Don’t lose your head over this diet

The "Hilton Head Metabolism Diet" is another bestseller in the long list of diet books found in many bookstores today.

Its author Dr. Peter Miller, a psychologist, blames a faulty metabolism as the reason why people are overweight.

He calls this condition "metabolic-suppression" or the body's inability to burn up calories efficiently. In effect, his diet plan focuses on energy expenditure rather than energy intake.

Miller said his diet can alter or stimulate the body's metabolic rate and help the dieter burn more fat. All you have to do is to avoid alcoholic beverages, table salt, canned fruits, and vegetables. Skipping meals is not allowed since Miller claims over dieting can slow down the body's metabolism.

Miller recommends four daily meals that can be taken alternately until you reach your ideal weight. Three of these are called the Low-cal (low calorie) Phase, the Booster Phase (where calorie intake is increased by 300 to 1,100 calories), and the Reentry Phase (with a caloric intake of 1,100, to 1,500). He adds that a number of "overwhelming. recent studies" support his theory. But none are cited in his book, making it impossible to verify his claims.

"There's a lot of hype associated with this diet, which dilutes its effectiveness. In addition, eliminating canned vegetables makes no sense, and proscribing all alcohol, though certainly not unhealthy, may be unnecessarily restrictive. The various dietary phases represent, in my opinion, more magic than science," according to Dr. Jack Yetiv in "Popular Nutrition Practices: Sense and Nonsense."

The reason perhaps why Miller’s diet program works is because of its sound exercise program. These consist of 20-minute continuous exercises that should be done 30 minutes after any two of Miller’s four daily meals. These include walking, bicycling, swimming, rebounding (on a trampoline), rowing or dancing.

Once you get close to your ideal weight, Miller recommends muscle firming exercises like jumping jacks, push-ups or leg lifts which should be done three times a week. This is the saving grace of Miller’s diet.

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