This week on "Good Eats", Alton Brown talked about the diet he followed in
dropping 50 pounds over a nine-month period. You can Google to find remarks
about how he's now incessantly snacking on sardines and almonds, but here's
what the show had to say:

Every day, Alton has the following: fruits, whole grains, leafy greens,
nuts, carrots, and green tea.

Three times a week, Alton has: oily fish, yogurt, broccoli, sweet potato,
and avocado.

Only *one* time a week, Alton has: red meat, pasta, dessert, or alcohol.


So, a few comments:

1. The program didn't mention that Alton runs four miles a day these days.
That's a HUGE omission. If you run four miles a day, you can pretty much eat
whatever you want and not gain weight.

2. I wouldn't mind only having red meat, pasta, or dessert only once a week,
and I wouldn't really mind only having alcohol once a week, but doesn't that
fly in the face of all those studies which said that red wine EVERY DAY is
good for you?

3. I like a lot of variety. I don't think there are enough ways to cook
sweet potatoes for me to like them three times a week. At least with
broccoli, there are different variations, but sweet potatoes all taste
pretty much the same. Don't get me wrong, I like sweet potatoes just fine,
but three times a week seems like too much to me.

4. About the only way I'd be happy eating carrots every single day would be
as a kind of mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack. But I guess there are
people who eat potatoes every day without a second thought, so maybe I just
haven't given enough thought to all the different ways to consume carrots.

5. The program wasn't clear about whether the items listed on the "every
day" and "thrice weekly" lists were the *only* things eaten on those days,
and I thought the implication was that they were not. I thought the first
two lists were intended to be inclusive (as in, "include these in what you
eat that day") and the third list was intended to be prohibited (as in,
"only eat these on special days"), but that was not specifically stated.

6. Where do chicken, pork, eggs, beans, and non-oily fish or shellfish fit
in there?


Other than those, I think the diet looks okay, and it's obviously worked
wonders for him. Maybe it's time to buy whole grains (wheat berries, millet,
quinoa, steel-cut oats, brown rice, barley, and wild rice) and leafy greens
(collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale, spinach, cabbage,
Chinese broccoli, and lettuce. I bet radicchio fits in there, too, even
though it's not green.)

Bob