Fad Diets

Recently, I have been curious about the practice of fasting. Not for religious or cultural reasons, just curiosity. Some of my friends who have done this have described various sensations of euphoria or "inner calm" associated with fasting. What health benefits and risks can you associate with fasting? I imagine that dehydration is the biggest...

I read some of your nutrition advice on fad diets. I would like to point out that it has been known for decades that the brain burns ketones (Nelson et al, JBC (140):p.361, 1941; Owen et al. J Clinical Invest.46:1589-95, 1967; Hawkins and Krebs (there's a famous name) Biochemistry J. 122:13-18, 1971. In fact,...

I've read some pretty convincing ads about starch blockers. Do they really work and can I really eat all the starch I want? No. I had thought we had heard the last of the starch blocker issue when the FDA banned them. Starch blockers do not prevent you from absorbing starch and do not live...

I needed to lose some weight. So some friends and I went on a vegetable diet. I got such terrible cramps that I had to stop after 1-week. Why did I get such bad cramps? If your diet previous to the vegetable diet was low in fiber, your cramps may have been due to the...

I have read a few or your question and answers. You asked a couple of times "What are they going to eat when they get off of the high protein diet? Well, after having talked to my own doctor (who I thought was nuts for telling me to eat protein) it's not just a...

There's a physician assistant at a hospital near me that is advocating a "protein sparing modified fast" type of diet that includes lots of lean meats and is not more than 800 calories/day. I have always read this to be a very unhealthy way to eat, but he insists it works and says he...

I am a 34-year-old female who started taking a nutritional drink mix two weeks ago called Balance 40-30-30. A week later, I noticed that the tips of my fingers are wrinkling as if I had been in the water for a long time. It varies from finger to finger and hasn't gone away. I...

Can you explain ketosis to me? When people eat fewer than 900 calories, any food eaten including protein and fat is broken down into glucose to provide fuel for the body. Protein and fat are very expensive fuels. You can only convert 70% of the protein and 30% of the fat to glucose. The nitrogen...

I found your webpage useful, I got there from a website about Prime Quest, which is a diet using adaptogens. It seems expensive to me and I was wondering if you have read any information on it. There are so many claims as to increased energy and losing body fat only, yet it is...

I was browsing your interesting and useful (and generally, in my opinion, well balanced and informative) website on nutritional Q&A, but I was troubled by one item that you may have missed the target on: In the Q&A item where the questioner asked about the possible benefits of fasting, you said, basically, that there are no...