Park Avenue Diet Review

 

Manhattan's Dr. Stuart Fischer could never have known when he published this book that the global economy would collapse, the country would be gripped by recession and that the primary villain in the whole mess would be Wall Street financiers living a Park Avenue lifestyle. So he deserves some slack for what seems, now anyway, an absurdly inappropriately titled effort.

As to the particulars, Park Avenue Diet is described as "the doctor designed, 7 point program for lasting success" at self-improvement. And honestly, "diet" is actually too limited a term to apply to the program here. By Fischer's own admission, "looking better is more than just eating properly," and his solution is a total lifestyle makeover addressing these seven things: weight, physique, hair, skin, clothing, self-confidence and interpersonal skills.

The Park Avenue Diet program is broken out into three phases. Phase 1 is a two-week self-discovery stage of learning which among the seven issues you need to work on and how. There is work on self-confidence and interpersonal skills, with lessons in etiquette and poise. There is also work on how you present yourself to the world, as Fischer himself says your appearance "is so much more than just weight. It is what everyone notices when you walk into a room." So here you will be dabbling not just in fitness, but in fashion and beauty products and treatments. Phase 2 is a week of applying what you've learned about yourself, and employing your new look and skills. Phase 3 is debuting the new you to the world. These phases were developed with the assistance of a team of experts Fischer assembled, each of whom provides a chapter on things like beauty products and makeup, fashion, hairstyles and self-confidence. Note that these "experts" are, in fact, professional hair stylists, makeup artists and bona fide New York socialites and the like.

So apart from all the fancy clothes and makeup and proper way to enter a party stuff, the actual eating plan of the Park Avenue Diet is a pretty well-balanced, very low calorie affair. For six weeks you're permitted three meals and one snack a day to amount to a very lean 1,250 to 1,350 calories total. The standard dietary fare of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, seafood, whole grains and non-fat dairy applies. Though Dr. Fischer served as associate medical director of the Atkins Center for years, there are no "bogeyman" foods or other food combining/avoiding tricks in play here. Just more standard - good - advice to forego processed foods, sugar (no sweets, alcohol or fruit juices) and dairy products beyond skim milk in your coffee or tea. Recipes and daily menu plans with the corresponding nutritional analysis are provided. Fischer does sell dietary supplements on his website, though he does not encourage or promote them in his book, which is to his credit.

The exercise portion of the plan consists of at-home routines, which are mapped out with instruction for a 42 day period. The intensity level of the exercise will increase over time. Combined with the eating plan - with its strict caloric reduction - you will likely easily lose 2 pounds a week. With regard to weight maintenance once you've reached your goal, Fischer doesn't define any particular plan, but rather sort of vaguely suggests continuing the six week plan - for life. The problem with this is that a 1,250 to 1,350 calorie per day diet is rather impossible - and ultimately rather unhealthy (FDA and American Dietetic Association recommend a minimum 1600 calories daily) - to live on indefinitely. If you can reach your goal weight on Park Avenue Diet, you're on your own to map out the future and adapt what you've been doing to a more reasonable, sustainable version of the same.

Though some elements of Park Avenue Diet - beautifying products and treatments, dressing more fashionably - seem silly and out of reach for most people in a good economy, Fischer does have his heart in the right place. Nurturing and taking care of ourselves - even superficially - is important for good mental health, which is in turn good for physical health. Incorporating healthy new habits and positive new ways of thinking into your life - in everything from diet to social interactions - can never be said to be a bad thing. So setting aside what - in this economy - seems like very dated marketing, Park Avenue Diet's reduced calorie/regular exercise recommendations for short term weight loss are solid. But if you're looking for a way to make it stick, you'll probably have to look elsewhere.