Pritikin Diet Breakthrough: Why We Crave Fats

I began reading Pritkin Weight Loss Breakthrough book after reading Pollan's books "In Defense of Food" and "The Omnivore's Dilemma" (both reviewed on this site below). While Pollan never mentioned about Pritikin diet, I found that Pritikin's ideas reflected very much what Pollan had to say (i.e. avoid processed food, easy on the heavy meat emphasis, eat more plants, etc.).

The principle about the Pritikin Diet seems fascinating, but Pritkin Weight Loss Breakthrough is not the one to read to get an idea of the details of his diet plan as only one or two chapters are truly devoted to it. I really enjoyed reading about his explanation of why we crave fats and sweets and how to try and outsmart it. It really makes great sense that you will feel fuller eating a huge salad as compared to a 3 oz steak though the salad had infinitely less calories.

People keep saying Pritikin diet is really strict and not realistic but I dont see how? You never go hungry, you can eat sweet things like oranges and other fruits, you can eat even after dinner. However; I think the Pritikin diet is a much better alternative to many diets out there today.

All this being said there are a few things I disagree with Pritikin Diet about:

1. Some of his meal plans include diet coke. You can read here why I disagree with that. Plus if we're supposed to avoid processed food well, diet coke is processed food!

2. He advocates using low fat dressing. Research has shown that we absorb more nutrients in our veggies through some fat in the dressing. Also, most dressing is incredibly processed, there should have been some caution about this included. I think olive oil, some feta and freshly ground peppers and salt with a hint of lime mixed together and poured over a salad is unbeatable.

My rating of Pritkin Weight Loss Breakthrough book is for this book in understanding the Pritikin principle and not a statement of the diet in general, principles of which, I intend to incorporate myself.