Cold Baths and Blowing Up Balloons? WTF, OMG Diet?

By Heather M. Graham

The fact is I need to lose a few pounds. My Dad disagrees, but he loves me, thinks I'm beautiful and has always thought dieting was absurd. (He once made a declaration that the word "diet" was verboten in the house). Thanks Dad, but I'm still trying to shed those pounds.

As a health editor, I know the best way to lose weight and get healthy is to exercise and eat whole grains, protein, vegetables, fruit and a little dairy. I also know ice cream is not dairy; French fries are not vegetables. So whenever a new diet book hits Barnes & Noble, I'm curious as to how it "works." While most are a variation on exercise and eat right, some take a more radical line and suggest eliminating entire food groups or cutting calories so low that you are in a constant state of hunger (and probably grumpiness, to boot). The book Six Weeks OMG: Get Skinnier Than All Your Friends takes it even further. What can only be described as completely cray-cray, the book makes some, um, unconventional suggestions. Let's review some of author Paul Khana's tips:

Start the day with a cold bath. Soak for about 10-15 minutes, because it supposedly ramps up metabolism.
Skip breakfast: Khana says most people eat breakfast and most people are heavy.
Balloons will flatten your abs. All you have to do is blow hard into a balloon to strengthen those core muscles.
Doctors probably aren't qualified to comment on the diet. Though medical school teaches things like psychology, anatomy, physiology and pharmacology, it doesn't spend enough time on the relationship between diet and exercise.

Interesting. But I have a few questions:
1. Who the hell takes a cold bath? (Besides someone without a hot water heater).
2. Why did Khana ignore pretty much every study that says eating breakfast is essential to losing weight?
3. Balloons, seriously?
4. How is Khana (an actor) intimately acquainted with the full scope and impact of medical school curriculum?
5. Why would he right the book under the nom de plume of Venice A. Fulton?

In all fairness, Khana, also a "sports scientist" (I'd like to see his credentials), does advocate for daily exercise -- though he claims higher intensity workouts burn less calories -- and making one change at a time to see how it affects you. But two kind-of rights still don't make this diet alright.

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