substantial amount of high-fiber vegetables, what the program calls “foundation vegetables.” But keep in mind that Atkins is still primarily a low-carbohydrate diet that focuses on animal protein and does not attempt to limit saturated fat.

Note that the Atkins Diet may not be suited for vegan or vegetarian thyroid patients, as soy protein is often recommended in large quantities to those who wish to modify the Atkins Diet to exclude meat and fish. Also note that the shakes, bars, and other food products sold under the Atkins name are frequently highly processed, and often use soy as their primary protein.

Book: There are many books that outline the Atkins Diet, but the most recent is Dr. Eric Westman’s New Atkins for a New You: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great.

Website: www.atkins.com

Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Diet

Jimmy Moore is a one-man low-carb empire. After successfully losing more than a hundred pounds himself with a modified version of the Atkins Diet, Moore turned his own health triumph into a mission as a professional health blogger and author. He now has a successful book, website, blog, podcast, and video series that focus on all aspects of following a low-carbohydrate lifestyle—or, as Moore calls it, Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb.

Moore’s books outline the approaches he has used over the years to successfully lose weight and maintain the weight loss, and his community is a hub of support and information for low-carb dieters, including an active group of thyroid patients.

According to Moore, “You can do everything to fix your thyroid, but if the diet isn’t under control, you won’t get the weight-loss results you want.” At the same time, Moore recognizes the role of thyroid treatment in successful weight loss. “As much as I love and support low-carb, it’s not the be-all and end-all—some people definitely also need thyroid treatment.”

There is no official diet to follow—followers of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb follow general low-carb principles, and Moore and his readers exchange ideas, support, and information about the low-carb lifestyle. “Controlling insulin levels is the primary theme song of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb,” says Moore.

In addition to his website, books, and a video series on YouTube, Moore hosts a popular podcast, where he interviews some of the nation’s leading voices on nutrition, healthy eating, and the low-carb lifestyle. Moore also hosts an annual Low-Carb Cruise, which features a number of doctors, authors, and experts on the low-carb lifestyle as speakers.

Books: 21 Life Lessons from Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb: How the Healthy Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew; and Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb: My Journey from Flabby Fat to Sensationally Skinny in One Year

Website: www.livinlavidalowcarb.com

Moore’s list of low-carb-friendly doctors: www.lowcarbdoctors.blogspot.com

SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers is both a diet and a support system.

The organization has been around for years, and started out primarily as a support group, where people got together for meetings, shared their successes, talked about strategies, and got advice regarding diet.

Basically, with the Weight Watchers approach, you’re keeping track of what you’re eating, and categorizing it in various food groups. Weight Watchers has always been a largely calories-in, calories-out sort of approach, and it is not a pioneer in understanding insulin resistance, leptin issues, or the physiology of weight loss. (You’ll find Weight Watchers recommending popcorn, pasta, and other higher-glycemic-index starches, for example.) I’ve also heard many stories from thyroid patients who, like me, tried Weight Watchers at some point, followed it to the letter, and gained weight. I even had a Weight Watchers leader suggest to me that I must not be following the program when in fact I was, including exercise. This was before my thyroid diagnosis. Even after my thyroid diagnosis, losing weight on Weight Watchers required that I avoid recommended snacks and eat at the absolute lowest possible number of points to lose even a small amount of weight each week.

The challenge is that Weight Watchers is not inherently a low-glycemic or carbohydrate-controlled diet, which is why some thyroid patients may not find themselves losing much weight on the program. If you want to control carbohydrates, you’ll have to tweak the diet recommendations to cut back on or eliminate bread, pasta, rice, and other simple carbohydrates that are regularly featured as part of Weight Watchers’ menus and recipes.

That said, Weight Watchers can be a great resource for someone who has not tried to lose weight before and who needs to start off with the idea of portion control, balance in the diet, and incorporating gentle exercise; in particular, it’s good for someone who knows he or she will respond best to a support-oriented community. Weight Watchers—whether in meetings or online—offers easy-to-follow instructions, many ideas on what to eat, and recipes for preparation.

In addition to the option of attending in-person meetings, Weight Watchers online offers a host of tools, including a journal, a weight tracker, meal plans, point calculators, recipe search, an active online community, and more.

Keep in mind that some of the Weight Watchers prepared foods sold online and in grocery stores are highly processed, and some do contain soy.

