Dr. Bernstein Diet

Has anyone tried this diet? I did recently. It definitely works but it's painful. I feel sick all the time because of the lack of food I'm eating but once it's off I know it'll stay off because I'm committed to exercise and I am a very healthy eater - was a victim of the freshmen 15 (18 in my case!). Even the vegetables in the cafeteria were unhealthy because they were soaked in grease, but I had no alternative! It was horrible.

I have diabetes and there is a great deal of controversy over Dr. Bernstein's diet.  It is intended for diabetics for blood sugar control.  There is no way I could ever survive on his diet. 

The American Diabetes Association suggests that you have at least 130 grams of carbohydrate each day.  Bernstein advocates 30.

The reason you felt sick is because you're body isn't getting enough carbohydrates to use for energy.   Try dieting with a balance of carbs, protein, and good fats with at least 130 grams of carbohydrates.  You'll still lose the weight without feeling horrible all the time.

Lisa

And another thing, when you eat the carbs, eat the good carbs. In other words, lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and not the processed foods and starches and sugars.

I havn't read the diet personally, but I have to say that anything that makes you feel like you're being tortured, removes an entire food group, and is something you don't think you can stick to the rest of your life, is NOT the right way to go.

A "diet" should teach you how to be healthy and WHY it's healthy to eat that way.  Most of us know we need vegetables, fruit, whole grains,  lean protien, and some good fats to keep us healthy.  Our muscles esspecially need carbs. 

If you eat all the food groups in moderation, you will be healthy.  If you eat calories in moderation, you will be at a healthy weight.  There IS a reason why we need 6-11 servings of pasta/bread/cereal via food pyramid.

I just don't see the point of feeling like a lump of crap all the time for the sake of losing the same EXACT amount of weight by just eating normally.   Plus when a diet feels unreasonable and you feel deprived, the odds are that you will regain everything you lost + more.

You mean you go to Ontario to Dr Bernstein's clinic, pay thousand of dollars for medical supervision and injections of vitamins?  Are you aware that he was sued and was order by the court to pay out $700,000 to the family of a patient who died because of his diet?

I think maybe you need to do some research.

Claire, no need to be rude. I have done my research and that man did have a variety of other health issues. The diet DOES work although I recognize that it isn't the healthiest way to diet. However, I have a very small amount of weight to lose, and I just want to get it over with quickly. Once the weight is gone it's going to be really easy for me to maintain because I'm not going to be eating in a cafeteria in school next year, where I have no options. I have done plenty of research and am very dedicated to eating right. In fact, I am in school to become a dietician.

Thanks to everyone else for your feedback!

lol

i thought claire was cracking a joke.  cracked me up!

jessie, if you are just losing 2 or 3 pounds, no problem.  but up to 95% who lose weight regain for lots of reasons, mostly because they don't continue eating in a healthy manner and go back to their habits.

fad diets don't work long-term.  you need to figure out how to eat whereever, cafeteria or restaurants or meals out anywhere and still eat well.  otherwise, you never fix the reason for the weight gain?

What I learned from the freshman 15 or (whatever you may call the weight gain that many experience while in school) is that I let it be a crutch for me.

It was so easy to say the cafeteria is awful for me, they don't make healthy options and the ones they do are gross. So I put on weight. I kept telling myself that as soon as I was out of that environment I would change my eating habits because I am also motivated to change my ways.

Then I moved into my own apartment and all was great. Except I turned 21 that year, and well we all know that means a social environment full of drinking beer and late night snacking. So then I told myself, man it would be so much easier once I'm in grad school or out in the real world where I have to be grown up. I won't have the temptation of partying mixed with overloads of fried food. I'll keep it off then. It will be so easy....

Then I got into grad school and I don't drink anymore, but you know what? My food habits stuck with me for the first year. Maybe you will say its because I wasn't dedicated or was lazy; that's certainly a big part of it. But also, I had formed an awful habit throughout the past several years. It is hard to break....

So my suggestion is that you not rely on the fact that you are not going to be around cafeteria food in order to make healthy choices. Because from my own personal experience (and of course everyone is different), saying that it was the cafeteria's fault was really just a way for me to fool myself into thinking I will be healthier next year. I was wrong. It was all about the personal choices I was making. My fault. Not my environments.

The only reason I bring this up is because I think if I were in your circumstances (and of course I am not, so this is just my humble opinion), I may think more about how I can adopt the healthiest eating plan I possibly can. That way I do not risk yo-yo-ing from cafeteria food to an overly restrictive diet that leads to feelings of deprivation and frustration.

My point, why not try a healthy new diet now? :)

I think you guys are mis-reading what I'm saying. I am an extremely healthy eater. I didn't use my caf as a crutch. My diet consists solely of vegetables pretty much!...the ones in the caf were soaked in grease. It's impossible to get anything healthy - trust me. I am a Health Science student. I still have a healthy BMI and exercise every day. What I'm saying is - the Bernstein diet is allowing me to lose the 10 pounds really quickly. I won't put it back on because the unhealthy residence cafeteria won't be an issue next year.

