[uncovering]

Hey all. Just wondering if anyone out there has read and followed "The Diet Cure" by Julia Ross. The author has a background in addiction and currently runs an institute for weight loss and eating disorders in Mill Valley, CA. Her theories lie more in physiological reasons we are overweight and she emphasizes the use of supplements, such as amino acids, to correct physiological issues.

I found this book SO helpful in helping myself contol my cravings and not feeling so darn guilty for gaining weight. She recommeds tons of supplements and from reading some other posts, I am certain I should be careful about what I take. The one thing I've been taking for a few weeks is L-glutamine in between meals, which she says controls sugar cravings. My friend who is in an out-patient program for bulimia has also had L-glutamine reccomended to her, so I feel a little bit better taking it.

Anyway, just wanted to know if anyone has had negative or positive results from following The Diet Cure and its recommended supplements.

[aphil]

I have not read this book, so I do not have the list of supplements that she recommends. Could you post the supplements?
My husband takes L-Glutamine, but not for sugar cravings. He takes it for strength training, along with a few other things like protein powder, and so forth.
If you could list the supplements that would help you get some answers as far as people's experience with them.

[uncovering]

Thanks for responding. You know, I would post the supplements but she recommends over 30 of them for different reasons. The ones that seemed to fit my situation (low energy and carb cravings) were L-glutamine, Calcium, GABA, L-tyrosine, 5-HTP, Chromium, Aloe Vera juice, and fish oil. For now, I'm just going to start with the L-glutamine (since it seems to help) and the fish oil. I'll probably check with my MD before adding any others. On Amazon.com, tons of reviewers of this book said they tried all the supplements suggested for their condition and had wonderful results. So, I just didn't know if someone here did as well.

[MrsJim]

The Amazon reviews for books such as this are interesting, but you need to keep in mind that at least SOME of them are very likely written by people who know the author or have some personal or financial interest in seeing the book sell. (I can think of at least one instance on Amazon where a diet book had a plethora of rave reviews - then after Amazon introduced "Real Name" attribution it turned out that most of the raves were written by the AUTHOR and the author's spouse )

(other reviews I tend to ignore are the ones where the writer has only been on the plan for a month or less - IMO it's LONG TERM results that matter.)

Recommending that an average person take up to 30 supps is ridiculous and extremely expensive - not to mention potentially dangerous without a doctor's supervision (there IS such a thing as 'vitamin toxicity'). I note that one of the reviews on Amazon states that a 'colon cleanse' is one of the recommendations of the book to 'rid the body of parasites'. I also note that another review states that the author cites the old chestnut "overweight people don't eat enough calories" which is basically untrue IMO (it's based on old studies that were done using recall or in other words 'taking the study participants at their word' - more accurate studies using the doubly labeled water technique have been done where it was shown that participants underestimated their caloric intake by 50% and OVERestimated their exercise time by 50%).

Anyways...if you DO decide to do this diet, I would strongly suggest talking to your physician.

[aphil]

I have to add that I have also had an experience with Amazon that happened the same way. I reviewed a video that I did not like all that well (pertained to Middle Eastern Dance) and it was the only review. Well, the next thing I know there are two great reviews right after mine, and after doing a little digging I noticed that one of the reviews was done by a person who in their entire time on the internet had only reviewed two products-and both were put out by the same person and were totally unrelated to one another. (The reviewer was the producer's husband!!!)
The second review was done by the producer of the video herself under a fake username.

I do think that a basic multivitamin is enough for most-and other supplements should really be taken based on the individual and their personal needs. St. Johns Wort, for instance is a supplement often taken by people with mood swings, depression, and so forth who do not want to take prescription medications like Prozac or Paxil-but there is no reason for EVERYONE to take it.

[uncovering]

Originally Posted by MrsJim

The Amazon reviews for books such as this are interesting, but you need to keep in mind that at least SOME of them are very likely written by people who know the author or have some personal or financial interest in seeing the book sell. (I can think of at least one instance on Amazon where a diet book had a plethora of rave reviews - then after Amazon introduced "Real Name" attribution it turned out that most of the raves were written by the AUTHOR and the author's spouse )

I'm so naive. I never thought about that, my gosh you're right!

Originally Posted by MrsJim

Anyways...if you DO decide to do this diet, I would strongly suggest talking to your physician.

Yep. That's what I'll do. I do credit the book with helping me feel less guilty about my weight gain and therefore helping me get started on my current attempt at weight loss. BUT, I suppose I knew something was fishy with the supplements and that's probably what made me ask.

Thanks to both of you.