Book Review: The Ultimate New York Diet by David Kirsh

I just finished reading the book, "The Ultimate New York Diet” by David Kirsh. The author is a celebrity fitness trainer who works with stars such as Heidi Klum and Ellen Barkin. The book includes an eating plan, supplement plan, fitness plan, walking plan, meal plan, recipes and information on how to eat out. There are some amazing recipes in the “Ultimate New York Recipe” section such as sesame chicken fingers, salmon cakes, cauliflower mushroom mash and power pancakes. 

His diet plan is low calorie, low carb, low fat and high protein. If you are following his plan you are consuming only 560- 1099 calories a day! He claims his diet plan will cause you to eat less- because you feel satisfied with fewer calories, will speed up your metabolism, will preserve muscle mass and help you burn fat rather than store it.  

Chapter 1 of the book includes “David’s Principles to Live By”. He recommends making the following 10 promises to yourself and that you revisit them often:

1. I will take charge of my life. Today is the first day of the rest of my life
2. I will be accountable. I will no longer be a victim of circumstances, my surrounding or others influences.
3.  I believe in the importance and value of self- improvement.
4. I believe that everything happens for a reason. Rather than allow myself to feel like a victim of bad circumstances, I will look beyond everyday challenges to figure out why they happen and how I can better control them.
5.  I love and accept myself. Among everything else I rank myself first.
6.  I will incorporate good living, healthy eating and spirituality into my everyday life. I’ll make it ritualistic like brushing my teeth. 
7.   I am the captain of my own ship called destiny
8. I make health and wellness my top priority
9. Failure is not an option for me. If I set attainable goals and reasonable expectations, I will succeed.
10.   I live in the present. I do not live with,” I should haves” or “I could haves”.

In the book he cites that studies published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the New England Journal of Medicine show that carb cutting generates twice as much weight loss within six months as fat cutting even when participants consume the same amount of calories. 

One of the most interesting tenets of the book, in my opinion, is that high protein diets generate more weight loss and preserve muscle mass. The reason he states high protein diets generate more weight loss is because protein burns more calories during the process of digestion (thermic effect of food). He states that researchers now know that your body burns 40 more calories per meal if it is high in protein rather than high in fat or carbs! During digestion,  he says, your body wastes just 2-3 percent of fat calories as heat, 6-8 percent of carb calories and a whopping 25- 30 percent of protein calories.

He also states that every pound of muscle that is lost results in 35- 49 fewer calories a day that the body burns for energy. He claims that numerous studies however show that increasing the amount of protein in the diet helps preserve muscle mass even when calorie intake is very low.

In addition to following his diet plan he also recommends taking supplements. He recommends ginseng as an energy booster and hoodia, 5-HTP and fiber (methylcellulose, guar gum, chromium) as appetite suppressants.

So if you’re looking for an interesting healthy living book to read this month, this may be the one for you!