Kay had her thyroid removed twenty years ago and has slowly and steadily gained weight since then:

Doctors told me that it would be impossible to lose weight. Just after topping 200, I decided that it was time to do something. I joined Weight Watchers online (no meetings, no weigh-ins). Now, after six months, I have lost twenty-four pounds. I’m not there yet, but I am losing. Slowly, but I’m losing. Being on Weight Watchers has made me very aware of the hidden calories in my diet. I have already noticed an increase in my energy level (okay, a slight increase!) and an improvement in how my knees feel. More exciting for me, I have gone down one full size in my clothes. I have tried other diets before but none have worked.

Books: Weight Watchers Eat! Move! Play!; Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook Momentum Edition; Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook; Weight Watchers Annual Recipes for Success 2010; Weight Watchers in 20 Minutes; and Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites

Website: www.weightwatchers.com

Telephone: 800-651-6000

Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS)

Established in 1948, Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) is a nonprofit weight loss and wellness organization with 170,000 members, age seven and up. TOPS has ten thousand chapters in the United States and Canada.

There is a very low annual fee (usually less than $30) for TOPS membership, which gives you full access to all areas of the TOPS website, including My Day One (a ready-set-go guide); a one-year subscription to TOPS News; plus membership in a local chapter of your choice for weekly weigh-ins and support.

The TOPS program rests on support for choosing and keeping track of a healthy diet, based on portion control and the Exchange System, which divides foods into six food groups. The ratio of carbohydrate, protein, and fat determines the placement of a food into a specific food group. Within the TOPS program, the exchange portion of a food is determined by each food’s weight in grams. Foods within a group are considered “equivalent.” Any specific food may be substituted for or exchanged for another food from the same group.

TOPS offers a broader program, not necessarily minute-by-minute instruction. The success of this diet is in teaching portion control and providing a support community for encouragement, guidance, and accountability. If you are someone who finds strength in a shared journey, you may benefit from this approach.

Book: The TOPS Way to Weight Loss

Website: www.tops.org

Telephone: 414-482-4620

Overeaters Anonymous

Overeaters Anonymous (OA) is a program of recovery from compulsive eating using the familiar “twelve steps” approach to addiction. OA addresses dysfunctional behaviors such as binge eating, obsession with body image, starvation, obsessive tryouts of many diet programs, use of laxatives or diuretics, and bulimia. With meetings around the world, OA provides a fellowship of experience, strength, and hope.

OA is not a weight-loss organization and does not promote a particular diet. Rather, OA focuses on physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and offers support for curbing behaviors that result in overeating. It is not a religious organization. OA charges no dues or fees and is self-supporting through member contributions. The only requirements to attend a meeting are mutual respect and a desire to stop compulsive eating. There are currently 6,500 meeting places in seventy-five countries.

If emotional eating, eating disorders, obsessive eating, or obsessive dieting is an obstacle to weight loss, support from OA may be a helpful adjunct to a healthy diet and exercise program.

Books: Letting Go of Compulsive Eating: Twelve Step Recovery from Compulsive Eating—Daily Meditations; Recovering Compulsive Overeater—Daily Meditation; Overeaters Anonymous; Overeater’s Journal: Exercises for the Heart, Mind and Soul; Abstinence: Members of Overeaters Anonymous Share Their Experience, Strength, and Hope; Recovery from Compulsive Eating: A Complete Guide to the Twelve Step Program; Compulsive Overeater: The Basic Text for Compulsive Overeaters; and Twelve Step Workbook

Website: www.oa.org

Telephone: 505-891-2664

OTHER DIETS

Weight Loss Centers

Physicians Weight Loss Centers and Diet Center are both franchise companies that have a number of local centers, along with online programs. Both programs feature a number of different diets, plus extensive lines of nutritional protein supplements, bars, shakes, snacks, and supplements.

Online, their sites have BMI and body fat calculators, support communities, and other resources.

Physicians Weight Loss Centers claim that 1.5 million clients have completed their program, and Diet Center’s website says its program has helped 15 million people.

If you like one-on-one support, the local centers may be a help to you, though each local center is only as good as its employees, and some of the counselors or consultants may have only several weeks of training, making them glorified salespeople, not experts in weight loss.

For in-center services, these programs can also be costly, running from $400 to $1,000 for a three-month period, not including signup and program fees. At in-person centers, you are also likely to experience “upsell,” where counselors attempt to sell you supplements that are usually fairly high-priced compared to similar supplements available elsewhere.

Thyroid patients need to be aware that many of the foods and supplements offered by these companies contain soy protein. This is a serious consideration, as many of these products are intended to be meal replacements.

