Oprah Diet

No celebrity faced deeper humiliation and ridicule than Oprah Winfrey in the early 1990s. She famously lost weight through a liquid-protein diet, showing off her skinny figure in tight jeans as she wheeled a wagonload of 70 pounds of chicken fat across the stage on her popular TV show. Within a year, she was back to 237 pounds.

The entries in her diary from this period are poignant: Trying to be in the Spirit. The fat has stopped me from feeling. I’m so blocked. I cannot think… I cried in my office after someone mentioned my clothes and the way I’ve been dressing. Cried because I know one person having the courage to say something means a lot of people have been discussing it.

Enter Bob Greene, the personal trainer who helped her lose 85 pounds through sensible exercise and a nutritious diet. Two years later, she had kept the weight off and was able to complete the 25-mile Marine Corps Marathon race. Today, she has gained back a few pounds, blaming it on thyroid problems. The tabloids are saying she went through weight-loss surgeries. The authors give details on exercise plans and the mental aspects of dieting like emotional eating. Greene cannot advise you what to eat except in a general way because each person’s caloric needs are different and constantly changing. He believes that ultimately you have to learn to react to your hunger and eat for nutritional needs only and not to fulfill psychological needs.

“If you have to rely on a system (of counting carbs, calories, etc.), you won’t be successful,” he writes. “Your goal should be to meet your nutritional needs but stop short of meeting your energy requirements.”

The Oprah Diet is based on the U.S. government’s Food Pyramid plan. You should stay between 20 and 35 grams of fat per day, because going below 20 causes health problems and going above 35 slows weight loss. You eat six to 11 servings of starch, with one serving equaling a slice of bread or 80 calories. You eat three servings of fruit, with a serving as 80 calories or the equivalent of one medium apple. One vegetable serving is ½ cup of broccoli or about ten calories, and you eat three to five servings daily. Protein equals three of ounces meat or about 220 calories, and the diet allows two to three proteins per day. You can eat two to three servings of dairy per day, with a serving as the equivalent of one ounce of cheese (100 calories). Cut out sweets and alcoholic drinks.

Created: 2000

Categories: Low Fat, Celebrity, Activity Emphasis

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