Cool then :)

I certainly wasn't attacking. You just asked our opinion and all I have is my personal experience to go by, so I gave it.

I'm glad you are motivated to make a healthy change. Good luck to you. .

thanks buckeye!!

I'm not an advocate of fad diets, but people have dropped dead from eating vegetables from their local grocery store. Without knowing the details of why someone died, you can't go by that alone. It could be contamination, it could be they had a PRE-exisiting condition, or it could be something else. We don't stop grocery shopping because of grocery-store related deaths. And we don't stop driving our cars, when people die every day because of them. Just a thought. And medical doctors are sued all the time.

I was cracking a joke.  sorry it fell flat.  From what I can discover, it's a grueling diet that must be done in the clinic with medical supervision, and the injections of B vitamins are essential or malnutrition results.

A diet like this is just not neccessary.  Why suffer like that when simply changing a few eating habits and increasing exercise will help you take it off and keep it off for life?  Just think - no more dieting - ever!  Learn to make changes you can live with.  Yes, it's the slow way, but better slow and permanant than fast and miserable.

Sorry if I misinterpreted anybody. I don't want to give the impression that I would stupidly do something I hadn't truly put thought into. Given that I'm only doing it for a few weeks, I'm taking the risk. My own family doctor is against this diet and I really respect his opinion so I realize that it is not a very healthy way of losing the weight. However, once it's gone I know it won't come back :-)

Good point alayney :)

Jessie, I heard that at some colleges they are putting fat in vegetables and salads b/c of bulemic people, so that they would still retain fat in their systems, when they would only eat vegetables...I know they did that at one school near me. Maybe they're doing that at your school too, though obesity is a way bigger problem than bulemia and affects more people, so that really isn't fair.

Wow chrysteas, that is AWFUL! I definitely wouldn't be surprised. My diet consisted of wraps, veggies, beans, etc. I completely avoided the pizzas, pastas, and desserts! I was shocked as I kept gaining weight. I even exercised!  All my friends complained about a weight gain with one friend putting on 40 lbs from September-April only! I can't believe schools would do that...geesh!

I just want to put my 2 cents in, being someone who has known people on the diet and being on it myself...The biggest reason that you feel like crap is either you aren't following the diet strictly enough, or you aren't getting the supplements in the right amount that you need.  This is NOT a "fad" diet, or extreme.  I am very opposed to any kind of diet that eliminates an entire food group (which this doesn't!) or any diet that is just plain crazy, like those stupid cabbage soup diets. 

This diet is one of the healthiest I've ever seen.  It loads you with tons of fruits and vegetables, lots of lean meats like chicken, turkey, even pork tenderloin and fish.  You also DO get to eat from the breads food group.  It is not a diet you are meant to stay on forever.  After you reach your goal weight, you go on maintenance and slowly add back other foods you haven't been eating during the diet. 

I started out and had terrible headaches the first week or 2.  I TOLD the nurse when I went in for my check-up and shot, and they adjusted my K-Cal supplement, and I felt great!  They give you different supplements depending on how overweight you are to begin with.  And by supplements, I mean different vitamins and minerals.  You can buy them at WALMART if you want!

I was worried when I first started, thinking I would be hungry all the time and crave my buttered popcorn and pepsi slurpees.  As long as I follow the diet, I'm not hungry, and my cravings are under control.  If I cheat, I feel yucky. 

A usual day for me is 1/2 cup of applesauce and a hard boiled egg white, fruit salad and a couple of triscuits, a cup of lite Jello, a cup and 1/2 of vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, green, yellow and red peppers, green onions and a grilled chicken breast.   Not crazy, just healthy.

That's not healthy.  There is no fat whatsoever in the food you just listed.  Your body needs fat for healthy skin, hair and cell membranes.  Also, what you listed sounds like a reasonably healthy MEAL (assuming that the rest of the day's meals had healthy fats in them) but not a full day's food.  Anyone who only ate what you listed would suffer malnutrition and severe metabolic slowdown if that's how they ate on a regular basis.

suprmom, firstly do you realize this thread is 2 years old?

Secondly, how many calories are you eating a day ... because that sure seems like a starvation diet to me.

Calorie Count's mission is to promote healthy and sustainable weight management. We do not support starvation diets.

Please follow the posting guidelines:

• Your post is subject to modification or deletion by our moderators. Repetitive, off-topic, disruptive, and frivolous posts will be removed. We will take down any posts that violate either the letter or the spirit of any of these rules.
• Promotion of starvation diets or habits that exhibit signs of an eating disorder ("pro-ana", "pro-mia", etc.) is prohibited.

I don't want to beat you up Supermom, but how can a diet provide "tons of fruits and veggies" when it's limited to 30g of carbs.  That's an apple and a half a day...I don't consider that a ton.  Also, any diet that requires you to take a supplement of any kind to relieve side effects is not natural, it's a fad diet and it's not the way humans were designed to eat, not for long anyway.