Websites: www.pwlc.com, www.dietcenter.com

Residential Centers or Spas

If you have money and time to spare and you’re looking to kick-start a diet program, you may want to look into a residential or spa-based diet program. There are many residential weight-loss programs; some run for five days or a week, others are multiweek programs. Some are more spa-based and luxurious, while others are more medically oriented, with a more intensive focus on fitness.

Some of the premier medical or fitness-oriented programs include:

• Duke Diet and Fitness Center, Durham, North Carolina

• Hilton Head Health, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

• The Pritikin Longevity Center, Aventura, Florida

• Cooper Wellness Program, Dallas, Texas

• New Life Hiking Spa, Killington, Vermont

• Red Mountain Spa, St. George, Utah

Some of the premier spa-oriented programs include:

• The Oaks at Ojai, California

• Cal-a-Vie, Vista, California

• The Greenhouse, Arlington, Texas

• Canyon Ranch, Tucson, Arizona

• Canyon Ranch, Lenox, Massachusetts

Needless to say, these programs can be expensive, ranging from several hundred dollars a day to thousands of dollars a day, depending on where you go. Two weeks at the prestigious Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina, can run $4,000, and a week at the luxurious Cal-a-Vie Spa near San Diego, California, is more than $8,000. The New Life Hiking Spa in Vermont and Red Mountain Spa in Utah, however, have all-inclusive programs of accommodations, meals, and fitness hiking for weight loss that run from $200 to $300 a day.

For a residential program to kick-start a healthy eating program, I also recommend Kat James’ Total Transformation Program, which takes place in Lake Lure, North Carolina. The five-day program includes a one-on-one educational session, group educational sessions, all meals, drinks, and snacks, a makeover and photo shoot, excursions and hiking, and accommodations, and costs around $3,000. Kat’s nutritional guidelines are in part based on the Rosedale Diet’s carbohydrate-controlled approach.

A detailed list of residential weight-loss centers and weight-loss spas is featured at this book’s website at ThyroidDietRevolution.com.

Prepared Food: Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem

In the United States, two popular, heavily advertised diet programs compete for the prepared food diet market: Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem. The programs are similar, offering prepared meals and snacks along with support for changes in diet and activity level.

Both programs offer at-home or center-based programs and involve working with a consultant to help guide and motivate. There are customized programs specifically for seniors and type 2 diabetics. Jenny Craig also has special programs for men and teens. Nutrisystem has a vegetarian program. Online, program members have access to an active support forum, articles, tips, recipes, a menu planner, a progress planner, a journal, and an activity planner.

Generally, the idea is that by following the program menus, participants practice habits such as portion control and learn strategies to manage emotional eating, so that eventually they are ready to take over preparing their own menus and maintaining weight loss.

The strength of these programs is also their weakness—if you do not want to have to really think about what to prepare or how to prepare it, prepared foods take that out of your hands. But reports suggest that many of the meals are not especially tasty. And while they may be healthier than what you are currently eating, keep in mind that the prepared meals rely on a fair amount of processed foods, and some of the prepared foods may have soy protein, so read labels carefully before purchasing.

According to Jenny Craig’s website, “Jenny Craig clients, on average, spend just a $1 a day more on Jenny’s Cuisine than the typical American spends on food.” That’s their way of saying that their program can be a bit pricey.

For both Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem, expect to pay somewhere in the range of $300 to $400 or more per month for program food, not including signup and program fees, supplements, additional snacks, and other food items such as fresh vegetables.

Books: There are a number of books published by the Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem organizations, including cookbooks and overviews of the program.

Websites: www.jennycraig.com, www.nutrisystem.com

Meal Replacement Programs

Optifast, Medifast, and Lindora are diet programs that combine diets of their specialized foods—for Optifast it’s shakes, soups, and bars, while Medifast and Lindora have a wider variety of foods—along with counseling on lifestyle changes and exercise. The LA Weight Loss program, which used to have in-person centers, is now LA to Your Door, a Web-based meal replacement plan featuring shakes and bars, snacks, juices, and supplements.

Optifast claims their patients typically lose fifty-two pounds over a twenty-two-week program period. (They also say, however, that for many dieters, weight loss is only temporary.) Medifast cites clinical studies that indicate that most people lose an average of up to two to five pounds a week on their program. Lindora, which has a forty-year history, has clinics in Southern California, along with an online program.

Optifast and Lindora use soy in some of its products, and Medifast foods have fructose and soy as well.

