Dr Gott's No Flour No Sugar Diet

Dr. Gott's No Flour No Sugar Diet, originally published in 2006, is exactly what it says: a weight-loss plan hinging on the removal of flour and sugar. The book itself provides recipes and meal plans, and helps identify hidden forms of sugar and flour.

About the Author

Dr. Peter Gott has practiced medicine for over 40 years. In addition to creating the No Flour No Sugar Diet, he writes a United Media syndicated medical column that answers questions from across the country.

Conventions

According to Dr. Gott, sugar and flour are the leading sources of refined, nutritionally void carbohydrates. Dr. Gott's diet does not allow them. This restriction eliminates pizza, doughnuts, soda, white bread, white pasta, candy and virtually all other junk in the common diet. Without flour and sugar, eaters take in their carbohydrates from whole, nutritious sources such as sweet potatoes, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

The book educates the reader about hidden sources of flour and sugar, such as the added sugar in most yogurts, high-fructose corn syrup found in processed sweets and the flour used to thicken sauces.

Examples of Dr. Gott's eating plan include snacks of cottage cheese and vegetables, breakfasts of whole-grain cereal and fruit, and dinners of lean protein, vegetables and complex carbohydrates.

Positives

Dr. Gott's diet is a common-sense, simple approach to losing weight. The diet encourages healthful eating, nutritional awareness, and a safe weight-loss goal of a pound per week.

The No Flour No Sugar Diet works on the principle that people eat too many refined carbohydrates, and eliminating them will create a calorie deficit that leads to weight loss. There is no miracle science and there are no convoluted theories.

Negatives

For some people, psychology plays just as important of a role in healthful eating as education. The No Flour No Sugar diet does not address the psychological aspect of weight loss---the self-destructive behaviors that led to the weight gain in the beginning.

Dr. Gott's diet also eliminates many foods from the common American diet. Followers may feel deprived and may consider cheating.

Lastly, weight loss hinges on a calorie deficit. Eating too much food, whether it is cake or sweet potatoes, will lead to weight gain. Although Dr. Gott discourages obsessive calorie counting, dieters who only follow the diet's principles and ignore the book's meal guidelines may find their efforts stalled.

Warning

As with all weight loss regimes, no matter how practical, a person considering the No Flour No Sugar Diet should first consult with his doctor.