By Dr. Penny Kendall-Reed and Dr. Stephen Reed
Virgin; $14.95; 224 pages
(Available Jan. 8, 2008)
Food cravings can sink even the most determined dieter, says this husband-and-wife team (she's a naturopathic doctor; he's an orthopedic surgeon): "It starts with just one chip, and before long the diet is a distant memory and any weight lost is regained." The causes of cravings are myriad and include stress and troubling emotions, irresistible foods and overly restrictive dieting itself. The key to staving off cravings, say the authors, is eating three meals a day with no snacks. ("We are simply not designed to eat five or six times a day. Our metabolism and biochemistry is essentially unchanged from our caveman days, when even two meals per day would have been a luxury.") Phase I of the diet is low-carb; Phase II, the maintenance stage, reintroduces forbidden foods in controlled amounts. Staying on track requires exercise, which is advised when Phase II is "comfortably under your belt." Presumably, you will be able to find your belt by then.
— Andrea Sachs