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Cookie Diet: Why It's Wrong for Weight Loss

Posted on Dec 28th 2009 1:00PM by Jonny Bowden

Filed Under: Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss

If the idea of eating cookies all day and dropping a ton of weight sounds good to you, I'm not surprised. Kind of like being told you can max out your credit cards and magically the bills will disappear.

But if your better angels are whispering "sounds too good to be true," you should probably pay attention to them.

The original "cookie diet" goes back to about 1975, when a physician named Sanford Siegal started giving his special cookies to patients in his Miami medical practice. Siegal -- who authored a popular 2001 book called "Is Your Thyroid Making You Fat?"-- now aggressively markets the cookies (at such places as Walgreens) and is opening a store in Beverly Hills. Expected 2009 revenues: $18 million, according to The New York Times.
There are a lot of things wrong with the Cookie Diet -- for example, everything. It doesn't teach you how to eat. It's woefully lacking in nutrients. It fosters the idea that you can have your cake (or cookies) and eat it, too. It's stupidly expensive (about $56 a week). And -- at least according to many people -- the cookies taste terrible.

That hasn't stopped other companies from jumping on the "quick fix" bandwagon. Shoppers now can choose from a dizzying array of cookie diets (Hollywood Cookie Diet, Soypal Cookies ("The most popular diet in Japan!"), and Smart For Life as well as the "original", Dr. Siegal's Cookie Diet.

Can you guess I'm not a fan?

Even Siegal admits that it's the protein and fiber in his cookies that produces the supposed "appetite suppressing" effect, but that can be done so much better with protein and fiber from real food sources.

So sure, if you go on an 800 calorie-a-day diet, you'll probably lose weight. But at what cost? Wouldn't it be better to go on a low-calorie, low-carb diet (say 1250-1400 for women, 1500-1800 for men) that consists of real food?

You'll lose weight and get healthy at the same time.

And you won't reinforce any stupid habits like eating cookies all day.

For more info on weight loss and health, visit Dr. Jonny.

5 Comment

Tags: calories, cookie diet, jonny-bowden, low-carb, protein, Siegal, weight loss, weight-loss

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Linda Hibbard 12-28-2009 @ 10:26PM

Try wearing wearable weights like “Body Togs” anatomically designed weighted sleeves worn on your arms & legs under your clothes. Put them on in the morning and you literally forget you have them on while increasing your calorie burn, muscle tone & bone density! Weighted vests work great too!

joe 12-29-2009 @ 9:04AM

I can not disagree that maybe the cookie diet isn't the best way to loose weight. However my son who is 16 exercised, watched what he ate and just could not drop the weight. He was about 30 lbs overweight and 28% body-fat and was very depressed. This past summer he went on the Smart for Life cookie diet and dropped 30 lbs and is now down to 12% bodyfat and looks great. This allowed him to actually learn how to eat smaller meals more often to keep his metabolisim burning and take in more water. He is no longer on the cookie diet but he now runs 4-5 miles a day and is in the gym working out with weights 3x a week. This diet actually gave my son a new look at life and is now out enjoying himself as a teenager should. Like I said it may not be for everyone but if you need a kick start and can then change your eating and exercise habits it does work fast. Different people will have different results depending on how dedicatd they are but my son took 30 lbs off in 6 weeks. That was over 6 mo ago and has not put a pound of fat back on. Actually he is now putting on muscle size.

Vicky 1-24-2010 @ 8:51PM

All I can say, is that I tried these "cookies" a while back and they are without a doubt the nastiest thing I have ever tried to eat in my life!! And, of course, they offer no returns, even for packages unopened. I would rather starve than eat one of these "cookies" ever again...just a gimmick.

someuser101 1-25-2010 @ 3:18AM

Well put, Jonny! Joe, I'm sorry to say, but your son is lucky he didn't get sick during the weight loss. I understand his pain, since I also have a slow metabolic rate, and I struggled with my weight as a teen. He is fortunate that as a teen, he can do things like extreme, nutrient lacking dieting. He also wasn't on it for too, too long, so he could handle it. He is fortunate that he didn't spiral into bad habits afterward, and it is good that he is exercising, but I would worry about his mental health. If he has a hard time keeping the weight off or gains weights in the future, he may succumb to worse dieting measures. I might suggest that he see a doctor if his weight rebounds with diet and exercise, since he may have a metabolic issue.