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Diet of the Month: The Sonoma Diet

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Beth Cooney, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

Jun. 13--EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of a monthly series that looks at new diets and what they're about.

One of Dr. Connie Guttersen's first jobs was counseling obese patients on medically supervised liquid milkshake diets.

It was the kind of job Guttersen, a nutritionist with a doctoral degree in obesity, loved and hated.

"It was gratifying to see their weight fall off," she says. "And frustrating, because then I watched so many of them gain it all back."

Indeed, one of the "patients," Guttersen worked with was her own father, a physician who ran the weight loss program. While not obese, he often followed the liquid diet to shed excess pounds. "He would lose weight, gain weight and be so discouraged. So was I."

The experience influenced Guttersen's passion to teach the obese patients habits that could keep them healthy and trim for life.

Those skills are outlined in "The Sonoma Diet," Guttersen's recently published book.

In a recent interview she describes her eating regimen as "something that takes the healthful best of Mediterranean, Asian and California cuisine, and modifies it for weight loss."

A family move 13 years ago, to California's Sonoma wine region -- where Guttersen took a job developing the chefs' curriculum at the Culinary Institute of America in Greystone, St. Helena, Calif. -- inspired her to develop the eating plan. "Because of my work, I've always been committed to good nutrition. But it was in the wine country that I really learned about food."

She describes Sonoma as a modified version of the Mediterranean diet, often extolled for its emphasis on heart healthy olive oil, lean meats, fish and poultry, whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables.

How do the two differ?

"The Sonoma diet is a weight loss plan that includes healthy, delicious foods. The Mediterranean diet, while very healthy, is not structured to achieve weight loss. People can stay fit on it. But dieters need more guidelines."

To that end, Guttersen has added restrictions and strategies to help dieters shed pounds faster.

Toss your candy bars and diet sodas. Get ready to use smaller plates. Cook up some healthy, delicious meals using Guttersen's 10 favorite super foods: almonds, blueberries, strawberries, spinach, tomatoes, whole grains, broccoli,grapes, olive oil and bell peppers. And uncork the wine bottle.

Here are some highlights of how Sonoma works: * Meals, snacks and recipes are based on inclusion of 10 "power foods," preferred for their plentiful phytonutrients and documented health benefits. A typical day might include a breakfast of whole grain cereal and milk; a lunch of black bean soup; halibut and vegetables for dinner; and string cheese, whole grain bread and peanut butter or a small portion of almonds for snacks. * Wine -- one 6-oz. glass a day-- is encouraged because wine's phytonutrient content is known to have healthful benefits. Nondrinkers can eat grapes instead. * Smaller plates. Dutiful Sonoma dieters will switch to seven-inch plates for breakfast and lunch to help with portion control. The diet also spells out what portion of a plate should be reserved for specific categories of food. For example, two-thirds protein, one-third grains or 1/2 grains, 1/2 dairy at breakfast. * Healthy fats -- olive oil, nuts, natural nut butters -- are encouraged. (Some diets, based more on counting calories and fat grams restrict these.) * Exercise. Guttersen calls it "very important," and says simple walking or "playing outside with the kids," is the best bet for gym phobics. "I don't like to prescribe certain kinds of exercise. It is too scary to many people." * Support. Dieters can join a paid, Web-based community at www.sonomadiet.com, where they can share tips and support. What's restricted: * White flour, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals with low fiber content ( a variety of whole grains and grains with high fiber content are encouraged). * Diet sodas (off-limits during the first 10 days and limited to two a day afterward). * Sugar (off-limits for the first 10 days and limited afterward). * Fruit (off-limits in Wave 1, strongly encouraged afterward). * Fruit juice (water and whole fruit are recommended instead; whole fruit has a higher fiber content and lower calories than fruit juice). * Liquor "because other forms of alcohol don't have the anti-oxidants wine does." * Junk food in general is out, although once a dieter has reached goal weight, Guttersen suggests snacks such as popcorn, fruit sorbets, sugar-free fudge or tofu pops and whole grain crackers with peanut butter. Guttersen says her sugar restrictions are the hardest part of Sonoma for some potential dieters to swallow. She limits sugar and artificial sweeteners in an attempt to eliminate the sweet cravings that are the bane of so many failed dieters. "I really believe for some people it's an addiction." Fruit, because of its high content of natural sugars or fructose is also out for 10 days. Sounds tough. "For too many people, sugar is their biggest hurdle to success. A lot of people are hooked on it. So we deal with that right away." And as for those beloved diet sodas, Guttersen is skeptical. "Studies show regular diet soda drinkers weigh more, than people who don't drink them."

Besides her sugar rules, there are few outright restrictions on the diet, just modifications to what prospective dieters may be eating now. "People ask me if the diet is low-carb or no carb and I tell them, 'It's good carb.' I think by now we all know the long-term benefits of low-carb diets have been completely debunked. What bothers me is bad carbs."

Things like doughnuts, white bread, white rice and pasta are not recommended for Sonoma dieters. Whole-grain breads, wraps and even pasta (she recommends Barilla-plus, which has a higher fiber content than traditional pasta) are allowed. While desserts are restricted during the initial phase of the diet, later they are allowed in the form of fruit cobblers, tropical Popsicles and the occasional piece of dark chocolate.

If there is a single make-or-break it factor to the diet, Guttersen says it may be the emphasis she puts on plate size and dividing plates into portion zones. "It is a little trick that means a lot." Cheating on Sonoma, she says, would constitute "trying to pile your food really high," on a seven-inch plate in an effort to consume more.

Other cheats? "The worse thing you could do is if you do go off the diet for a day, is to not go back on the next day. People are going to have moments when they are tempted."

After the first 10-day "wave" of Sonoma, dieters move into Wave II, where a greater variety of foods (including sugars) are allowed. Dieters stay on Wave II to achieve goal weight and then go to Wave III to maintain their loss. Guttersen considers a loss of about 2 pounds a week healthy and normal on the diet, although people with just a few pounds to shed may find their progress even slower.

"This is a lifestyle. And I think when people try the wonderful food, they will see it's a nice lifestyle."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Stamford Advocate, Stamford, Conn.

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