Don't Lose Your Cookies With This Mystery Diet

Can eating six cookies a day really keep the weight away?

The strange and crazy ways people use to lose weight never ceases to amaze me in this day and age of professional dieting. Everybody has their own theory about what the best way to lose weight is, myself included. But how many people do you know are trying "The Cookie Diet."

I am not kidding you! There is actually a diet out there claiming it will help you lose weight by eating their cookies. It was developed by the Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based Siegal Medical Weight Management to give participants a way to "lose 12-15 pounds per month," according to the front page of their web site.

In fact, this story about a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania man who lost 120 pounds by eating six "nutritious, filling, hunger-suppressing cookies per day" on "The Cookie Diet." Then he would eat a "sensible dinner" at the end of the day.

Am I the only one who has some lingering questions about this "diet" plan? In my attempt to research the ingredients in these so-called "nutritious, filling, hunger-suppressing cookies," I was unable to find any information about it. NOTHING! How much fiber is in these cookies? Do they contain sugar and if not what sugar alternatives are used? Most importantly for someone who is livin' la vida low-carb, what is the carbohydrate content of these cookies? It greatly concerns me that this information is concealed from the public because there's no telling what they're putting in these cookies to make you lose weight.

Plus, talk about a boring diet, this one takes the cookie (LOL!). People always complain to me how boring Atkins and other low-carb programs are. But having to eat cookies day after day after day for the rest of your life to manage your weight does not sound enjoyable at all. Sure, getting to eat cookies will be novel for a few days, but you will begin to hate those cookies in very short order. I'd love to know the dropout rate of "The Cookie Diet."

Then, what is a "sensible dinner?" Is that low-fat? Low-calorie? Portion-controlled? Or perhaps even low-carb? Nobody knows because again there is nothing about it on the web site. The silence is deafening! Are people just supposed to trust Dr. Siegal and his staff?

And what about the taste of these cookies? Sure, the flavors are oatmeal, chocolate, and coconut, but do they taste good? If you can't tolerate cookies, then what about the soup or shakes they offer? Are they going to deliver on the all-important issue of taste? The unanswered questions greatly concern me as someone interested in seeing people get their weight under control.

While participants in "The Cookie Diet" are "medically supervised" with periodic counseling, examinations, and blood tests, I cannot help but think it is just a gimmick to get people to buy these cookies which, by the way, do not have a price tag on them. How much am I going to be shelling out for these magic diet cookies? They come in containers of six for a day's serving, but at what cost? Sure if they can help you lose weight and keep it off it shouldn't matter what the cost is, but not printing that information on your web site makes me very skeptical.

There are just too many unanswered questions about "The Cookie Diet" for me to give an objective opinion about them. Perhaps if some of my questions could be answered and/or if I could personally try these cookies for myself I could give you more feedback about them. I will contact Siegal Weight Management to see if they would be willing to provide this information to me.

You can contact them yourself by sending an e-mail to siegalcookiediet@aol.com. Let me know if you get a response from them.

8-6-07 UPDATE: A VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE to this story has taken place, so please click here to read all about it.