The Suzanne Somers Diet: Great Way to Lose Weight?
“Get Skinny On Fabulous Food”?
“Somersizing!” For years now, for TV sitcom star Suzanne Somers has propagated a diet plan with this catchy tag. On the face of it, the diet plan caters to the propensity of glamour-struck Americans for convenient and scientific-sounding self-help regimens, a penchant evident in the number of self-help books available at retail.
The rationale offered for this eating plan is that one can lose weight the easy way by:
- Watching food combinations e.g., never have carbohydrates together with protein-rich or fat-laden foods;
- Having fruits and vegetables (a sound enough idea) by themselves.
- Avoiding dairy products and all “funky foods”, as Somers call them, such as sweets, potatoes, whole milk, and nuts.
The diet is really easy to follow since Somers does not recommend calorie counting or portion control at all. She assures adherents that they can basically eat all they want until fully satisfied.
Neither does Somers mandate a complementary regimen of physical activity and exercise. Realizing that many in the target audience are discerning and eager to do all they can, she pitches a thigh toner and other toning devices, as well as apparel and jewelry and prepared “Somersizing” meals on her website (www.suzannesommers.com).
Celebrity Endorser But No Expert
Suzanne Somers, born Suzanne Marie Mahoney on October 16, 1946, is an American actress who parlayed worldwide fame to turn self-help businesswoman and author. Suzanne attended Lone Mountain College (now known as the University of San Francisco) on a Music scholarship but had to drop out in her second year owing to a pregnancy and subsequent marriage. This ended in divorce three years later.
Throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, Suzanne sustained a modeling career and garnered minor movie roles. In 1977, however, she catapulted to worldwide fame on joining John Ritter and Joyce DeWitt in the award-winning ABC sitcom “Three’s Company”. On leaving four years later, her “movieography” on the Internet Movie Database shows, she essentially sustained the image of the ageless, dizzy blonde in a series of TV shows and B-movies.
- The Anniversary Game (1969-1970)
- Mantrap (1971-1973)
- Lotsa Luck (~1973)
Sky Heist (1975) - It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977)
- Three’s Company (cast member from 1977-1981)
- Happily Ever After (1978)
- Zuma Beach (1978)
- Hollywood Wives (a 1985 miniseries)
- Goodbye Charlie (1985)
- She’s the Sheriff (1987-1989)
- Rich Men, Single Women (1990)
- Step by Step (1991-1998)
- Keeping Secrets (1991)
- Exclusive (1992) (also co-executive producer)
- The Suzanne Somers Show (1994-1995)
- Seduced by Evil (1994)
- Devil’s Food (1996)
- ove-Struck (1997)
- No Laughing Matter (1998)
- Candid Camera (co-host from 1998-2000)
- The Darklings (1999)
Even before she had to leave “Three’s Company”, Suzanne showed her penchant for writing by publishing “Touch Me: The Poems of Suzanne Somers” (1980). Now close to turning 60, her 16 book credits have had to do with weight control and the “great lifestyle” one could achieve. Examples are: “Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bio-identical Hormones” (2006) and “The Sexy Years: Discover the Hormone Connection – The Secret to Fabulous Sex, Great Health, and Vitality, for Women and Men” (2004).
All this fame and glamour may qualify Ms. Somers to produce exercise videos, as Jane Fonda and Carmen Electra have done. Beyond making the brazen claim, “I have carefully selected and tested each item. As you know, I will not put my name on a product unless I truly believe it works…”, she does not bother to trot out any manner of credential at all (Somers, undated). Befitting a celebrity, barefaced claims and rebuttals are, in fact, her usual response to adverse medical opinion such as when the American Medical Association asked the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the bioidentical, soy-based hormone replacement therapy Suzanne espouses for menopausal women (Fortune, 2006).
Somers posits the effectiveness of her eating plan on the “fat-burning” effect of eating fiber-rich natural food and on eliminating sugar and white flour from the diet. Secondly, the actress agrees that adherents can expect to go through the two stages of losing weight and keeping it off.
Thirdly, one may credit Somers for including fiber and protein in her meal plans. These include the likes of “Somersize” whole wheat bread mix, Vegetable Fusili and whole wheat Spaghetti, Vanilla Protein Shake, and Cappuccino Protein Shake.
There is a validity of sorts in recommending a weight-maintenance second stage almost solely based on eating no more than 1,200 calories a day. Setting aside the practical value of a binge-then-control eating plan, one recalls that 1,200 calories is a starvation-level intake. In fact, 2,000 calories is the recommended minimum for moderately-active adults (USDA, 2007). The crux of the Somers diet lies in her theory of effective or ineffective meal combinations. One of the basic principles, for instance, is that carbohydrates and proteins are never good with each other because they cancel each other out.
