The Doctor's Diet

Emergency Room doctor turned TV host, Dr. Travis Stork has a new diet for you.  His plan starts with a break-up – with sugar. Beating an addiction to sugar is Dr. Stork’s secret to diet success. Could this diet be right for you?

Dr. Stork recently published a book describing his diet, called The Doctor's Diet: Dr. Travis Stork's STAT Program to Help You Lose Weight & Restore Your Health. The book explains the basis for his diet and includes meal plans and recipe ideas.

The Doctor’s Diet has three phases: STAT, Restore and Maintain. While you are following this diet, you are also expected to get at least a half hour of mild to moderate exercise a day. There are no prescribed exercises, just a mandate to “move your body” for 30 minutes. This is a great excuse to get out there and take a walk.

The first phase Travis calls STAT, which is doctor-lingo for "right now!" He wants you to start new behaviors immediately, which means changing your pattern of eating high-carbohydrate, calorie dense foods. Of particular interest is Stork’s opinion on artificial sweeteners.  He believes that they promote our sugar cravings and can actually obstruct our weight loss efforts. He points to medical studies that associate zero-calorie beverage consumption with obesity and metabolic syndrome.

The STAT phase usually lasts several weeks and gets your body used to a dramatically lower calorie intake and shifts your diet from carbohydrates to proteins and vegetables. Weight loss is immediate and rapid.

Following the STAT phase of the Doctor’s Diet, you move into the Restore phase. This is the time during which you are seeing the benefits of your new, healthier eating pattern and steadily losing weight. You follow the Restore meal plan until you reach your goal weight.

Once you are at your goal weight, you shift into the Maintain phase. As you would expect, this is your “diet for a lifetime” phase. Your meal options expand as your focus shifts to not regaining the lost weight. At this point, too, Dr. Stork says that your increased energy will lead you to some sort of formal exercise plan. At this point you are trim, healthy and feeling great!