The Real COOKIE DIET Doctor Exonerated, Shares Samples Of Famous Weight Loss Cookies

Over a half million people have gone on the COOKIE DIET™ to lose weight

You've probably seen the ads like the one above while you have been surfing around the Internet about this new diet plan that claims you can eat cookies to lose weight. It's called the Dr. Sanford Siegal's COOKIE DIET™ and it has seen phenomenal early success in a national marketing campaign that has far exceeded the expectations of most market analysts within the diet industry.

Actually, I first blogged about the COOKIE DIET™ two years ago when this rather unique weight loss plan caught my attention for the first time. My initial reaction was one of incredulity that a diet based on cookies could be any help at all to those seeking to lose weight and get healthy.

My biggest concern was the fact that people had no idea what was in these mysterious cookies that were supposed to be "nutritious, filling, hunger-suppressing." That bothered me along with several other questions at the time. So I decided to contact Siegal Weight Management for myself to get the answers I was looking for.

Unfortunately, the response was quite cold from a man purporting to be the COOKIE DIET™ doctor named Dr. Scott Greenburg. He gave me the most apathetic and cranky responses to my concerns accusing me of spreading "misinformation" about HIS diet citing seven "facts" where he felt I got it wrong about his program.

Again, I was simply asking him to answer some simple questions, but he instead chose to evade my quest for information about the ingredients in the cookies, the sugar content, total carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, etc. His snotty response was that "anyone who calls our office can have access" to this information.

So I needed to call him rather than e-mail him, eh? This dude is a real piece of work! The telling sign to me that he was trying to hide something was when I asked for a sample of the cookies to tell my blog readers about how they taste.

"We do not mail samples of cookies for you to taste," Dr. Greenberg declared.

I was left perplexed and confused about why this man trying to promote a diet based on cookies would be so belligerent towards someone like me who simply had a few legitimate questions and concerns about this unorthodox diet plan. At that point, I totally dropped it and moved on.

But then a couple of months ago, I received correspondence from Matthew Siegal, President and CEO of Dr. Siegal's Direct Nutritionals, LLC who wanted to apologize for the way his company was represented to me back in 2005.

"Dr. Scott Greenberg is not the "Cookie Diet Doctor," Siegal explained. "Dr. Greenberg had nothing to do with the creation of the Cookie Diet; he was merely an employee of a former sub-franchisee (called Smart For Life) of Dr. Sanford Siegal who created the Cookie Diet in 1975."

Siegal went on to explain that the business relationship with this former franchisee had ended in 2006, although the REAL Cookie Diet Doctor had to take the matter to court to have them stop using his trademarked names. A federal court recently ruled in Dr. Sanford Siegal's favor and completely exonerated his good name in the process.

Additionally, Siegal was kind enough to send me some samples of his cookies to try for myself and examine the nutritional content as I had originally requested in 2005. In other words, there was nothing but respect for my request and I appreciated the gesture since I merely wanted the truth to be shared about these cookies.

For the record, I have now tried these cookies in the COOKIE DIET™and read the full list of ingredients and nutritional label. Although they are indeed very delicious (especially the banana--LOVED 'EM!), moist, and hunger-satisfying cookies, I cannot recommend these to people who are losing weight on livin' la vida low-carb because the carb counts are much too high.

Here are the ingredients as found on the package of oatmeal raisin cookies:

WATER, GLYCERIN, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, CRISP RICE (RICE, SUGAR, SALT, MALT), OATS, SOYBEAN OIL, MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE, RAISINS, MILK PROTEIN, VINEGAR, MODIFIED PALM OIL, BROWN SUGAR, BEEF PROTEIN HYDROLYSATE, EGG WHITE SOLIDS, WHEY, CANE SUGAR, WHEAT FLOUR, LEAVENING (SODIUM BICARBONATE, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, CORNSTARCH, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM SULFATE), WHEAT BRAN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SALT, CINNAMON, NUTMEG, FD & C YELLOW #5, CALCIUM PROPIONATE (PRESERVATIVE).
ALLERGY WARNING: CONTAINS MILK, EGGS, SOY, AND WHEAT.

