The Sonoma diet is a plan that is promoted as “the most flavorful weight loss plan under the sun.” The plan emphasizes the enjoyment of eating flavorful foods, rather than its restrictions.

The diet was developed by Connie Guttersen and is based on the cultures of the Sonoma region of California and of the Mediterranean coast of Europe. The concept behind her diet is based on the lifestyle of the people who live in the Sonoma Valley region of California, which is known for its wineries.

The Sonoma diet plan can be acquired by her books or by the online program, which cost $5 dollars a week. Either resource will guide you through the types and the amount of food to eat. And like many diets, it involves three phases, or, as she describes, waves that dieters go through.

Each phase involves different guidelines and recipes. However, a unique part of the Sonoma diet involves changing the sizes of plates and bowls along with a moderate consumption of wine.

The diet also has its version of “power foods”, which Guttersen encourages dieters to use as often as possible. Some of these foods are spinach, bell peppers, blueberries and broccoli. These foods are low in calories and high in nutrients and are frequently included in many of the plans weight loss recipes.

Diet Structure

Wave 1 The first wave or phase last 10 days and is designed to change eating habits. Like the South Beach diet, foods that contain large amounts of sugar and process flour are restricted. Of course this includes any types of desserts. During this phase you are told that you will see quick weight loss.

The basic purpose of wave 1 is to ween you off of high calorie, low nutrient foods. At times you may feel irritable and sluggish. This is just your body ajusting to its new eating regimen. If you can stick it out, this usually goes away as your body learns to make better use of its new energy sources.

Wave 2 During this phase, weight loss is slower, but consistent. The time spent on this phase is determined by the amount of weight that you need to lose. An important part of this phase is learning how to enjoy meals more slowly. As for the meals themselves, the recipes are more varied and wine is included with them if you like. However, desserts are still not allowed.

On this phase, you will be eating a lot of grains. The purpose of this is to take advantage of the fiber found in these foods. Besides being a source of some micronutrients, it also helps with the digestion of foods throughout your body, plus it has practically zero calories. So even though your body must burn calories to process it, no net calories are added to your waistline.

Wave 3 Once you have reached your desired weight, the Sonoma diet moves to its maintenance phase. On this wave, food is increased until your weight is maintained. This is done by increasing servings of fruits and vegetables. You are also now allowed to occasionally enjoy foods on the forbidden list.

Throughout all waves, you are to rely on a plate an bowl concept to control portion sizes. Plates are 7 inches and bowls can hold two cups. Diagrams in the books and on the online program demonstrate how the portion sizes of the food should fill your plate and bowls. According to Guttersen, this takes the difficulty out of having to measure individual portions.

Forbidden Foods

Even though the Sonoma Diet likes to emphasize and market itself by stating what foods you can eat, there are still forbidden foods that you are not supposed to eat. These are mostly foods that contain refined flours and lots of sugar. So foods such as cakes, cookies, white breads, cereals, and chips are a big no-no. The exception are for foods that contain the word “whole” before it, such as whole wheat or whole grain.

Overall Assessment

Like many diets, certain foods are restricted. This can be challenging at first, but if you are able to stick to it, in many cases you start to prefer the more healthier foods. Of course, since your addiction to food and overeating is in many cases psychological, getting over that hump will be necessary as well. The book does very little to address this point.

Because the diet emphasizes whole and fresh foods as oppose to just eating less of foods you normally eat, which for many of you are foods that are high in calories, overall it is a hearth-healthy diet, in addition to functioning as a weight loss diet. And even though it does promote the drinking of wine, this part is optional, as excluding it will not effect the effectiveness of the diet.

As for the cost, the foods on the diet can be costly, which can be a drawback for some, since whole and fresh foods tend to be more expensive. However, I do not fault the diet for that. Until society makes a better effort to make these foods more affordable, the shrinking of our national waistline will not happen anytime soon.

Another important element of weight loss is of course exercise. Guttersen does not address this, which is the plan’s only serious shortcoming.

In general, the Sonoma Diet is a workable and nutrient-rich weight loss plan. The foods not only support weight loss, they also encourage good overall health. This is very important, because your aim should be to just not only lose weight, but to also develop a more healthier lifestyle. The Sonoma diet does this, which makes it an eating plan that you can follow the rest of your life.

If you are reading this then you want to know if Strip That Fat really works. Well read on to see what’s inside.

In my opinion Strip That Fat really works because it takes into account balanced nutrition, motivation and long term sustainability.

The main crux of the diet is based on the idea of rotating the food in your meals over a 2 week period. This means you will be having smaller meals made up of the right foods more often. This really works because it confuses your metabolism and causes it to speed up - a proven, and very effective method for weight loss!

For me the diet breaks up into 3 parts:

The ebook - This explains exactly why most diets don’t work. Then it goes on to show how their step-by-step plan will work for you. I found this to be a fantastic motivator!

The diet generator - You simply add in your food preferences and the diet generator creates a 2 week bespoke diet plan just for you. It’s just like having your own personal dietician on call 24 hours a day!

The support Forum - There is massive support available in the members’ area on the Strip That Fat website. There is also a forum to exchange ideas, tips as well as share your successes and read about the successes of other dieters using the plan.

The Strip That Fat makers claim that dieters can lose 14lbs in just 14 days by dropping the top 10 unhealthiest foods and switching their diet to focus the top 10 healthy foods as listed in the system.

To me these claims are a little irresponsible. Everyone is different and some may lose this, some more and some less. The point of this diet is to focus on long term healthy sustainable weight loss and this claim slightly undermines this philosophy.

Also on the down side the slightly jokey, conversational style of the ebook may not be to everyone’s taste.

However, does Strip That Fat really work for me? YES! If you are looking for a fully comprehensive diet which provides healthy sustainable long term weight loss this is definitely my recommendation.

Will Strip That Fat really work for everyone: again I wold say that the main benefit of this program is that it is tailored to your needs as an individual so again YES.

The acai berry needs no introduction and is something that has a fan following in its own stride. It is then of no surprise that there are some popular celebrities who also follow the acai berry diet.

Probably the first celebrity who started the entire craze was Oprah Winfrey. She featured the diet review on her show and rated it as the number one super fruit on her list. On her show, Oprah had Dr. Perricone talk about the acai berries and how she used it to cut down on her weight as well.

Once the floodgates were opened by Oprah, more celebrities soon started to talk about this fruit and offer acai berry diet information. It was soon featured by Barbara Walters of 20/20, Rachel Ray, CNN, CBS and Fox News. Once it gained adequate fame, more celebrities started claiming to have used it at some point to help with the weight loss.

In addition to being on mainstream media,this diet is also endorsed by the likes of Brad Pitt, Owen Wilson, Denise Richards and surfing legend Kelly Slater as well.

Brad Pitt started using this fruit to help with the fat loss for his movie “Burn After Reading”. It was suggested by his personal trainer and helped him lose close to twenty pounds to get into shape for the movie.

Ever since Denise Richards was spotted drinking the acai berry in the juice form, more female celebrities started openly supporting the exotic acai berry as well. Some of these include Nicole Ritchie, Kate Hudson and Jennifer Hudson. Even 6-time Kelly Slater openly expresses her desire for acai berries ever since she discovered them in Brazil.

It is not only celebrities who endorse the use of acai berry. Even star restaurants make use of this fruit to draw attention considering the status it enjoys now. Silk Harvest is an exotic themed Asian restaurant known to use this berry as an ingredient in their menu.