Live Long, Live Well with Robert Pritikin

Given that we're “hardwired for cheesecake” and have an ancestral demand to store fat for the winter (a trait which should have been selected out long ago, gosh darn it), how can we ever hope to eat well, lose weight, and lessen our risk of dietary-inspired disease? Health guru, biologist, and diet-book author Robert Pritikin believes that the classic weight-reducing diet of fruits, vegetables, and other complex carbohydrates, along with 45 minutes of exercise per day, is the way to go. He advocates eating small, frequent meals (up to and including “ruining your dinner” by “pre-loading” with a bowl of soup or a salad before a big lunch or dinner), mixing and matching low-calorie and higher-calories foods, and sticking with the by now well-known combination of one protein and two vegetables per full meal. Speaking before a mostly thin-bodied studio audience, he explains his theory of caloric density, making ounce-per-ounce comparisons between grapes and raisins, for instance, and encourages the crowd to eat more foods with high water and fiber content to ward off hunger pangs. And therein lies the rub. Most diets--now euphemistically called “lifestyle changes”--are difficult to stick with over the long haul, and I don't see that Pritikin's would be any easier to follow, especially as its low-calorie ethos does little to truly satisfy those daily cave-person cravings for high-calorie foods. Too, while telling us to “pre-load” on soup and salad, Pritikin should have carefully explained the difference between minestrone and potato soup, or between a salad topped with bacon, cheese, and croutons, vs. one with cucumbers, broccoli, and sprouts; and he could have talked more about the distinction between complex and refined carbohydrates. Despite these oversights, however, this inexpensive tape contains a nice amount of sensible, medically sound (albeit restrictive) advice, and would be a solid and popular choice. Aud: P. (K. Glaser)