"Somersizing" was developed by TV celebrity Suzanne Somers, (1980’s sitcom, Three’s Company). She has become a weight loss celebrity and some dieters swear by her methods,
including aficionados of low carb diets. The diet is a low carbohydrate high protein diet that has a calorie intake of 1100-1300 calories per day. The
"Somersizing" diet is a mixture of several ideas as it is part food combining and part Atkins style low carbohydrate diet. It eliminates several foods including sugar and white flour and recommends eating lots of fruits and vegetables. Fruits should be eaten alone while vegetables should be eaten with fats and proteins. There is no portion control and the diet recommends eating frequent small meals.
Suzanne Somers’ Diet Books include the following:
Eat, Cheat, and Melt the Fat Away (high fat, low carbohydrate
diet) (NY Times bestseller)
Eat Great, Lose Weight (500,000 copies sold) (reprogram your
metabolism)
Get Skinny on Fabulous Food (follow-up to Eat Great, Lose Weight,
New York Times bestseller)
Each new book adds updated information to her diet plan. Some may consider
the Suzanne Somers diet to be another one of many celebrity fad diets. However,
one can't argue with the results. For her age, Ms. Somers looks great.
According to the diet information website www.diet-i.com, there are several flaws in the Somersizing plan. For example, there is no clinical evidence to support the idea that food combining causes weight loss. Also, Somers’ claim that when proteins and carbs are eaten together, their enzymes "cancel each other out", thus creating a halt in the digestion process and causing weight gain – is not true. Furthermore, Somers’ advice not to drink water with meals because it dilutes the digestive juices and slows digestion, is not accurate. In addition, Somers now seems to be uncertain as to whether carbohydrates and protein may be combined after all.
One of the main weaknesses BestDietForMe.com sees in her plan is the fact that she provides nothing other than her book to support the plan—no website for additional support or interactive tools. Also, in our opinion the book covers a minimum of information about the psychological components of weight loss. The only thing we could find here was some material about social eating skills.