Archive for November, 2010

The 17 Day Diet

Monday, November 29th, 2010

There’s big news on the diet front, thanks to Dr. Phil. Today he featured Dr. Mike, author of the new book, The 17 Day Diet. Apparently, it’s all the rage. It’s only been on Facebook for 10 days, and already 487 people like it.

Gee, I feel unpopular. The Diet Joke has been on Facebook for 11 months and only…well, let’s just say I can count them on both hands.

Back to the revolutionary 17 Day Diet. In one segment, Dr. Mike showed some of the food options one might eat while on the 17 Day Diet.

Breakfast – 2 scrambled egg whites and half a grapefruit
Lunch – 1 big salad topped with tuna, with a tablespoon of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar
Dinner – Grilled chicken with lots of steamed asparagus and mushrooms
Snack – Sugar free yogurt with some sugar free jam

This is revolutionary?

The premise behind the 17 Day Diet is that, according to Dr. Mike, “there is scientific evidence that has been researched. There’s no plateaus, there’s no boredom, and every 17 days you’re changing what you’re doing.”

What?

I think he said 17 is a MAGIC number.

Oh, and avoid sugar, fried foods, and other heavy dishes.

Talk about revolutionary.

And you’re never hungry because you can eat all the time (as long as it’s grapefruit, or salad, or steamed asparagus, or…you get the idea.)

Boy, the stuff people fall for. Just give a book a promising title, like The 17 Day Diet, and you end up on Dr. Phil.

Other tidbits from the show, to avoid gaining weight during the holidays:

Avoid buffets.
Eat a healthy dinner before you go to a holiday party
Stay away from packaged cookies, cakes, and candies.

It’s all so groundbreaking, I can’t stand it.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t eat salad and asparagus and grapefruit. You should, but I think Noah invented that.

Meanwhile, The 17 Day Diet is up to 524 friends.

And so the phenomenon begins. It’ll just get bigger too. Dr. Phil has just announced that, beginning in January, he’ll be kicking off the new 17 Day Diet Challenge.

I wonder if Dr. Phil and Dr. Mike went to school together.

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Dr. Laura Likes The Diet Joke

Saturday, November 27th, 2010

The Diet Joke was thrilled to be featured on the Dr. Laura  show this last Monday as the Book Giveaway of the Week. Fifty lucky listeners received a complimentary copy of The Diet Joke.

Click on the link to listen to Dr. Laura talk about The Diet Joke on her national radio program. Dr. Laura Recommends The Diet Joke

The book giveaway is over, but you can see The Diet Joke featured here on her page of Recommended Reading.

Thanks, Dr. Laura. We appreciate the support!

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New Diet Use for Old Terror Alert System

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Word is that the very familiar color-coded terror threat level system is on the way out. According to the Huff Post, Homeland Security wants a new design, something more streamlined for Spring. Fewer colors, different words, even a new name – something with more punch, like the National Terrorist Advisory System. And that airport recording we’ve been hearing for years, time to update that, too.

Chances are President Obama will go for it. Politics, even of the magnitude of national security, are like fashion: in one day, out the next. But just scrapping the whole thing? That’s not very green (not the terror-level-kind-of-green, but the Ed Begley-kind-of-green) and we at The Diet Joke believe in recycling. That’s why we’re proud of the fact that we’ve already found a new use for the old system.

We’ve already adapted it to address another great threat to this country’s well-being: the threat of obesity. Cleverly renamed as the Overeating Advisory System (if there’s one thing we are at The Diet Joke, it’s clever), this five-color-coded system works the same way. Each color represents a different threat level of our risk of overeating.

Look at this fancy thing.

Now that we’re smack in the middle of the holiday season, we’re currently at Threat Level Red, and we have the press release to prove it. Threat Level Red means we all have a severe risk of eating too much. Take me, for example. Here it is, the day after Thanksgiving, and I’ve already eaten a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream and two large cookies for breakfast. That’s not good for the country, or my waistline, either.

For updates on the current threat level, check out our page, cleverly entitled “Threat Level.” Chances are the threat level will drop to Orange in January, and stay there most of the time, except around the holidays, and maybe even elections, too.

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Election Day, Yo-yo Voting, and Portia de Rossi on Her Eating Disorder

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

The Diet Joke says Vote
It’s election day in America and The Diet Joke is getting out the vote. I mailed in my ballot weeks ago and was very proud of myself for it. Then I heard Shields & Brooks on the PBS NewsHour both say they have reservations about early voting, mainly because people make their decisions about candidates and issues before the debates play out. It’s like writing a review for a show after you skipped out at intermission. You can read Shields & Brooks comments here.

Whether Americans mailed in their ballots early or they’re voting at the polls today, one thing is certain: a lot of them are frustrated. And if there’s one thing Americans like to do when they’re frustrated, it’s exactly the opposite of what they did last time.

It’s this kind of extreme thinking that keeps the American political pendulum swinging. I call it yo-yo voting, which you probably never heard of because I just made it up. (I make up stuff all the time. It’s the only thing I’m good at.)

Yo-yo voting is a lot like yo-yo dieting, which everybody’s heard of. First you eat everything in sight, then you get frustrated with your weight and go on some extreme diet. Then you lose a bunch of weight and go back to your former eating habits. Before you know it, you’re right back where you started.

Just like politics.

Which brings me to Portia de Rossi. She was on Oprah yesterday talking about her new book, Unbearable Lightness, which chronicles her battle with anorexia. On the show she said the way she beat her eating disorder was to stop counting calories and eat as much of everything as she wanted. Once she did that, she said she didn’t want it anymore.

Maybe that’s how you beat anorexia. I don’t know. Unfortunately, a lot of overweight Americans may hear that comment and think that’s the solution to their weight problems. Sorry, guys. It’s not the same.

Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric eating disorder that affects about 1% of the population and is characterized by extreme dieting and self-starvation. If you’re overweight or obese, like 66% of Americans are, it’s probably safe to say you don’t have it. (If you have any doubts, ask your doctor.)

The point is, extremes are extremes for a reason. They are, by definition, the farthest, the highest, the utmost – they exceed the bounds of moderation.

And moderation, my friends, is what’s missing in this country.

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