As for the nutritional label, here's the pertinent information:

Serving Size: 1 cookie (24g)
Servings Per Container: 6 cookies
Calories: 90
Total Fat: 2.5g
Saturated Fat: 1g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 150mg
Total Carbohydrate: 11g
Dietary Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 2g
Protein: 5g

I was a bit surprised at how low the fiber and protein in these cookies were since they are supposed to ward off hunger. There are many other sugar-free products out there with much higher protein and fiber to keep you satisfied for hours.

There was also a sample daily diet menu on the packaging to follow:

Consult your doctor before starting any diet. Your doctor may have reasons why you should not be on a diet, or why one diet may be more appropriate for you than another. Under his or her direction only, follow these or alternative steps as directed by your doctor:

1. Eat six Dr. Siegal's COOKIE DIET™ cookies a day, not at fixed times but when needed to control hunger. Have one cookie and a glass of water and wait fifteen minutes. If still hungry, eat a second cookie. You should not need a third.

2. In addition to six cookies (which provide about 500 calories), eat one reasonable dinner containing about 900 calories (or a different amount as directed by your doctor).

3. To maintain flavor, this product is not fortified with vitamins or minerals. IMPORTANT: You must take a multivitamin as prescribed by your doctor while using this product as part of a calorie-restricted diet.

4. Drink about two quarts (8 glasses) of water or diet beverages every day.

So, it looks like this COOKIE DIET™ is in essence a low-calorie, portion-control diet. If a low-carber were to follow this diet and count the net carbs in just six of these cookies, that would quickly add up to 54g with just the cookies. That many carbs will kick you out of ketosis and the principles of low-carb living will not be in effect.

You may or may not lose weight this way, but I sure wouldn't want to just have cookies for the rest of my life for breakfast, lunch, and snack. However, I don't see having one or two of these in low-carb maintenance every once in a while as a bad thing if you prefer not to eat high-sugar or artificially-sweetened cookies.

I'd like to publicly thank Matthew Siegal for his generosity in allowing me to review his company's products openly and honestly. He was a true gentleman and should not be judged based on the actions of those who previously misrepresented his company in the past. I for one have a greater respect for this company today although I do not subscribe to the COOKIE DIET™ itself.

If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Sanford Siegal's COOKIE DIET™ and think it might work for you, then visit their web site and check it out for yourself.

Trifling Lawsuit Against Atkins Dismissed, Judge Says Diet 'Protected By The First Amendment'

The sue-happy, anti-Atkins drivel of Jody Gorran is finally over.

Nearly two years after he filed a lawsuit against Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. claiming the low-carb diet made popular by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins has caused him to develop heart disease and led to a rapid decline in his health, this Business Week column reports that the opportunist Florida real estate mogul has had his ridiculous case against the company dismissed by a federal judge on Monday.

Well it's about time!

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said Gorran's preposterous claims that his health was endangered when his cholesterol went up and he experienced severe chest pain that led to an angioplasty were not the fault of Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., the business arm of the Atkins diet, because the Atkins book he read was not an advertisement for any specific products.

Instead, the concepts discussed in the book Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution, Judge Chin contended, were merely intended to be a lifestyle guide for people desiring to lose weight and get healthy via livin' la vida low-carb, not to market and promote the Atkins Nutritionals product line. The law is very clear about this, the judge added.

"It is well settled that the mere fact that there is an underlying economic motivation in one's activity does not turn that activity into commercial speech," Chin explained.

However, the judge was rather matter-of-fact in his opinion about what people need to do to lose weight.

"Run more, eat less," he told Gorran.

Gorran, who I first personally encountered at my blog in June 2005, and his cronies were hoping to have the court order Atkins Nutritionals to put warning labels on their products to protect other consumers, but the judge wasn't going to have anything to do with such a ridiculous request that had no merit.

Interestingly, Judge Chin read both the 1999 and 2002 version of the Atkins books (something the enemies of the Atkins diet NEVER do!) and concluded that Dr. Atkins put adequate enough warnings in the book for the one-third of the population who are described as "fat-sensitive" while following the program. The judge concluded that Gorran's lawsuit was frivolous since there was nothing inherently wrong with either the books or the food products that would make Atkins Nutritionals liable for any damages under the law.

