Perfect Body Diet from Women's Health Magazine:

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As the story goes, the editors of Women's Health Magazine came up with their wish list for the "perfect diet", which boiled down to three things:

- The diet should be customized. Women don't all share the same body type, metabolism, hormonal situations, etc.
- You should feel good on the diet. No hunger or fatigue.
- It should be reasonable enough to incorporate and maintain as a permanent lifestyle change.

Author and nutrition/exercise science expert Cassandra Forsythe says customization begins with discerning whether your body type is "Apple" or "Pear" - terms you are likely familiar with - which are, in fact, scientific terms relating to where your body tends to store most excess fat. Perfect Body Diet offers programs for both "apples" and "pears", in the form of eight week plans of customized menus and workouts that are best suited to those looking to lose anywhere from 5 to 25 pounds. Forsythe stresses, though, that this is not about losing pounds per se, it's about changing your shape to become the perfect body for you.

On the meal plan side, dieters must determine which of two diet plans suits them best. The answer to the breakfast test question "are you more satisfied after eating (1) a bagel with jam or (2) scrambled eggs with feta cheese?", determines whether you should follow a higher carbs, lower fat plan (Grains and Fruits Diet) or a higher fat, lower carbs plan (Greens and Berries Diet). Food lists, recipes and a two-week meal plan are provided with each diet, and you'll find that they're not overly complicated or expensive.

Perfect Body Diet is correct, and helpful, in reminding dieters that a low calorie diet may well shed weight in the beginning, but that eventually the calorie depletion will slow metabolism down to the point that they may start putting weight back on. And here is where exercise enters the picture as a critical component of weight loss and maintenance: it keeps your metabolism high and fast. And high metabolism burns fat, even when you're crashed on the couch. The exercise plans are cardio and resistance training to be practiced a minimum of 30 minutes a day.

In keeping with diet industry tradition, Perfect Body Diet claims its own "secret weapon" for weight loss success, in this case it is a soluble fiber supplement called glucomannan. Glucomannan is natural - nothing fancy or rare about it - that expands in the gut just like psyllium fiber (Metacmucil, etc.) and in addition to aiding digestion, makes you feel full. Perfect Body Diet recommends the addition of glucomannan powder to your meals. Note that glucomannan (like psyllium) is a bulk-forming fiber, which in layman's terms means: laxative.

The goal of Perfect Body Diet is to get you eating healthily and exercising regularly, so that you start burning fat, keep burning fat efficiently and tone up. And the advice and recommendations therein are totally solid. Our only (minor) quibble with Perfect Body is how it incorporates glucomannan into the picture. Fiber is fundamentally important to a healthy diet (and digestive system, and heart health, etc.) and it should be touted as such. Dressing it up to suggest that it's a secret weight loss weapon feels like just so much spin. Still, Perfect Body Diet has got the concept right.