The Eat Clean Diet
by Tosca Reno

For the most part, I really like this diet.  It focuses on eating fresh organic, non processed foods, 5-6 small meals a day to keep the metabolism running and lots of exercise.  All very good stuff.  The book also gives helpful alternative charts to help you swap unhealthy ingredients for healthy ones, lists of "superfoods", restaurant ordering suggestions and suggested supplements among other helpful information.  It also included a page discussing the unrealistic expectations created by magazines and celebrities, a nice touch.  It's shiny and colorful making it easy to read.  A couple of the recipes included are really very good.  The Adobo Rubbed Pork Tenderloin was delicious.

I found it easier to follow than alot of diets.  It does attempt to present convenience by listing "cooler menus", menus of portable foods you can carry with you for meals on the run.  However, you are still cooking, or putting together, every meal.  I found it difficult to eat the variety suggested, especially of proteins and grains, and stay within the 2-300 calories per meal limit.  She also recommends eating eggs whites over whole eggs which is one of my pet peeves.  Egg whites contain virtually NO nutrition!  The yolks, while higher in calorie,  contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids and antioxidants.  The cholesterol in the egg yolk is the GOOD cholesterol.  Oatmeal is listed as one of the "superfoods" and while oatmeal is very good for you nutritionally, it is often not good for people with slow bowels, a problem most overweight people do have.  Alot of the recipes call for cooking with olive oil which can be tricky, unless it is very high quality olive oil has a lower smoke point and will go rancid when heated creating free radical damage when eaten.

On the cover of her book, Tosca Reno is wearing jeans and a sports bra, showing off her fabulous abs and muscled arms.  She looks great, no doubt about it, but looking that great takes alot of work, far more than a few simple dietary changes. Tosca may have lost weight on her eating plan, but she got that body with very hard work in the gym.  The truth is that if you are working that hard at the gym, you could follow any diet and have success.