chelledun's Full Review: Jorge Cruise - The 3-Hour Diet: How Low-Carb Diets...
Although I am not on a ‘diet’ per se, my husband and I have been making a concerted effort to eat healthier and exercise more. I like to check out the latest trends in health and diet, so I decided to check out The Three-Hour Diet by Jorge Cruise.
General Premise
Some of you may have seen of author Jorge Cruise during his appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show. He is an AOL online weight loss coach and author of many fitness books and articles. This book is filled with techniques, success stories, and meal planning pages for Cruise’s “Three-Hour Diet”.
This particular book’s ‘gimmick’ is that eating every three hours each day will help the reader stave off hunger, resulting in weight loss. While the author encourages exercise, this book is his response to people’s request for a predominantly diet only program. A typical schedule might include a 400 calorie breakfast at 7:00 a.m., a 100 calorie snack at 10:00 a.m., a 400 calorie lunch at 1:00 p.m., a 100 calorie snack at 4:00 p.m., a 400 calorie dinner at 7:00 p.m., and a 50 calorie treat (such as ten peanut M&M’s) any time thereafter. This totals 1450 calories. More calories are prescribed for individuals beginning at very high weights with large weight loss goals. To be clear, this is not a calorie counting program exactly. When one eats a meal with the proper serving sizes from each food group, the result should be a meal around 400 calories.
What I Liked
This ‘diet’ is actually very much like the dining schedule I have adopted in the past when trying to lose weight after my freshman year of college. (Freshman 30, anyone) I like the emphasis on eating healthily and frequently throughout the day to discourage binge eating in the evening. A big complaint about diets is being hungry, and this one should effectively eliminate that problem. Jorge suggests that eating throughout the day keeps one's metabolism going. While I can't scientifically back up that claim, it seems to make sense.
I also like the fact that no food is forbidden, unlike with recent fad diets. You will be enjoying plenty of fruits, veggies, grains, and lean meats on this diet. The “Three-Hour Plate” consists of half fruits or vegetables (the size of three DVD’s), a quarter carbohydrates (the size of a Rubik’s cube), and a quarter protein (the size of a deck of cards). The back of the book includes lists of suggested foods and portion sizes for each category. Cruise sets the weight loss limit per week at an expected 2 pounds, which is reasonable. I dislike diets that promise folks a loss of 5-10 pounds per week which is not even healthy.
Those who plan to follow the diet rigorously will appreciate the inclusion of record-keeping pages to write down menus and eating schedules. There are also some recipes in the back which are specially designed to provide meals fitting into the “Three-Hour Plate.” This is convenient if you like to cook and are getting used to eating the right foods.
What I Don’t Like
As sensible as eating every few hours is, this book takes it to a militant level. The author insists keeping to the eating schedule diligently, even to the point of setting a timer for three hours at a time and dropping everything to eat when it goes off. This is good for getting people into a habit and may work well for folks with a very regular schedule. However, this will probably be difficult for people who travel a lot, have to dine out with clients for work, or must schedule meetings at varying times from day to day. This narrows the audience for which the diet would be practicable.
I was a little turned off by the tone in which the book is written. While the author’s attempt at a motivational tone may come across well over the television or in person, the book read like a 300 page infomercial. The writing is interspersed with phrases like YES!!! and every other word is trademarked – Three-Hour Diet, Visual Timing, etc. Get ready to bring back the joy of eating! A little motivation is great but Cruise spends much of the book repeating over and over how wonderful his diet is and how much better than other diets, and not really all that many pages explaining the actual diet.
Finally, I think any weight loss or general health plan really must include more emphasis on EXERCISE. I think Cruise knows this too. This book, though, is focused primarily on diet and not exercised as Cruise acknowledges (probably realistically) that some people are not willing to start exercising. I guess you have to start somewhere, perhaps losing a little weight on this plan will help encourage readers to start a fitness program.
Overall…
I think the content of this book is pretty good, as nutritional weight loss goes. Reading the book reminded me of the benefits of eating every few hours and eating fruits, veggies, carbs, and protein at each meal. Of course, to be able to use the content the reader has to wade through Jorge Cruise’s somewhat over-the-top attempt at a motivational writing style. Additionally, this style of weight-loss may be difficult for those on an unpredictable schedule. With these caveats, I think this book is a pretty good pick for learning about healthy weight loss or motivating yourself to get back on track to healthy eating.
Reveals the ineffectiveness and health dangers of current trend diets and explains the importance of strategic meal timing without depriving the body ...More at Alibris
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