So I decided to purchase Tim Ferriss 4 hour body diet and received it via Amazon on Friday and finished on Sunday.  I love the way this book is written–the first of its kind if you ask me.  The 4 hour body is a cross between a Wired magazine article (I’ve been an avid reader for many years), a scientific manifesto, and of course, the author using himself as his own ‘human guinea pig’.  The 4 hour body is a journey through the authors diet, fitness and sex life, versus the traditional diet book.  It was amusingly written, and to be honest, quite refreshing to see a health-oriented NY Times Bestseller that didn’t contain the word ‘skinny’ in any of the text.

I’ve had people ask me:  So what’s the diet all about?  Will I lose weight if I follow the ‘rules’?  Can the 4 hour body diet lose 20 pounds in 30 days be true? My answer is yes and no.  Let me explain:  You’ll lose weight by simply consuming clean food (as Mr. Ferris suggested).  However, you probably won’t stick to the dietary recommendations for the rest of your life.  Typical meals include no grains, and are replaced with legumes, clean burning proteins, no fruit, and lots of veggies (see photo of my 4 Hour Body Recipes below).  I do agree with Mr. Ferriss in that once you begin to regulate blood sugar–by keeping dietary sugars to a minimum–you’ll lose weight by regaining homeostasis (the non-Westernized kind).  You’ll also be less reliant on ‘eating every two hours’.  Let me explain:  If the average person (athletes aside) require food every two hours you are probably suffering from high and low blood sugar.  Yes, it is true that those who consume a typical Westernized diet will require frequent meals when beginning a ‘diet’ to stabilize blood sugar.

Finally, as a clinician, I believe lifelong success in changing your dietary-behavior relies on personalized dietary prescriptions (author recommends doing so), found in Nutrigenomics and diagnostic screenings (blood, stool, etc).  I encourage you to look through my website, especially the Services Offered section to see the list of diagnostic services I recommend and use in my practice.