Siegal Cookie Diet - Anatomy of a Low Calorie Cookie
The History of the Cookie Diet In 1975, Dr.
Siegal came up with a low calorie weight loss plan while exploring different methods of managing hunger for overweight patients attending his medical office in Miami, Florida.
During his research for a natural way to suppress hunger, Dr.
Siegal created an amino acid blend that he found was capable of prolonging the desire to eat.
This formula was part of his original oatmeal raisin cookie that was provided to his patients to consume.
6 cookies a day along with vegetables and a lean meat for suppertime would be all that is required to lose between 12 to 15 pounds during the first month according to Dr.
Siegal.
With his success, Siegal opened up more practices and created the cookies for his patients and several hundred other doctors.
But for most of the programs 30 odd years of history, it was not available to the public.
From 2002 until 2006, the cookies were sold through a weight management center franchise, until the partnership ended.
Then Siegal launched a national marketing campaign offering the product to consumers online, by phone and in stores.
According to Dr.
Siegal, over 500,000 people have tried the diet.
Nutrition Facts Currently there are five flavors of cookies sold in the Dr Siegal's Cookie Diet: chocolate, oatmeal raisin, blueberry, banana and coconut.
Cookies are 90 calories and dieters eat six cookies a day for a total of 540 calories.
Each cookie contains 2.
5 grams of fat, 5 grams of protein and a small amount of calcium and iron.
Ingredients include: wheat, flour, milk, eggs, sugar and other ingredients typically found in baked goods.
Siegal's original amino acid formula is still included in each cookie and remains a secret.
The product line-up grew to include shakes in the following flavors: pina colada, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and creme brulee.
The shakes also contain the amino acid blend so they do offer the appetite suppression benefits..
Each shake contains 140 calories, 1 gram of fat, 12 grams of protein and 9 grams of sugar.
Several books by Dr.
Siegal, green tea, water and a multivitamin blend are also sold as part of the diet.
None of these products however, contains the hunger suppressing amino acids.
Cost & Comparison Dr.
Siegal's Cookie Diet is sold in boxes by cookie flavor.
Each box includes 7 bags of cookies and each bag comes with six cookies, creating enough for a weeks supply.
At a price per box of around $60, a month's supply of the cookies will cost about $240.
The shakes are sold at the same price with each weekly box containing 21 pouches.
Compared to other meal replacement programs available by direct order the cookie diet is not as expensive.
For example, a month on the Medifast program is around $300 and the Nutrisystem plan will cost around $350 a month.
Customer Feedback & Warnings The online population reported significant weight loss while using the cookie diet.
However, medical professionals disagree with any diet that has a nutritional value of 1,000 daily calories or less.
Furthermore, medical professionals feel that any program that contains 1,000 calories a day is unhealthy and dangerous.
Compound the fact that almost no fruits or vegetables are consumed, and that the diet lacks variety, it is almost inevitable for most to become bored and quit.
There are also several key nutritional elements missing which makes this diet very incomplete.
Some dieters also criticized the cookie diet due to the difficulty in transitioning from the plan back to normal food.
Siegal came up with a low calorie weight loss plan while exploring different methods of managing hunger for overweight patients attending his medical office in Miami, Florida.
During his research for a natural way to suppress hunger, Dr.
Siegal created an amino acid blend that he found was capable of prolonging the desire to eat.
This formula was part of his original oatmeal raisin cookie that was provided to his patients to consume.
6 cookies a day along with vegetables and a lean meat for suppertime would be all that is required to lose between 12 to 15 pounds during the first month according to Dr.
Siegal.
With his success, Siegal opened up more practices and created the cookies for his patients and several hundred other doctors.
But for most of the programs 30 odd years of history, it was not available to the public.
From 2002 until 2006, the cookies were sold through a weight management center franchise, until the partnership ended.
Then Siegal launched a national marketing campaign offering the product to consumers online, by phone and in stores.
According to Dr.
Siegal, over 500,000 people have tried the diet.
Nutrition Facts Currently there are five flavors of cookies sold in the Dr Siegal's Cookie Diet: chocolate, oatmeal raisin, blueberry, banana and coconut.
Cookies are 90 calories and dieters eat six cookies a day for a total of 540 calories.
Each cookie contains 2.
5 grams of fat, 5 grams of protein and a small amount of calcium and iron.
Ingredients include: wheat, flour, milk, eggs, sugar and other ingredients typically found in baked goods.
Siegal's original amino acid formula is still included in each cookie and remains a secret.
The product line-up grew to include shakes in the following flavors: pina colada, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and creme brulee.
The shakes also contain the amino acid blend so they do offer the appetite suppression benefits..
Each shake contains 140 calories, 1 gram of fat, 12 grams of protein and 9 grams of sugar.
Several books by Dr.
Siegal, green tea, water and a multivitamin blend are also sold as part of the diet.
None of these products however, contains the hunger suppressing amino acids.
Cost & Comparison Dr.
Siegal's Cookie Diet is sold in boxes by cookie flavor.
Each box includes 7 bags of cookies and each bag comes with six cookies, creating enough for a weeks supply.
At a price per box of around $60, a month's supply of the cookies will cost about $240.
The shakes are sold at the same price with each weekly box containing 21 pouches.
Compared to other meal replacement programs available by direct order the cookie diet is not as expensive.
For example, a month on the Medifast program is around $300 and the Nutrisystem plan will cost around $350 a month.
Customer Feedback & Warnings The online population reported significant weight loss while using the cookie diet.
However, medical professionals disagree with any diet that has a nutritional value of 1,000 daily calories or less.
Furthermore, medical professionals feel that any program that contains 1,000 calories a day is unhealthy and dangerous.
Compound the fact that almost no fruits or vegetables are consumed, and that the diet lacks variety, it is almost inevitable for most to become bored and quit.
There are also several key nutritional elements missing which makes this diet very incomplete.
Some dieters also criticized the cookie diet due to the difficulty in transitioning from the plan back to normal food.
