The idea of eating cookies as a diet was all it took to try Dr. Sanford Siegal’s Cookie Diet cookies, as they sounded delectable enough. Thing is, this isn’t your everyday, ordinary cookie. The Miami doctor created the cookies in 1975 in his kitchen and introduced them to his diet patients to help curb hunger cravings. According to Siegal, the cookies work because they suppress hunger for longer than most “diet” foods.
“It’s no secret that to burn fat, you have to eat less calories than your body requires,” he said. “That’s hard to do when you’re hungry. That’s what my cookie is for. The cookie is hunger-suppressing and is therefore adaptable to a variety of diets.”
The cookies are FDA-approved and come in chocolate, oatmeal raisin, blueberry, coconut and banana flavors, and contain amino acids and proteins. They open the door to diversity in diet foods, but the texture may be different from what people may expect. The cookies are light and spongy, more like a muffin or banana bread than a traditional cookie. Some patients who have tried the cookie diet recommend heating the cookie up for 10 to 15 seconds in a microwave and spritzing it with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray.
The Cookie Diet works by having the patient eat six cookies per day, and only when hungry. Dinner is the one meal allowed on the diet and usually consists of a lighter meat dish with vegetables. It is recommended that people speak to their doctors before starting any diet, but Siegal says his diet works because it has a simple philosophy: “Hunger wrecks diets,” he said. “My cookie minimizes that major stumbling block to successful dieting.”
Craving a cookie?
» Dr. Sanford Siegal will be a guest at the grand opening of the Lifestyle Weight Management Center, the first location in the mid-Atlantic region to offer Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet hunger-controlling foods as part of its weight loss program. The opening is from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at 2235 Cedar Lane Suite 302, Tysons Corner. The event is open to the public. Call 703-778-7878.
» To order the Cookie Diet cookies, visit cookiedietonline.com, or to learn more about Siegal and his program, visit lifestyleweightmanagement.com.
