Sue’s Morning Stretch: Morning talk’s all diets, all the time

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Diets, diet’s everywhere! January always brings an onslaught of people who want to lose weight and a host of notables offering ideas on how to drop the pounds.

Actor Tom Arnold decided that when his son Jax was born that at 300-some pounds, he needed to get fit, he told “Today.” The 54-year-old “stopped eating like a jerk. I really pay attention to what I eat.” Through exercise and portion control the 6’2″ Arnold lost 90 pounds in nine months. “There’s no other option,” he said if he is to be here for wife Ashley and their little boy, who was born in April. Now that’s a guy with a motivation to change himself. And that weight loss translates to about 2.5 pounds a week, a very reasonable way to do it.

Dr Ian Smith was touting his new book, “The Super Shred Diet,” while co-hosting on “You & Me This Morning.” Among his dieting tips: think of snacks as the “bridge between meals,” journal what you’re eating to see pitfalls in behavior in food choices. And only weigh yourself once a week, the good doctor says. Your body fluctuates sometimes in same day and if you weight yourself every day and see that it can be discouraging. Smith’s new diet is designed to help a person lose on average 20 pounds in 4 weeks. Hmmm.

Another person promoting his quick weight-loss book is celebrity chef Rocco Dispirito, via “Good Morning America.” The book, “The Pound A Day Diet,” is supposed to have you losing 5 pounds in five days. This diet has you drinking half your body weight in water and six small protein-rich meals — but only 850 calories a day in the first phase. GMA’s doctor, Dr. Jennifer Ashton, isn’t a big fan on rapid weight loss, saying it can be dangerous, provoking “electrolyte abnormalities, cardiac consequences” and a host of other medical problems. I’m not a big fan of the get thing quick approach. Too often it’s off and back on with a little extra.

— Sue Ontiveros


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