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Your diet book

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janet berketa

20 Sep, 2011 01:03 PM

Hello Dr. Rosedale, I have recently obtained your book, The Rosedale Diet,
from the public library of the City of Toronto. I was already familiar with
most of your recommendations because of the research I have been doing on
the topic of weight loss this year. I am 73 years old, and last winter,
without eating more or differently, I gained 6 pounds, which was very
disconcerting! I had managed to slowly lose 5 of the 6 lb. before I
stumbled upon your website and recommendations.

Your diet seems to be based on research (Good Calories, Bad Calories), but I
have some real concerns with the recipes you chose to include in the book.
The first one, which is a very big concern, surrounds the decision to
recommend Splenda in the dessert section. ARE YOU CRAZY??? I would rather
eat sugar! (which is bad for me)

Here is an article that Dr. Mercola published today regarding Splenda:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/20/why-are-millions-of-americans-getting-this-synthetic-sweetener-in-their-drinking-water.aspx?e_cid=20110920_DNL_art_1

I hope you will look at it very, very carefully! It would be good if you
would publish a retraction concerning your recommendation.

The second concern is about your "pizza" recipes. I haven't eaten pizza for
quite a few years because I have basically eliminated grains and breads from
my diet. I was having a slice of toast perhaps every 2 weeks or so, before
I found your dietary recommendations. But I thought it might be nice to
have pizza once again, and I was intrigued by the thought of turning
zucchini and walnuts into a "crust". Omigod! I made the "pizza" a couple
of days ago.

I should tell you that I went to considerable expense to buy zucchini,
basil, artichoke hearts, feta cheese and walnuts, not to mention olive oil!
I have not made pesto before, so I did not realize that 1/2 cup of olive oil
would saturate everything! I followed directions and baked the "pizza".
When it was finished, the entire thing was totally swimming in oil. I tried
to cut a slice. It was basically mush, and I had to spoon it out of the
pan. There was approximately 1/4" of oil left behind in the pan! The food
was incredibly greasy even though I didn't spoon any of the oil on top of
it. Aside from the oil problem, the food was generally very bland and
tasteless in spite of the fact that it smelled delicious as it was baking.

I was sorry I'd eaten it at all. My first physical reaction was that I'd
like to eat some bread, to soak up the oil, but I didn't, because of your
recommendations. I was uncomfortable with all that oil in my stomach. Some
plain yogurt helped to settle my stomach a bit, but eventually I did eat
some bread, which helped. Needless to say, the next day all the rest of
those very expensive ingredients went into the garbage bin.

These experiences raise some concerns about some of the other items in your
book. How many of your recommendations can be trusted in other areas, such
as supplements, or even the advisability of following your recommendations
to abandon beets and carrots, for example? It may be fine in the short run,
but over the long haul, what would the health effects turn out to be? Those
two vegetables are very beneficial for me on the blood type diet, which I
have been following for at least 12 years, partially dictated by the
necessity to avoid foods that are avoid for my system since I am a
non-secretor. Eating avoid foods can weaken my energy and ability to
function. If I eat several of them at the same time, I can experience pain
as well, such as a headache, stomach ache, or a stiff muscle. It's possible
to even have flu-like symptoms if I don't listen to the needs of my body.

I would appreciate knowing what other errors are contained in the book, so
far as you are aware, because of the extreme sensitivity of my body. I am
applying the Blood Type Diet principles to your recommendations and - for
example - not eating anything made with tofu or soy because I am a B blood
type and these foods are dangerous for my system. I am not convinced that
abandoning beneficial foods for my blood type as recommended on your diet
will improve my health overall, though I do understand the necessity to
reduce sugars and increase oils.