Pricing for Optifast is vague, but it’s estimated that a twenty-two-week program costs from $1,000 to $2,000, which includes medical supervision, weekly therapy sessions, and lab work. The cost of food products is extra and can run $100 a week or more.

Medifast tends to run about $300 or more per month, with no enrollment or membership fees.

Lindora’s clinic costs can run $1,000 for a ten-week program, and its online programs may run in the $500 range.

For LA to Your Door, soy protein is central to almost every one of their food products, and the products tend to be pricey. It’s actually quite easy to find protein shakes, protein bars, and supplements for weight loss that are not only free of soy products but far less expensive.

Websites: www.optifast.com, www.medifast1.com, www.lindora.com, www.latoyourdoor.com

Biggest Loser Diet: Jillian Michaels

Let’s face it—we’ve all seen her on television. And if you’ve seen her, then like most people, you have an opinion—either you love her or you definitely don’t. Jillian Michaels, known as the “tough trainer” on NBC’s The Biggest Loser, is a controversial figure. While she manages to whip people into shape on various television shows she appears on, she does so with an aggressive style that doesn’t work for everyone.

Michaels’ diet plan is generally sound and emphasizes organically grown and unprocessed foods. In addition to her book Master Your Metabolism, her membership website has a variety of online tools: an interactive weight tracker, fitness advice videos, a calorie calculator, weight-loss buddies, hundreds of recipes and menus, printable exercises, and a community with interactive message boards. Some thyroid patients are understandably drawn to Michaels because of her high-profile television shows and larger-than-life personality, but also because Michaels herself is hypothyroid and writes about the importance of supporting the thyroid in her book. This means that Michaels also does recommend avoiding soy, and understands how to navigate the issue of goitrogenic vegetables.

At the same time, there are some reasons to be wary. There have been issues and lawsuits about Michael’s line of supplements and their side effects, suggesting that being a personal trainer does not necessarily translate into safe and knowledgeable formulation of nutritional supplements. Michaels once told a women’s magazine that while she would like to be a mother, she would adopt rather than give birth, because “I can’t handle doing that to my body.” Michaels is also a proponent of hours of intensive exercise a day. On The Biggest Loser, she takes pride in making her participants pass out or vomit from exercise.

My opinion? Maybe I’m playing amateur psychologist here, but Michaels has talked about how she was overweight as a teen and how traumatized it made her feel. She may not be overweight now, but I don’t believe Michaels herself has an especially healthy or balanced attitude about weight or her body, hence her aggressive attitude about weight loss and excessive exercise.

The truth is, exercise is not supposed to make you nauseous. Chronic intense exercise is interpreted by the body as stress, and it raises cortisol levels, exacerbates the body’s stress reaction, and can actually sabotage weight loss.

If an intense, boot-camp-style, in-your-face, shame-driven approach to weight loss and your body appeals to you, then Jillian Michaels might be a good fit. But do keep in mind that her fitness recommendations may actually be counterproductive to weight loss for people with hormonal imbalances.

Book: Master Your Metabolism: The 3 Diet Secrets to Naturally Balancing Your Hormones for a Hot and Healthy Body

Websites: www.jillianmichaels.com

The Zone Diet

The Zone Diet was the big diet on the scene before South Beach came along and simplified the idea of balancing fat, protein, and carbs. The Zone Diet still has its adherents, however, who believe in the diet’s principle that an optimal diet has a precise balance of fat, protein, and carbohydrates that allow you to be “in the zone.”

The Zone was one of the first diets to go against the conventional wisdom that unlimited amounts of low-fat carbohydrates were healthy and effective for weight loss, instead focusing on high-fiber carbs and balancing any carbohydrates with protein and good fat to lower the glycemic effect. The challenge with the Zone is that it can be very complicated to calculate the ratios, and some have accused the diet of being so complicated that it’s “worse than an itemized tax return.”

For those who are interested in the Zone approach, along with the book, the program has a full-featured website and various Zone food products, including shakes, bars, and other meal replacements. Note, however, that prepackaged foods—such as the bagels, granola, rolls, bread, pasta, and grain-based snacks found in the Zone Fast Track two-week program of food delivery—may be too carb-intensive for some thyroid patients. The delivery program offers complete prepared meals and snacks, following the Zone principles, delivered to your home, for around $40 or more a day.

