Low-fat eating isn’t new. It’s just been reinvented a few times. Now, there are two distinct approaches vying for your attention. Let’s start with the heavyweight champion of information: Choose to Lose.
Nancy and Ronald Goor have spent fifteen years refining their Choose to Lose series. It is not a quick fix. It is a 500-plus page manual billed as a “food lover’s guide to permanent weight loss.”
Most diet books tell you what to cut. The Goors tell you what to count. Specifically, they focus on fat.
The premise is simple but detailed. You don’t need to fear carbohydrates. You should eat them. The catch? They must come from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The enemy is not sugar or starch. It is excess fat.
Building Your Personal Fat Budget
The Goors do not just say “eat less fat.” They teach you how to track it. You learn to read labels. You learn to spot hidden fats in your kitchen. You even learn how to navigate a restaurant menu without derailing your progress.
They suggest keeping a food diary. At first. This exposes your habits. It shows you where your weaknesses lie.
The book includes massive food tables. These lists detail the nutrient content of almost everything you might eat. The goal is clarity. You will know which foods are low-fat and high-fiber. You will know which ones are empty calories.
You can still eat your favorites. You just have to budget for them.
What does a day look like?
The Goors provide sample menus. One day might look like this:
- Breakfast: Oatmeal, whole-wheat toast with jelly, cottage cheese, strawberries, and skim milk.
- Lunch: Chickpeas, whole-wheat pita, tangerine, carrot sticks, and orange juice.
- Dinner: Tortilla soup, chicken, green beans, rice, squash, cauliflower, nonfat yogurt, and blueberries.
- Snacks: Nonfat yogurt and popcorn.
That is roughly 2,300 calories. The book recommends dropping to 1,500 or 1,600 calories for weight loss. No supplements are needed if you stick to a balanced diet.
The Expert Verdict
Is this plan sound?
Yes. It aligns with current expert recommendations. It is high in complex carbohydrates. It limits fat to healthy sources like olive oil.
This approach helps reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer. It works for seniors. It works for anyone looking to manage their health long-term.
The Goors summarize their philosophy clearly:
Eating Right + Exercise = Perfection
They include a chapter on exercise. They encourage variety. They allow for occasional splurges. This is not a restrictive punishment. It is a lifestyle adjustment.
Why This Matters Now
We live in a time of quick fixes. Keto. Paleo. Vegan. The Goors offer a different path. It is not trendy. It is thorough.
It relies on data. It relies on self-awareness. It does not ban groups of foods. It asks you to make better choices within those groups.
Is it easy? No. It requires reading labels. It requires planning.
But it is realistic. And for many people, realism wins.
Now, let’s look at the other contender. The Eat More, Weigh Less program. Does volume matter more than fat content? We will find out next.
This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.
Quick Take: Other Similar Diets
- A balanced diet that includes a wide variety of foods
- Encourages fresh foods but makes great allowances for convenience foods
- Allows occasional splurges
- Encourages exercise
- Not just a weight-loss diet, but a healthy eating plan
- Richard Simmons
- Weight Watchers
The Ornish Approach: Eating for Health, Not Just Weight
The core idea behind the Ornish diet is simple but extreme: eat more food by volume, but strip away nearly all fat. Dr. Dean Ornish built his reputation on proving that lifestyle changes can reverse heart disease. His “Lifestyle Heart Trial” showed that restricting fat to 10 percent of daily calories, while cutting out animal products, added oils, and sugar, can actually open up clogged arteries. Some insurance companies even cover participation in his hospital-based programs because the results are so well-documented.
This isn’t just a weight-loss gimmick; it’s a medical intervention disguised as a meal plan. The goal is to lower cardiovascular risk significantly, potentially reversing arterial damage that many thought was permanent.
Cooking as a Daily Practice
If you decide to try a very low-fat diet, you will spend a lot of time in the kitchen. The book Eat More, Weigh Less devotes more than half its pages to recipes because finding compliant foods is hard. You can’t just grab a sandwich; you have to construct it carefully.
A typical day looks like this:
* Breakfast: Scrambled Mexican Tofu with salsa, whole-wheat toast, and orange juice.
* Lunch: Black Pepper Polenta with Bell Pepper Sauce and Shiitake Mushrooms, an Italian Bean Salad, a tossed green salad, and Melon Sorbet.
* Dinner: Roasted Tomato Sandwiches, Anasazi Bean Soup with Corn and Chili, Oven-Roasted Potatoes with Fresh Herbs, a green salad, fresh fruit, and Apples and Raspberries in Apple-Ginger Consommé.
There is a nutrient table at the end of the book to help you track what you’re eating, but the burden of meal planning falls heavily on you. Variety doesn’t happen by accident here. You have to cook every day to avoid eating the same bland, fat-free foods repeatedly.
The Reality Check
Experts generally agree that Ornish’s research is sound. The arterial improvements are real. But there is a glaring issue: adherence. Most nutritionists argue that such a restrictive diet is unsustainable for the average person.
“Regardless of how healthful a diet may be, it’s useless if you can’t stay on it.”
The test of any diet is long-term stickiness. If you can’t live this way for years, the heart benefits won’t matter. For many, the social and logistical hurdles of eliminating all oils, dairy, and animal fats make this plan a non-starter.
Missing Nutrients and Hidden Risks
Even if you have the discipline to stick to the plan, you need to watch your micronutrients. Because fat is so severely restricted, you are at risk of missing out on fat-soluble vitamins like D and E. Unless you supplement, these levels can drop.
Calcium is another concern. While the diet allows fat-free dairy products, the sample menus only include about one serving a day. That is not enough to meet daily calcium requirements. You would need to consciously add other calcium sources, like fortified plant milks or leafy greens, to protect your bone health.
Exercise is encouraged, particularly walking, but the program offers few specifics on how to build a routine. You are left to figure out the physical activity piece largely on your own.
Who Is This For?
This approach is best for those willing to treat diet as a long-term medical management strategy rather than a temporary fix. It aligns closely with other very low-fat protocols, such as the Pritikin Weight-Loss Breakthrough.
Key characteristics include:
* Fat intake capped at 10 percent of total calories.
* Emphasis on whole fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.
* Strict prohibition of sweeteners and refined carbohydrates.
* A requirement for daily meal preparation to maintain variety.
* Integration of meditation and gentle exercise.
The bottom line? It works for heart health if you can live it. But for most women juggling careers, family, and social lives, the effort required to prep every single meal might outweigh the benefits.
This content is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice. Consult your physician before starting any new diet or exercise program, especially one as restrictive as this. The authors and publishers are not responsible for any consequences resulting from the use of this information.
