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Home » Diets that Work » ‘Carb Sensitivity Program’: The dumbest diet book?

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It landed on the desk at Science-ish headquarters with a thud: the 482-page Carb Sensitivity Program by Natasha Turner, a naturopathic doctor who penned the bestseller, The Hormone Diet. The skeptic in Science-ish was aroused. And after an inner battle about whether the book deserved any inkeven of the digital sortits promises to help readers discover which carbs will curb your cravings, control your appetite and banish belly fat called out for a debunking.

Now, this isnt about picking on easy, pseudoscientific targets. The reason for the urgency is this: we too often hail new miracle diets without questioning the shaky (at best) evidence supporting them. Just look at the list of reputable news outlets that have already covered Turners work.If carbs truly were the enemy, Yoni Freedhoff, an evidence-based obesity-focused doc, rightly pointed out, When one in seven Americans was on the Atkins diet in the early 2000s, we would have seen the obesity epidemic go away.

But lets examine some of the claims Turner makes in the book. First, she begins with irresistible questions readers will no doubt identify with: Do you have a sweet tooth? Do you get sleepy or mental fogginess after meals? Do you feel bloated, especially after meals? Do you have a very large appetite or an obsession with food? According to Turner, this means youre probably carb sensitive. According to Science-ish, this means you are probably human.

Still, Turner has the answer. A carb rehab program that will repair your metabolism so you become symptom free and lose belly fat. For beginners, there is no evidence whatsoever to support the notion that targeted fat loss is possible. (Check out Tim Caulfields book The Cure for Everything!) So any time you see a magazine or book promising to help you bust the belly fat, chuck it. Its a bold-faced lie.

Turner also suggests a supplement regime to aid detoxification. The detox concept should sound alarm bells in any thinking persons mind. There is reams of evidence-based literature on why the notion of a detox is bunk. But this group of scientists did a good job of summing it up: Detox has no meaning outside of the clinical treatment for drug addiction or poisoning. People are not full of toxins that can be expunged from their systems by systematically eliminating one food groupthough its an appealing concept. The body can deal with the everyday chemicals it encounters and it certainly doesnt need the Clear Detox hormonal health packsupplements from Turners own wellness boutiquethat she prescribes in the book.

Unscrupulous peddling aside, people who follow the diet in the book may indeed lose weight. But, carb-sensitive or not, anyone who consumed what Turner is suggesting for a typical dayone fruit smoothie in the morning, a carb sensitivity shake as a snack, immunity-boosting Ginger Chicken for lunch, and cauliflower and kale soup with turkey breast for dinnerwould shed a few pounds.

Like the followers of many fad diets, Turners readers may attribute weight loss to her design. Just keep in mind what Caulfield told Science-ish: These fad diets cause you to pay attention to what youre eating for a specific amount of time, which forces you to concentrate on your food, and the result is weight loss. You attribute this weight loss to a magical return on your investment in the book. Its not. (You lost weight) because you paid attention to what youre eating.

Now, Science-ish has shown before that comparative studies have found that just about every diet works to the same degree when it comes to losing weight. (See this trial and this one for more good evidence of that.) If it were as simple as following a fad diet, like the one Turner is selling, wed all be thin. But, as this recent survey found, women have tried over 60 diets by the age of 45 in an effort to keep trim. Were still overweight.

This should not be depressing news, however. Its freeing. We can stop putting money on diet books and lining the pockets of deceitful peddlers of pseudoscience, and get on with life.

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‘Carb Sensitivity Program’: The dumbest diet book?

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Home » Diets that Work » ‘Carb Sensitivity Program’: The dumbest diet book?