Books: The Zone Diet, The Anti-Inflammation Zone, Mastering the Zone, and more

Website: www.zonediet.com, www.inthezonedelivery.com

Eat Right 4 Your Type (Blood Type) Diet

In Eat Right 4 Your Type, naturopath Peter D’Adamo makes a case that diet should be matched to individual blood types: A, B, O, and AB. D’Adamo’s basic idea is that different blood types react differently with components of foods, and that these differences are based on evolution of the blood types over time. D’Adamo offers recommended foods, vitamins, and supplements for different blood types, for both weight loss and health.

This idea is controversial, to say the least, and most dieticians, physicians, and scientists say that D’Adamo’s theory is unsupported by scientific evidence. Yet I have heard from some patients who have found this approach useful when all else failed.

Book: Peter J. D’Adamo, MD, Eat Right 4 Your Type: The Individualized Diet Solution to Staying Healthy, Living Longer and Achieving Your Ideal Weight, and others

Website: www.dadamo.com

Cookie Diets: The Cookie Diet, Smart for Life

Diets that rely on hunger-controlling meal replacement cookies and shakes to keep calories low while claiming to suppress hunger have been around for a long time—in the case of Sanford Siegal’s Cookie Diet, more than thirty years. The food purchases average $100 a week.

Siegal’s Cookie Diet has been mentioned in connection with thyroid issues because Siegal, a Florida-based weight-loss doctor, wrote a book called Is Your Thyroid Making You Fat? In this book, Dr. Siegal has people follow a very low-calorie diet in an attempt to see if they have a sluggish metabolism and signs of an undiagnosed thyroid problem. Dr. Siegal believes, rightly, that undiagnosed thyroid disease is making it difficult for some people to lose weight. His solution is his Cookie Diet, which involves eating his special cookies throughout the day and then having a healthy dinner of a lean protein and vegetables. (Smart for Life has a similar approach, and apparently the doctor who runs that program used to work with Dr. Siegal.)

I’ve tasted the various cookies for both programs, and I have to tell you, I can’t imagine lasting more than a few weeks on them. For someone who really needs convenience, maybe a few weeks on a cookie diet might work to help jump-start a diet, but this kind of approach is not going to teach you how to eat, how to properly use food to manage your metabolism, and how to balance your blood sugar.

They are really no different from any of the other meal replacement weight-loss programs, except the cookies are, in my opinion, one of the worst-tasting meal replacements available.

Websites: www.cookiediet.com, www.smartforlife.com

SOME HELPFUL TOOLS

Fat Flush Body Protein

My favorite protein powder is Fat Flush Body Protein, formulated by Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman, founder of the popular Fat Flush Diet. Body Protein is a high-protein, low-carbohydrate plant-based protein powder used for smoothies. It features a blend of yellow pea and brown rice proteins that provide a complete protein source of essential amino acids.

According to Dr. Gittleman:

Clinical studies have shown that plant-based proteins can curb your appetite, support weight loss, boost metabolism, and support the thyroid as well. One study reported that low-carb dieters substantially more weight by getting most of their protein from plants, compared to meat.

Dr. Gittleman designed Body Protein to be hypoallergenic and free of any genetically modified ingredients.

Many individuals who have dairy intolerance, or a sensitivity to casein, lactose, or dairy by-products, can’t tolerate even a very pure whey protein powder. That was my impetus to create Body Protein, which is soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and has no eggs, sugar, wheat, salt, corn, or artificial sweeteners, colors, or flavors.

The powder comes in a mild vanilla flavor and is sweetened with stevia and inulin, a prebiotic that nourishes good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. It provides a low-glycemic, steady flow of energy, and is designed to provide a feeling of fullness for hours.

I’ve tried many different protein powders, and Fat Flush Body Protein is unquestionably my favorite. I have a mild lactose intolerance, so I can feel bloated using even a good-quality whey protein. I still have a thyroid gland and take thyroid hormone replacement medication, so I am not comfortable using a soy-based protein powder. And honestly, a smoothie made with Body Protein makes me feel full much longer than any other smoothie or shake I’ve tried. I regularly use it to make a breakfast smoothie. It takes less than a minute to prepare in my blender, and I feel full for at least three to four hours.

Fat Flush Body Protein is available from Uni Key Health.