More than anything else, Judge Chin said Gorran willingly took the advice he received from the Atkins book and decided on his own to begin the low-carb diet plan. As such, the U.S. Constitution protects the Atkins book as free speech since Gorran was not forced to follow the diet after reading the book. He chose to do it under his own free will.

"The concepts may be controversial and the subject of criticism, but they are protected by the First Amendment," Chin contended.

Not surprisingly, Gorran and his PETA-loving pals at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine are throwing a nice little temper tantrum right about now and plan to appeal the judge's decision after being "very disappointed" by this "real blow."

WAH, WAH, freakin' WAH! You LOST and the gig is up now. No more free media exposure for your stupid little lawsuit that was only meant to hurt a good company and an honorable man who has done more to promote health and vitality than anyone at PETA ever has.

Jody Gorran should be locked up in solitary confinement for the rest of his life because of this despicable act of wickedness these past couple of years against the innocent victims of his anti-meat, radical vegan personal attacks, especially when he made such widely publicized criticisms of the Atkins diet claiming it "could kill you," among other things.

What a miserable excuse for a human being this Jody Gorran is. The emotional distress that he placed on people like Mrs. Veronica Atkins and all those faithful employees at Atkins Nutritionals who lost their job when the company filed for bankruptcy in 2005 is unforgivable. Any of the alleged pain that the Atkins diet inflicted on him has now been returned 10,000-fold back on the very people who vigilantly labored to share the hope and inspiration that the low-carb lifestyle has to offer people.

I for one am glad to see this debacle coming to an end at last. Jody Gorran has had his limelight, his day in the sun to walk around smugly with his accusations, and now has tasted the humbling defeat he has deserved from the beginning. It's time to move on with your life now, Mr. Gorran, and just stop with all these silly, time-consuming lawsuits because there are bigger things to worry about in this world than those of us who make low-carb our chosen way of eating.

We are better because of it, too, because we refused to listen to such arrogant knuckleheads as you. Perhaps now that your lawsuit has been dismissed there will be people who will be willing to give low-carb living a fighting chance to help them overcome their obesity, diabetes, and other such health ailments that they struggle to beat. For all those people who believed Gorran and now know he was dead wrong, I say WELCOME. It's time to start livin' la vida low-carb...at last!

Frivolous Lawsuit Against Atkins To Continue

A lawsuit filed by a man who claims the Atkins diet caused him to have blocked arteries will continue on against Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. despite the news today that they are filing for bankruptcy.

Jody Gorran, who paid a visit to "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" a couple of months ago, announced in a press release on Monday that he and his radical PETA-loving organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) would proceed with the lawsuit and seek to have warning labels attached to all Atkins products.

Gorran first responded on my blog with comments about this post and has undoubtedly been following everything I write about the Atkins diet and livin' la vida low-carb since the inception of this blog in April.

Attempting to blame the Atkins diet for leading him to poor health, Gorran believes his strict adherence to the Atkins diet as outlined in the book by the late Dr. Robert Atkins caused him to develop heart disease. However, those of us who follow this eating lifestyle know that the Atkins diet it is a completely safe and effective way to lose weight and maintain that weight loss. Extensive research is currently underway to provide further evidence of this truth.

While this whole lawsuit is nothing more than a big publicity stunt by an organization with an anti-meat agenda, you certainly cannot discount the financial impact that this has had on Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. With an all-too-willing media hanging on every word coming from Gorran and PCRM, it's a minor miracle that ANYONE would continue to follow the Atkins diet after listening to them.

Thankfully, though, most of us realize just how utterly ridiculous the claims against the Atkins diet by Gorran really are as long-term low-carbers continue to be living examples of how this way of eating has permanently changed them physically. While people like Gorran get all the media's attention, people just like me and you are out there living our low-carb lifestyle as an example for others. People like Gorran may try to discourage you from continuing with your low-carb plan, but they will not prevail because we know that livin' la vida low-carb works!