This theory is unsound. Carbohydrates happen to be the most abundant biological molecules and fill numerous roles in living things such as storage and transport of energy (starch, glycogen) and as structural components (cellulose in plants, chitin in animals). As well, carbohydrates are absolutely essential to the proper functioning of the immune system, to fertilization, pathogenesis, blood clotting, and development. If it were true that simultaneous intake of protein would cancel out any carbohydrates ingested in the same meal, a hamburger sandwich would be “calorie-neutral” and not supply the person any incremental glycogen. Besides, salivary amylase already commences the process of digesting carbohydrates while proteins must reach the stomach to be broken down. It is just as difficult to give credence to the Somers theory that weight gain is caused by the enzymes in proteins and carbohydrates “canceling each other out” and effectively putting a stop to further digestion. It is quite specious to argue that half-digested proteins and carbohydrates are bound to be absorbed as unusable and hence, weight-increasing nutrients.
One of the attractions of the Somers plan may well be that, at the initial stage of pursuing weight loss, she merely recommends “proper” food combinations but sets no limits on how much fruit, vegetables, protein or high-fat foods should consume. Claiming that there is no risk in eating too much fatty food just as long as one never eats carbohydrates simultaneously is, to say the least, lazy science. In fact, quite the opposite may be true: restricting carbohydrates without dietary energy restriction does not induce weight loss (Williams et al., 2007) Unrestricted fat intake can be grounds for concern. Dr. David Celermajer, Scandrett professor of cardiology at the Heart Research Institute and the Department of Cardiology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (and trustee of the University of Sydney) is only one of many who sounded a warning that “…saturated-fat meals might predispose to inflammation of, and plaque buildup in, the vessels” (2003). A study he led subjected 14 subjects 18-40 years old and otherwise proven healthy to meals of high-fat carrot cake and milkshake. As expected, the massive intake of saturated fat hampered “good” cholesterol, the high-density lipoprotein or HDL, in its job of protecting the inner lining of the arteries from inflammatory agents that promote the build-up of fatty plaques. Third, the Somers plan is myopic for insisting that adherents do not need exercise to lose weight. The high activity rate of young people may support this but in middle age, metabolism slows down and makes weight gain more likely. Fourth, Somers gives lip service to following the food pyramid but neglects to add some vital food groups in each meal or food combination she introduces in her book. A savvy consumer can choose two or more combinations for one meal, of course, to get the nutrient balance needed. But this tends to negate the convenience so central to the Somers plan.
Lastly, Somers can be accused of marketing hype when she claims that “Somersweets” sweetener made of fructose has lower insulin response. This is patently false (though one concedes that fructose has 38% fewer calories than glucose or table sugar). In a review of literature, Daly (2003) concluded that “research has failed to show a consistent effect of dietary sucrose or fructose on insulin sensitivity” For eating plans that are not completely sound in scientific terms, the common recourse is to rely on a strong public relations push and the credibility of a celebrity endorser. Thus, the book, “Suzanne Somers –Eat Great, Lose Weight” starts out well by quoting a nutritionist, albeit glossing over his credentials. Reading on, we are chagrined to discover the nutritionist merely endorsing Ms. Somers as an ideal person to follow when it comes to diets. Given the lack of scientific evidence to prove the effectiveness of the diet it is not surprising that Somers plays up feedback by satisfied adherents. This one, for example, by a Miss Stefanie Kruger:
I started Somersizing on September 26, 2001. In four months, I dropped from 291 pounds to 231…I was desperate to lose a lot of weight before becoming pregnant again. My goal was to lose 60 pounds by the end of February 2002. I was seriously considering taking an appetite suppressant to help me in this endeavor. But that would mean no more nursing my 8-month-old daughter. My mom ordered “Eat, Cheat and Melt the Fat Away” for me online…After reading Suzanne’s book, I understood what my problem was…My body has a very difficult time processing foods eaten in the wrong combinations. I realized that I had eaten foods in the wrong combinations my entire life. That is one of the main principles behind Somersizing. You combine your foods in the centuries old traditions of the French…That’s right, you can still eat dessert. I purchase Suzanne’s products called SomerSweet to make these desserts simply because, in my opinion, it tastes better than other sugar substitutes. It is also practically 100% natural. It is part of the fructose family of sugars and causes no insulin response. I enjoy crème brulee, brownies, chocolate mousse and other wonderful desserts under this way of life.