Website: www.unikeyhealth.com

Telephone: 800-888-4353

Dr. Levine’s Ultimate Weight Loss Formula

One of my favorite fiber products is Dr. Levine’s Ultimate Weight Loss Formula, or DLUWLF for short. The formula was developed by Scott Levine, MD—who is board-certified in internal medicine and in antiaging and regenerative medicine—as a weight-loss aid for his patients. DLUWLF is a patented powder that, when mixed in water, creates a zero-calorie high-fiber beverage that features five different fibers, including pectin, locust bean, guar, psyllium, and oat. One full serving a day activates nerve fibers in the stomach to help you feel full and provides a high dose of heart-healthy, cholesterol-lowering fiber. DLUWLF also includes the B vitamins folic acid and pyridoxine, as well as antioxidants. A side benefit of this supplement is that it blunts the insulin spike that occurs when food first enters the stomach.

Dr. Levine is knowledgeable about thyroid disease, and his high-fiber supplement has no iron, soy protein, or ingredients that interact with thyroid medication. DLUWLF does not contain any stimulants, nor does it contain sugar, saccharine, or NutraSweet (aspartame). Some versions are sweetened with Splenda (sucralose), and some have no sweetener.

Note that while the product does not contain gluten, a small percentage of people who are gluten-sensitive react to oats, and DLUWLF does contain oat proteins. Also, patients taking antiseizure prescriptions, blood thinners, and protein-bound medicines need to check with their physicians regarding interactions between high-fiber supplements and their medications.

For weight loss, Dr. Levine has found it most effective to use the DLUWLF formula before one meal a day—lunch or dinner. He recommends preparing one drink an hour before the meal, and then the second drink thirty minutes later (thirty minutes before eating the meal). DLUWLF can also be used as a calorie-free snack. Two drinks—which is considered one full serving—provide 35 grams of fiber, which is the recommended optimal fiber intake for weight loss and heart health.

DLUWLF tastes fine. (I’ve tried both the chocolate and raspberry flavors, and they’re good, especially when compared to trying to choke down a couple of spoonfuls of psyllium husks floating around in a glass of water!)

According to Levine, many people who use his product lose one and a half to three pounds per week without doing anything else differently—a result achieved because of reduction of food intake, combined with reduced insulin resistance and blood sugar levels, due to the increased fiber in the diet. Because Levine’s formula includes both soluble and insoluble fibers, it has other benefits, including reduction of cholesterol.

Says Dr. Levine: “The right kinds of fiber can be particularly helpful for insulin metabolism, especially in people who have even a few extra pounds around the middle. That abdominal weight gain—which drives increasing insulin levels, and is the start of the whole metabolic syndrome—can be helped by high-fiber consumption.”

Important warning: If you start a high-fiber diet or a high-fiber supplement such as DLUWLF, be very careful that you are taking your thyroid medicine no less than three to four hours before using the fiber supplement, so that your medication absorption is not affected. Also, because high-fiber diets in general can change your dosage requirements, six to eight weeks after starting a high-fiber diet or high-fiber supplement, you should have your thyroid levels tested to make sure you don’t need a dosage change to account for the dietary fiber.

Website: www.thindoctor.com

Telephone: 800-641-2907

Meal Delivery Services

Sometimes the idea of buying and preparing healthy food may seem daunting, but at the same time you can’t stomach the idea of living on weight-loss cookies, protein bars, and other meal replacements while you lose weight. That’s when a meal delivery service may be a good option. While delivery services can seem expensive at first look, you’ll want to total up your costs to purchase fresh food and the time involved in shopping, cooking, and cleanup. The daily cost of a meal delivery service—which ranges from $20 to $40 a day for three meals, a snack or dessert, condiments and sides—actually may be a good value for some dieters.

If you are in a major metropolitan area, some of the services offer delivery or pickup of freshly prepared meals, and may even have sample tastings so you can try some of the foods and dishes. The major services also offer shipment of frozen meals by overnight delivery.

Some of the services have low-carb, low-glycemic, and even vegetarian or vegan options, and in some cases you can exclude dairy or seafood. You’ll get to choose from among more than one hundred meals at eDiets, while Diet to Go typically has a five-week rotation of meals, with a fixed menu for each week.

Dieters report that if you’re in one of the areas that offer fresh delivery, the food from these services can be excellent; even if you have to have the meals delivered frozen, these services generally have food that tastes better than supermarket frozen meals such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers.

A list of popular meal delivery services is featured online at the book’s website, ThyroidDietRevolution.com, and the following are websites and phone numbers for several of the key delivery programs.

• Diet-to-Go, www.diettogo.com, 800-743-SLIM

• eDiets, www.ediets.com, 800-650-9052

• BistroMD, www.bistromd.com, 866-401-DIET

• Freshology, www.freshology.com, 877-89FRESH