Cookie Diet

Being hungry and craving sweets are two of the main reasons people fall off their diets. But what if eating cookies and not being hungry was part of your diet plan? The Cookie Diet uses cookies to entice dieters into easy weight loss. After all, what could be more appealing than losing weight while indulging in one of our favorite treats?

But these are not your grandmother’s cookies. Instead they’re designed to be meal replacements — made with fiber, protein, and other ingredients intended to keep you full. They’re not nearly as sweet as Grandma’s, though they’re certainly palatable. They contain no drugs or secret ingredients, other than amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and fiber that act to suppress hunger.

Several cookie diet plans exist; the most popular are the Hollywood Cookie Diet, the Smart for Life diet, and Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet. Sanford Siegal, MD, a Miami obesity physician who developed a cookie formula in 1975 to help his patients lose weight, is considered the originator of the cookie diet concept.

Some of the cookie diets are designed for people to follow on their own with some online guidance; others are done under medical supervision.

How it Works

On the Cookie Diet, there are no decisions about what to eat except which flavor cookie to eat, and what to have for dinner. It’s a relatively mindless diet strategy that has reportedly helped half a million of Siegal’s patients lose weight.

The cookies contain select amino acids thought to suppress hunger, fiber, and other ingredients that digest slowly to help keep you feeling full. Eating 4-6 of the cookies a day will give you somewhere around 500 calories.

Dinners are simple: Lean protein and veggies, or a light frozen dinner and a salad. The dinners range from a low of 300 to a high of about 1,000 calories each, meaning the diet has a grand total of 800-1,500 calories per day.

Anyone following an 800-calorie per day plan is sure to lose weight, but medical supervision is recommended for people following very low-calorie diets (less than 1,200 per day), as they are likely to be deficient in nutrients. Most of the very low-calorie cookie diet plans recommend a daily multivitamin to fill in the nutritional gaps. (The self-administered cookie diet plans found online recommend higher levels, of 1,400 or more calories per day).

Siegal says his patients have no problems sticking to the 800-calorie limit, and usually drop about 15 pounds per month.

“One of the greatest motivators to sticking to a diet is when you manage hunger, decrease cravings, and watch the weight come off, and virtually everyone will lose weight at 800 calories,” he says.

Kaiser Permanente physician Evan Bass has been following the Smart for Life cookie diet for more than a year, and has lost (and kept off) 45 pounds.

“The first two weeks were the hardest,” he says. “I was tired with no energy for exercise but once I got used to it, I felt great and could be more physically active while eating cookies daily for breakfast and lunch.”

He says he loves the chocolate chip cookies, especially when they’re warmed in the microwave, and has not grown tired of eating 6-8 cookies a day.

As a result of being on the diet and checking in regularly at the Smart for Life clinic, Bass says he has seen his health improve, along with his food choices and his commitment to being physically active.

“To maintain my weight loss, I still eat cookies during the week and allow some indulgences on the weekend,” he says. “But I keep a close watch on my weight and when it goes up 5 pounds, that is my signal to be more vigilant about what I eat and my activity.”

What You Can Eat

The cookies that replace breakfast, lunch, and snacks range from 90-150 calories each. They come in a variety of flavors, including chocolate, banana, blueberry, oatmeal, and coconut. The cookies are convenient, portable, and don’t need refrigeration.

On Siegal’s medically supervised cookie diet, you have one meal for dinner, consisting of 4-6 ounces of lean protein with steamed veggies or raw veggies. The meal contributes about 300 calories. Eight daily glasses of no-calorie coffee, tea, water, or other beverages are allowed, but no alcohol, sweets, fruits, dairy, or other foods are recommended.

Dieters using the online cookie diet plans without medical supervision are directed to eat about 500 calories worth of cookies each day, plus a dinner made up of “sensible foods.” This approach controls daytime calories, but dinner could be a calorie disaster unless it is chosen wisely.

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