[.ca] The Fat Flush Plan (ISBN 0972488936)

From Amazon.com:
The keys to overweight are liver toxicity, waterlogged tissues, fear of eating fat, excess insulin, and stress, asserts nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman. Her Fat Flush Plan addresses these problems with a targeted diet. The Fat Flush Plan, filled with nutritional analysis and detailed explanations, is not a quick read. Despite Gittleman's assertion that the plan is "as easy as 1-2-3," it is quite regimented. No white flour, white sugar, margarine, vegetable shortening, artificial sweeteners, or caffeine. The diet emphasizes essential oils (e.g., flaxseed and GLA), protein (eight ounces or more, plus two eggs a day), vegetables, thermogenic spices (e.g., ginger and cayenne), water, and diuretic beverages (eight glasses/day of diluted, unsweetened cranberry juice). In its first two-week phase, the plan is a rigid, low calorie (1,100-1,200 calories/day), low-carb (no grains or starchy vegetables) diet. Phase two lets you increase your calories to 1,500 and add two "friendly carbs." Phase three, the "lifestyle program," moderately adds more dairy, carbs, and calories. Gittleman promotes walking and recommends strength training in phase three. The book includes 41 recipes such as Grilled Lamb Chops with Cinnamon and Coriander, Breakfast Egg Fu Yung, and Cumin Sautéed Scallops. The Fat Flush Plan is recommended for dieters willing to commit to a strict plan for weight loss. --Joan Price

Interesting but Perhaps a Bit Outdated:
There is no question that Gittleman has an interesting plan here for weight loss. Her focus is upon purging the liver of toxins in that the liver metabolizes fat and so, if the liver is impaired or sluggish, then the body's ability to lose fat is affected. This is an interesting premise and one that many of the diet specialists who emphasize detoxifying diets strongly support. The main culprit in many of these detoxifying diets is caffeine, and Gittleman is no exception here. She states that caffeine stresses the liver and so should be eliminated--especially in the first 2 weeks of the diet, which are the most restrictive. This book has a 2002 publication date, and the question is whether new research supports this view or not. Actually, no. On May 18, 2004, researchers from the National Institute of Diabetes and of Digestive and Kidney Disease in Bethesda, Maryland and from Yale University made a presentation to the Digestive Disease Week annual conference in New Orleans that confirmed after an extensive study of 5,944 men and women at high rsik for liver injury due to excessive drinking, hepatitis B and C, obseity, or impaired sugar metabolism that caffeine actually reduced the risk of liver damage. In other words, caffeine was actually good for the liver! As the researchers pointed out, several other studies had confirmed this same finding that "people at high risk for liver problems can reduce their risk by drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages." So, so much for that part of Gittleman's fat flush program. That said, though, she does offer an interesting diet plan that probably will create weight loss--primarily because it is fairly low in calories for the first phase (the most stringent one) and because it is jam-packed with good foods, from the essential fatty acids (EFAs) in flaxseed to the two servings of fruits a day required. That plus you can eat unlimited amounts of most green vegetables, which will keep you feeling full and also give you lots of vitamins and minerals. She also restricts your daily protein intake to no more than 8 ouces a day, plust two eggs. This limit on the amount of protein guarantees that your body will not convert excess protein to sugar (through the process of gluconeogenesis, also called glycolysis) and thus undo your weight loss regimen of fat burning for fuel. She does emphasize that you must eat 2 eggs a day every day (which of course you must prepare without butter) and avoid ALL dairy products in order to lose weight. The 2 eggs a day reduce belly fat, she says, which may have more to do with that eggs are high in lecithin, which is a fat emulsifier and thus helps break down fat. So you may wish to take lecithin as a supplement in place of the eggs or to amplify their effects. And you drink a lot of water with unsweetened cranberry juice added, and you rule out nearly all diet foods and beverages in that you can only have Stevia as your sweetener. This actually is a good idea as there are concerns about aspartame (Nutra Sweet) and saccharin (Sweet 'n Low) from numerous studies, and some new studies alaso raise questions about sucralose (Splenda). Her plan is very detailed and seems to have a good basis in fact, except for here and there. There are oddities--like she says don't eat high starch vegetables, like potatoes and carrots, and then she has one carrot a day as a possibility for your vegetable selections. Also, she is a strong advocate of using conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) as a supplement, while Jonny Bowden in Living the Low-Carb Life: From Atkins to the Zone says there are concerns about CLA and don't use it. And Bowden cites new studies on flaxseeds as having an adverse effect on men's health by contributing to enlarged prostates, so Bowden encourages caution for men--but not women--in using flaxseed products. Even so, he gives Gittleman's diet a 5 star (highest) rating--so go figure. One other thing I find odd is that in the list of unlimited vegetables, Gittleman includes some that seldom make the list because they are high on the glycemic index and have quite a bit of sugar--such as tomatoes (actually a fruit) and okra. Overall, though, it appears that this diet could be a healthy one, especially for people who have lived on high amounts of sugar and processed carbohydrates. And definitely switching away from those products to more healthy and lower-calorie ones will aid weight loss, too. And because Gittleman's diet, while not actually saying so directly, is one that favors a low consumption of saturated fats, it may well find more favor with doctors and dieters concerned about saturated fats--even though the research strongly indicates that saturated fats are not the problem, but the consumption of saturated fats in conjunction with highly processed carbohydrates is. In other words, the average American diet of junk food and little else.

Make the commitment:
The book is written in an easy-to-follow format, and best of all, the plan makes sense. The science is thoughtful and sound, the instructions clear and the quality of your life and the shape of your body can be your reward. I had decided to give the plan two weeks and have ended up incorporating it permanently. I'm not overweight, but this book is more about improving your overall health, digestion, and the effectiveness of your body's functions. Weight loss is just a natural response to the positive changes you make following The Fat Flush Plan. It will help you adopt healthy eating habits. I think this is an important book for people to read because of the health information even if they don't need to lose weight/fat. However, since this book is at times limited in its contents I suggest supplementing it with more informative "Can We Live 150" by Dr. M. Tombak. Dr. Tombak's philosophy well fits the Fat Flush Plan, while at the same time it will extend your healthy lifestyle by some important factors outside of nutrition (body cleansing, proper breathing, etc.) Many excerpts from the book can be found at the author's internet site. You owe yourself the honor of making the commitment to read these books and take action!

Left me wanting more....:
I needed either a lot more time or a personal chef to adhere to this diet. The recipes are tasty, but very labor intensive, and the demand for all fresh and often exotic veggies plus lots of fish, steak and chicken made this expensive. I did lose weight for the few days I was able to stay on the diet, but I was constantly hungry (and therefore grumpy) so my family made me stop the whole thing. I do like cranberry juice in my water, though.

looking at it from another viewpoint:
Many of the ideas in this book are good; getting off of coffee, regularly drinking an anti-oxident rich drink, etc. If it's too much for you to sustain, -do it when you can-. Unlike diets that don't focus on health, a week here and there will combine to improve your health along with a healthy weight loss.

Eating Plan that Works:
So far I have lost 50 pounds following the Fat Flush Plan. Ann Louise Gittelman does a great job of explaining the role the liver has in weight gain and weight loss. I originally read this book because I wanted to find a detox plan that wasn't "weird". This was great. After I finished the two week detox, I had lost over 10 pounds and felt wonderful. I've stuck with it since. I find this plan easy to follow and I don't find that I'm obsessed about food.