Sincerely, Janet

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Fiona on 21 Sep, 2011 08:07 AM

   

   Dear Janet,

   Thank you so much for your email, and for all your feedback and questions. I admire your dedication to keep your body in order, and to listen to your body. So, I will address as many as I can. Splenda: The book was written over 6 years ago, and since then we have seen some great improvements in availability of other natural sweeteners like stevia or xylotol, which we would recommend for sure over splenda. However, if all someone had was sugar or splenda and they could not do without, then sugar is still far worse than splenda. All of the science and recommendations regarding diet and supplements do continue to remain the same. Dr. Rosedale is working on releasing another book that has lots of updated topics and studies that have only shown to support his work the last 20 years. We have endless points that were stressed by Rosedale, that then took the rest of the progressive diets to embrace many years later. Dr. Rosedale is a doctor/scientist type, he is not a chef ;-) so we apologize about any of the recipes, and also for any needless expense you have gone to. These were produced by a low carb chef that was hired by Harper Collins. In our new book, Dr. Rosedale would prefer in fact not to write any recipes, and have an independent recipe book written. However, this time around we try each of the recipes before we have Dr. Ron approve them. I have found some amazing low carb recipes online that were wonderful, my favorite is the egg plant lasagna. I find that I always need to adjust the online low carb recipes a little, to switch out for a better oil, or not add agave which is crazy to think that people believe that is a healthy sweetener! Also, I love to make almond cookies which take just 10 minutes to make. Almond flour can get a little expensive, so I buy a bigger bag from http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/ which lasts forever, and you can switch it up a little, adding some full fat cream and then instead of a cookie they are between a bread and a muffin when baked in a muffin tray. I have tried several of the low carb pizza options out there, and well, we did not quite care for them much, if we find a good one, we will send it your way.

   I just asked Rosedale what his thoughts were on blood type diet, to follow is his response. The rules of diet preceded that by millions of years. Blood typing at most has only been around 10,000 years, before that all were the same blood type. Evolution has dictated what we should eat, blood typing is almost irrelevant, and the only relevance would be certain allergies to certain foods.

   Regarding the foods like beets, carrots, fruits, these have a higher sugar content, so that you feel good on these tells me you might be maintaining a possible slight sugar need. It would be impossible to do both diets and be successful in either. We have seen miraculous improvements in everyone that does follow the Rosedale way, it does not matter what their symptom is, diabetic, heart disease, obesity, too skinny.. etc, these are symptoms, when one works with the core foundation of health then the symptoms subside. I love watching people with diabetes for example, which is really a disease of accelerated aging, which we all want to try to slow down. In a diabetic however, it is so measurable from week to week, actually day by day the improvements. The science works, and has not changed, nor are there any errors in the book. The recipes, like I mentioned were not created by Dr. Rosedale. Regarding supplements, we take them all, and patients that have issues take them all as well. I have seen many just take the basics, magnesium, potassium, and a great fish oil like carlsons. Capsules and never tablets, and a good multi as well, and never take extra calcium.

   Please keep us updated on your progress and any great recipes you find so we can gather the tried, and loved ones that maybe we can share in a proper recipe book one day.

   Health and Happiness

   The Rosedale Team

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2. Support Staff 2 Posted by Fiona on 21 Sep, 2011 08:31 AM

   

   Dr. Ron wanted me to add, about raw carrots, it is mainly water, little fiber, but mainly what is left is sugar, but also in the form of fructose, which is the worst kind of sugar. Everyone has heard of high fructose corn syrup, and everyone knows it is not good, well mix fructose with water and you have the same thing. Dr. Rosedale breaks the food down in a scientific way, and then analyses what you are truly getting. The sugar and type of sugar you are getting in carrots far out weighs any of the goodness one might find in the micronutrients. Onions and garlic he mentioned, though their sugar level might be higher than say broccoli, there is a certain type of sulfer which is very hard to come by, and have some amazing effects, so garlic and some onions, those he does recommend.

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Fiona on 21 Sep, 2011 09:31 AM

   

   Janet, I had made a typo in the section on blood typing, so click on the link at the bottom of my message as online I have corrected it to preceded from proceeded ;-). Many thanks.

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