Here is another way of looking at Dr. Oz’s 7 Day crash diet. While I agree that you can lose inches by feasting on nutrient-dense foods, a finer tuned set of nutrient dense foods will likely give you faster and better results.
But before we talk about the parts of the Dr. Oz / Dr. Joel plan that can be tuned up let’s say what is right about the plan. What is right is the plan focuses on healthy, whole foods – but makes no room for anything processed, including fake diet foods.
Now for the part of the Oz approved 7 Day crash diet that we think needs a tune-up:
For example, the weight-loss guru that Dr. Oz is following, Dr. Joel Fuhrman recommends a breakfast of fruit, oats and flax; instead we would suggest fruit served on top of a whole avocado and topped with organic sprouted dried nuts. Skip the flax because it is detrimental to elite athlete performance for the reasons given the chapter on Select Fats in WHAT ELITE ATHLETES EAT.
WHAT ELITE ATHLETES EAT — Scepter Breakfast
Whole avocado, apricots, blueberries, and cherries topped with almonds that are organic and sprouted (germinated) and dried so they are crisp.
We call this Dr. Opposite nutrition because it is high in select fats and the opposite of what most doctors recommend, low fat nutrition. Instead of thinking “Light and Lean Breakfast” like Dr. Oz and Dr. Joel, think “High Select Fat Nutrient Rich Breakfast” What Elite Athletes Eat. In other words:
The Dr. Oz / Dr. Joel 7 day crash diet program has the weakness of other typical “low fat lean” diets and that is that they end up being high carb diets. Dr. Oz and Dr. Joel are basically recommending a 90% vegan diet supplemented with a small amount (10%) of meat and healthy oils for flavor if desired. Dr. Oz’s approved 7 Day Crash Diet is a low fat – high carb diet.
Eat This Scepter Power Not This from Dr. Oz / Dr. Joel
A Low Fat Diet is a High Carb Diet
The drawings above show what traditional vegan / vegetarian programs have in common with the current USDA “Healthy Diet” also called SAD (Standard American Diet) and the ADA (American Diabetes Association Diet). The common denominator in these three programs is the high carb content (the green piece of the pie). These three programs are high carb programs differing vastly from the Scepter fresh whole food nutrition plan which is an adequate carb nutrition program.
Again, A Low Fat Diet is a High Carb Diet
Traditional vegan and vegetarian programs and the traditional diets shown above are high in starchy foods that are quickly converted to sugar (a favorite food for cancer) almost instantaneously as they arrive in the stomach and before these foods even arrive at the intestines.
Becoming vegan and supplementing with salmon may not be enough if starchy and high sugar impact (high glycemic index) vegetables and starches (complex carbs) are the basis of the program.
A
ll juices are high sugar impact foods, even fresh squeezed juices. Scepter nutrition replaces juices with low sugar impact smoothies that are balanced meals containing fresh whole food carb, fat, and protein sources. The Scepter program emphasizes low sugar impact carbs (low glycemic carbs) that slowly release smaller amounts of sugar and insulin as they are digested.
Does Dr. Fuhrman’s plan work? Every meal you eat according to his specifications also claims to stave off hunger, but will it? We think you will find the opposite to be true of Dr. Oz’s 7 day crash diet that is 90% vegan and 10% healthy oils, meat and dairy. The reason is because the program is high carb and allows high sugar impact starches like beans, pasta, and bread which means it is going to produce a lot of insulin and result in lots of hunger. Hunger is one of the major roadblocks most dieters face when attempting to lose weight.
Big bad insulin produced from eating high carb nutrition even if it is whole foods makes you hungry-very hungry.
As far as the Dr Oz / Joel “Belly-Blasting Bean Lunch” is concerned the science doesn’t back up the claim that it will not raise insulin levels. The truth is that the serving size for beans must be limited to 1/8 cup per snack or 3/8 cup per meal for almost all beans to prevent excess insulin production. Exceptions are black beans and lentils and then only 1/4 cup per snack or ¾ cup per meal can be eaten if no other carbs are eaten (like a tortilla or a fruit or a vegetable). Otherwise insulin levels rise rapidly leading to weight gain and hunger.
I don’t know many of us who are going to be happy limiting our serving to these dinky amounts. To make matters worse the Oz plan adds other starchy carbs to the beans like tortillas (even if they are whole wheat) which further increases insulin production and hunger.
Lunch of ½ cup of cooked lentils (soaked before cooking) with 1 to 2 tablespoons of added organic cold pressed olive oil and garnished with fresh roasted tomato slices and avocado slices. Refer to WHAT ELITE ATHLETES EAT,VOLUME IV Recipes.
No matter how hard I try to limit my bean servings, I end up taking more than I should even if I skip the tortillas. 2 hours later comes the BONK, low sugar level, and feeling of starvation causing most of us to grab anything, and I do mean ANYTHING, to try to solve starved feeling. If you want a vegan lunch that will stay with you try the macadamia nut salad below.
Main dish salad with organic sprouted macadamia nuts (non-radiated) on a bed of organic spinach, carrots, orange bell pepper, cucumbers, celery, pesticide free tomatoes and avocado. The dressing is balsamic vinegar and organic cold pressed olive oil.
The Dr. Oz / Dr. Joel Pizza is hopeless even if you pour a whole package of frozen broccoli on it like in the Oz recommended recipe. Here is the low down on the sugar impact and insulin production impact of combo foods from a chart in the carb chapter in What Elite Athletes Eat.
SUGAR IMPACT INDEX OF COMBINATION FOODS
or GLYCEMIC INDEXES OF COMBINATION FOODS
Milk and yogurt are high sugar impact foods and raise blood sugar rapidly inducing high insulin levels and this is one reason dairy products are not routinely included in the Scepter nutrition program. Low fat dairy products have even a higher percentage of carb content than whole milk products.
What about Dr. Oz and Dr. Joel’s detox smoothie?
Skinny Shake from Dr. Oz
Ingredients
1 cup of ice
4 oz of pomegranate juice
1 cup frozen strawberries
Squeeze of lemon
Our comment is athletes should never eat a pure carb snack or meal. It is easy to balance this shake by adding nuts while the blender is running. For truly balanced detox shakes made with either fruit or vegetables refer to recipes in What Elite Athletes Eat.
What Elite Athletes Eat 