GO-Diet (original source of the yogurt-carb exception)

Karen · **Posted:** Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:14 pm

GO-Diet by Jack Goldberg, Ph.D. and Karen O'Mara, D.O.
07-01-2001

I had a hard time with this review. A couple parts of this book made me angry enough to want to strangle the authors. A very few things that I read, I outright disagreed with. Yet other parts of this book were intriguing and informative and completely new to me. Overall I guess it was a good read, if only because it made me really think. This book also freed me somewhat in relation to my practically nonexistent intake of yogurt and grain products. Since I first read this book, I perfected a bread recipe that I can actually feel good about eating, and I bought a yogurt maker with which I make the most wonderful thick creamy yogurt.

Here’s where I first ran into problems. In the first sentence of the second paragraph of the very first chapter of the book is one sentence printed in boldface type that set me off, and that is: “Remember, the weight loss part of this diet is meant for fatties.”

Meant for FATTIES? Couldn’t they phrase that a little more tactfully? Oh well, I thought, I never pull any punches either, and I am known to use the word fat myself, so get over it, Karen. I read on and then on the very next page I found this:

“If you will indulge us a little, we bet that we could guess your eating habits. How about this? Bagel or cereal, coffee and juice for breakfast, followed by a ‘little piece’ of coffeecake and coffee at 10:00 break time, followed by a burger, fries, and a cola around noon, followed by a candy bar or cookies and coffee at about 2:00. Then there’s the snack of chips or pretzels and pop in the car or on the train, followed by a couple of chips or cookies while making dinner which will include pasta, potato, or rice as a side dish. A little dessert and maybe a cookie before bed? With a few variations (maybe soup and salad with bread at lunch), we’d bet this is pretty close to what you’re eating when you’re not on the grapefruit or cabbage diet!”

WHAT THE $%$%#(^(*??????????? How dare they lump all of us “fatties” together like that. We are ALL individuals and I’d be willing to bet that most of us got this way by eating the low fat way – which is certainly not what has been described above. I resent stereotyping, and it seems HIGHLY bad judgment to me for these doctors to offend their readers this way in the first couple pages of the book!

Then there’s the parts that I outright disagree with based on all my other research.

“if pan frying, cook all foods in olive or canola oil…..” COOK in canola oil? NO NO NO NO NO!! Please don’t cook in canola oil, heat turns that so-called “healthy” but very unstable oil into trans-fatty acids, the very worst and the only dangerous kind of fat, in my opinion (and in the opinion of many, many doctors). I do realize that this book has been out for a while and that the good doctors may have reversed their stance on this since - I haven’t tried to check on that. I am reviewing the *printed* copy of this book, and this advice horrifies me.

On page 12, …”you should keep saturated fats as low as possible”……..on page 45: “To date, we have not found any study showing the effects of reasonable amounts of saturated fats on people who eat a diet low in carbohydrate content. But we are taking a conservative approach with this and will continue to recommend, for the present at least, put a LIMIT ON SATURATED FAT.”

This contradicts the stance of many other doctors who HAVE managed to find studies and results on patients that show that eating MORE saturated fat may be the very thing that most effectively reverses excess blood cholesterol. Certainly my own lab tests bear witness to the effectiveness of eating large amounts of saturated fat, and by large, I simply mean about half of my average total fat intake is saturated.

Now, for the parts of this book that I most appreciated!

Regarding fiber, page 47: ”Fiber is plant material that is indigestible to humans. There are two main categories, soluble and insoluble. They are very complex carbohydrates digested by the bacteria which live in the intestines of insects like termites and herbivorous animals such as sheep and cows. We humans do not have this bacteria living in our digestive system, therefore most dietary fiber will pass through our intestines unchanged. Some bacteria may break down some soluble fiber with gas production (the bean effect) but there is no evidence that we benefit from their action.

That does not mean that fiber is useless. It can react with other things in our intestines with many beneficial effects. The first good effect is that fiber will hold water. This is the basis of the laxative function of many over-the-counter dietary aids to prevent or treat constipation. If you have enough fiber in your diet, your stools should remain bulky and soft. The second documented beneficial effect of high levels of dietary fiber is that it binds the cholesterol compounds secreted into the bile, keeping them from being reabsorbed into the blood. This has the effect of lowering blood cholesterol levels.”

And re: Fermented Milk Products, page 20: “There has been a lot of press in the recent years about yeast overgrowth and its effects on your health and well being. There is some reason to believe that high carbohydrate diets and the overuse of some drugs, like antibiotics, may promote abnormal yeast overgrowth in and on the body. One natural way to combat this problem is to use an ancient remedy that is natural and well tolerated by anyone. This remedy is to restore healthy bacteria to your body in the form of cultured milk products such as kefir, yogurt, and buttermilk.”

From page 21: “Recent research has also shown that among its many good qualities, these bacteria also stimulate the body to produce important immune response chemicals called “cytokines”. These molecules include interferons and tumor necrosis factor and therefore might improve our resistance to disease. They also form a great deal of bulk for well-formed, non-constipating stools. Even lactose-intolerant individuals can tolerate kefir, yogurt, and buttermilk. That is because the lactose in the milk used to make these products has been digested by the “good” lactobacillus. For example, the actual lactose left in the kefir made by a national manufacturer is 1% or less. IN THIS CASE ONLY,,,, AND WITH THESE FOODS ONLY, don’t count the carbohydrate on the package labels”.

The next paragraphs go on to explain why they are so sure that the actual carb content of (plain, unsweetened) yogurt, buttermilk, and kefir is just 4 carbs per cup, which is the amount that they recommend that you try to consume daily. (They actually performed their own tests under laboratory conditions to confirm these carb counts.)

And re: Ketones, page 33: There are two main ketone bodies produced. One is called “acetoacetic acid” and the other is named “beta-hydroxybutyric acid (HBA). Acetoacetic acid can spontaneously break down to form acetone and this is the compound which gives people on this diet a faint, but distinct smell on their breath. Other low carbohydrate diets advocate the use of ketosticks to detect these ketones in the urine, as a sign that you are really burning fats. However, these sticks, which are expensive, only detect the acetoacetic acid and acetone, which are less than one fifth of the ketones produced. The HBA goes totally undetected by this test. Many people never produce enough acetoacetic acid to cause these sticks to turn color, yet testing their blood for HBA shows plenty of ketones.”

All in all, this book was definitely worth reading and I have heard from some online friends that they have had good weight loss results when following it.

From the Author
Dr. Jack Goldberg states that his interest in the GO-Diet was not just scientific. It was very personal. With a strong family history of obesity and type 2 diabetes he cold see history repeating itself. He had gained over 60 pounds since his college days with most of the gain occurring after age 45. He states "this diet is my lifesaver. I've lost all the weight I gained over the years and I feel healthier now than at any time during my life. I hope the reader can take the same road. It's a radical change from all the propaganda we've been swallowing for the past twenty years, but what has that advice done for you? 50% of overweight people will become type 2 diabetic. Don't let yourself be one of them. It's time to get GO-ing on the GO-Diet."

View this book at Amazon

Note - A few years after my original review, this diet was revamped and published as the Four Corners Diet.

Forum rules

GO-Diet (original source of the yogurt-carb exception)

Who is online