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The Resolution Diet: Keeping the Promise of Permanent Weight Loss by David Heber, MD, PhD (Garden City Park, NY: Avery Publishing Group, 1999), 209 pp., $21.95, hard cover, ISBN 0-89529-872-4.

David Heber, MD, Director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, believes obesity can be blamed on four factors: food advertising, genetics, stress, and low physical activity. His antidote? Take responsibility for your lifestyle and stop being influenced by the food marketing industry. This book reveals the "secrets of success" that Heber claims are the key to permanent weight loss.

The Resolution Diet consists of using a meal replacement beverage, such as Ultra Slim*Fast, for two meals a day and adding other portion-controlled foods for a total intake of 1200 to 1500 calories per day. Other allowed foods include certain vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins. No additional fats are included. When target weight is reached, meal replacements are used for one meal a day.

Heber claims that meal replacements offer the dieter better control over calorie intake, they ease the anxiety associated with dieting, and they assure nutritional adequacy since they are fortified with vitamins and minerals. He advocates the use of these products as a lifelong strategy for weight control. However, no clear and concise guidelines for evaluating meal replacement products are given. The three scientific studies Heber cites to support his dieting strategy were funded, at least partially, by Slim-Fast Foods Company.

Heber also advocates avoiding what he calls "trigger" foods, such as nuts, cheese, pizza, salad dressings, butter, margarine, mayonnaise, red meat, fatty fish, frozen yogurt, ice cream, cookies, pastries, and cakes. He believes these that foods "turn you on and make you fat." His advice is to avoid these foods forever, including the low-fat or fat-free versions. He believes that by avoiding these foods one can learn to lose the desire for them. He also believes that no one can learn to eat smaller portions of his or her favorite foods.

One of the more outrageous claims in the book is that someone is morally superior if he or she can overcome the urge to eat certain foods. This just reinforces the myths that overweight people are morally inferior and that certain foods are "good" or "bad." Ideas like this only contribute to the fat-phobia and low self-esteem often found in individuals who are overweight or who have eating disorders.

The book does offer a potentially beneficial series of questions and exercises designed to help readers gain insight about their own eating behaviors. It would be more helpful, however, if the book provided information about how to use them to tailor the diet to meet individual needs.

One of the book's strong points is the discussion of exercise. Heber emphasizes the importance of both cardiovascular and muscle-building exercises in weight management. The information on relapse prevention, stress management, and social support, though brief, is on target. Unfortunately, Heber skims over many of the psychosocial issues involved with weight loss.

While some people may be successful in losing weight following this diet, the book reinforces much of what is problematic about dieting today--completely avoiding certain foods, eating only certain foods, and feeling guilty about enjoying food.