Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less Diet

Reading up on the Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less diet it raves about the other diets that inevitably result in failure. It talks about how it eases a dieter into healthier eating habits and a more active lifestyle setting them up for a happier and thinner life. This Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less diet does take the best approach for healthy long term weight loss which is about lifestyle change through eating sensibly and being more active. But this is by no means anything new. It is basically the conventional approach to weight loss and maintenance that many diets continue to recognise as still the best means (including the best life diet).

What they may try and do differently to each other is in the way they go about assimilating the dieter to a new, healthier lifestyle.

9 principles

The diet follows 9 principles to eating and living better. Again, these 9 principles are nothing new but a good way to structure the recommended way of eating.

1. Eat "mindfully." Eat slowly and savor your food.
   This is much like the approach of the "Sonoma diet" which encourages slower eating to bring about a feeling of fullness and enjoyment of food.
2. Eat more produce.
   Well this basically means eat more fruits and vegetables. Obvious really.
3. Eat fats selectively. Eat plenty of unsaturated fats, which can lower “bad” cholesterol. On the other hand, eat less animal fat and avoid Trans fats, commonly used by restaurants to fry foods.
4. Upgrade carbohydrates. Shift from more refined carbohydrates (such as white bread) to whole-grain, high-fiber foods.
5. Choose healthful protein. Eat more protein from vegetable sources and less from meat and dairy products.
6. Drink plenty of water.
7. Drink alcohol in moderation daily. Unless contraindicated (pregnancy, alcoholism, etc.), consume a drink of beer, wine, or spirits (whiskey, gin, rum, tequila, vodka, etc.) every day.
8. Take a multivitamin daily – You'll already be getting more vitamins and nutrients from the improvements in your diet (which is the best way) and multivitamins will decrease the chances of any deficiencies.
9. Exercise daily

The book has a lot of advice for example on how to make healthier choices when eating out of the home, for it’s in this situation that many people would feel they have little control over their choices. To eat sensibly with the choices given in restaurants and even drive throughs is an invaluable tool.

Body Score Concept

The diet has a system that allows a person to produce a body score which is an indication of how well they are following the program. The higher the body score, the better you are doing.

Criticism

Many users of the Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less book have criticised it for having recipes that are too involved from an ingredient and preparation point of view. This is quite discouraging for many dieters because one of the major reasons they don't eat correctly already is due to the time and ingredient availability that such recipes present.

A number of the recipes are exotic compared to the types of meals your average Joe would be accustomed to, this is an attempt of sorts to make healthy food more appetising and interesting to those less partial to it. Unfortunately, this is what generally results in the issues relating to time and ingredient availability that perhaps the Average Joe isn’t in a position to manage effectively.