The Ultimate New York Diet - Busted or Must-Read?

According to author David Hirsch, buying his book, "The Ultimate New York Diet" has quick payoff: 5 inches off the waist and a 14-lb weight loss in only two weeks.

According to materials from Better Life Media, the producers of the clip below:

A staunch advocate of mind over matter, David can help you start reaching your health and wellness goals in just two weeks. David Kirsch, trainer to the stars, helps you: Achieve results without equipment or surgery; Set realistic goals and organize to accomplish them; Choose a workout to match your body type; Eliminate the "energy drainers" that hold you back.

Sounds good, but doesn't most diet propaganda? The questions to ask when considering any weight loss plan are these:

• Does it work? - Where is the evidence that these actions will lead to weight loss?
• At what cost? - What does it cost me in time, money, effort, and anguish (mental, physical, and emotional)?
• For how long? - How long does it take, and how long do the results last?
• Why does it work? - Is following this plan going to deprive my body of the nutrition it needs? (In other words, is this a starvation diet?)

Big Names

Supermodel Heidi Klum, also known as "The Body," claims Hirsch's expertise is what got her runway-ready only two months after giving birth to her second daughter.

Kirsch's plan is, at heart, just another low-carb, high-protein diet. If this is so, why all the hype about this particular book? It has only one claim to fame: the time frame. We've all heard the expression "New York minute," and the Ultimate Diet's name seems to be derived from the same idea - instituting major life change in a short span of time and getting major results, Kirsch tells us, is characteristic of New Yorkers.

In this vein, Kirsch includes 10-minute workouts for the dieter who's pressed for time (which, let's face it, most of us are). A fitness trainer and the owner of Madison Square Club, he certainly has the expertise to get you worked into a sweat in a short amount of time.

In the end, the "Ultimate New York Diet" falls flat. Billed as highly accessible and easy to follow, the book lays out three highly restrictive phases for weight loss:

1. No starchy carbohydrates, bread, sweets, fruits, fatty food, dairy, alcohol or coffee
2. One serving of carbohydrates per meal (Think: one slice of bread or half a cup of pasta)
3. Reintroduction of "bad" foods, "within reason"

For anyone with even a small knowledge of nutrition, this plan sets off a series of red flags. Firstly, separately foods into "good" and "bad" categories encourages eating-disordered thinking, and sets up unhealthy binges when deprivation becomes too much to bear (which, inevitably, it always does.) Secondly, the low-carb diet craze has been steadily losing steam, the wind taken out of its sails by links to heart disease, among other negative side effects.

Besides these already convincing arguments against it, the Ultimate Diet has to contend with the fact that rapid weight loss on a crash diet such as this is rarely sustainable, and serves to slow down, rather than speed up, one's metabolism. Add to this the knowledge that most of the weight loss sustained on a low-carb diet is water and muscle, as your body goes into ketosis and begins digesting itself, and Kirsch's face is looking less friendly by the minute.

Big Shame

...on David Hirsch for encouraging unhealthy habits with such alluring promises. And shame on you, if you engage in them!