Foreword

Much of my life has been spent wrestling with the hearts of patients damaged by years of lifestyle missteps. Most of the hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol that rusts the insides of our bodies is caused by a single, clever culprit—obesity. I also see the struggles many have in achieving their desired weight while juggling commitments to work and family. All too often people are drawn to extreme diet plans that lead to frustration and a yo-yo pattern of weight loss and gain that is devastating to health. Part pep talk, part nutrition, The Quick & Clean Diet is a gentle yet effective approach to sustained weight loss that will guide you through the emotional process of meeting your weight loss goal. Dari Alexander’s voice resonates for me because she understands firsthand the practical trade-offs required for a sustainable lifestyle change. She understands that dieting is not a wind sprint, but rather a marathon.

I first met Dari Alexander on-air, as she interviewed me for a news story for her job in broadcast television. She is fit, smart, and naturally curious, with a passion for health. Her children reflect her enthusiastic quest for wellness, and their natural proclivity to eat well reflects Dari’s ability to create a home where eating the right food is easy to do. We have since become friends, and I admire her abilities as a journalist and her passion for her family. Dari is a working mom who knows what it’s like to feel the pressure to lose weight and to fail at the process. She also knows how difficult it is to shut off that small but insistent voice inside that tells you to quit. Through The Quick & Clean Diet book, she tells you how to defeat that voice and succeed at gaining health while losing weight.

In a world constantly searching for that “magic pill,” Dari’s approach—through its step-by-step eating plan and easy-to-understand nutritional guidelines—puts you on the right track to losing weight without asking you to dramatically change your life or give up every food you love. Instead, Dari helps you find the foods you adore that just happen to be good for you.

The Quick & Clean Diet focuses on the practice of “clean eating,” that is, consuming foods as close to their natural state as possible. This is a lifestyle very common to bodybuilders and celebrities with personal chefs, but one that is still new to the general public. With the Q & C plan you will learn the importance of eating “whole” foods—for example, an apple versus an apple-flavored whatever—and to say good-bye to fat-free, carb-free, and sugar-free foodstuffs. As the author of many books, I appreciate Dari’s ability as an experienced reporter to digest and present dense scientific information in a clear, concise fashion that anyone can understand and incorporate into their lives. And as a doctor, I can vouch that Dari gets it right, whether she’s sharing her expert research on how complex carbohydrates and good fats treat insulin resistance as you lose weight, or why starving yourself often paradoxically causes more weight gain.

And as a doctor, I can vouch that Dari gets it right, whether she’s sharing her expert research on how complex carbohydrates and good fats treat insulin resistance as you lose weight or why starving yourself often paradoxically causes more weight gain.

If I were to use two words to describe The Quick & Clean Diet, they would be acceptance and awareness. Acceptance that your weight is appropriate and healthy for you instead of berating yourself for not being model-thin. Awareness as you expand your knowledge about the benefits of whole foods and the hazards of unhealthy eating. So start empowering yourself to meet your goal of being healthier and achieving your ideal weight. Dari knows what she is talking about, and if she can do it, you can too—you’ll lose weight, look trim, have more energy, and live longer for it!

Mehmet Oz, MD

Professor and Vice Chair, Surgery

New York Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center