Can a Cookie Be Smart?: Sanford Siegal

HAWKING COOKIES at the mall is nothing revolutionary. But the baked goods on display at a new kiosk at Tysons Corner Center aren't your average dessert. They're the centerpiece of the Cookie Diet (Cookiedietonline.com). Developed by Dr. Sanford Siegal in Florida in the 1970s, the plan has only recently been unleashed on the masses. (Vienna's Lifestyle Weight Management — Lifestyleweightmanagement.com — also stocks the cookies.) Fans fancy the simplicity of the regimen: When you're hungry, eat a cookie. Shun just about everything else, and you'll lose weight. We asked Siegal, who came to town to mark the opening of the kiosk, to explain the secrets behind his snacks.

» EXPRESS: How did you originally get the idea to combine cookies and a diet?
» SIEGAL: I've been treating obesity since 1960, and the biggest problem is always hunger. No matter how motivated my patients are, when hunger strikes, that's the end of the diet. So, I developed a formula of amino acids that are particularly hunger-suppressing, and I needed to put them in something. So, I picked cookies. At first, my testing was limited because I had to bake them myself, but I could tell it was immediately successful.

» EXPRESS: Do you still bake them yourself?
» SIEGAL: No, we have a bakery now. But I do still mix the hunger-suppressing formula. It's only known to two people — me and my wife.

» EXPRESS: What is it about this mixture that's so fabulous?
» SIEGAL: Everyone in the diet business knows protein is more effective at fighting hunger than carbohydrates. Our cookies have more protein than meat.

» EXPRESS: That sounds not-so-yummy.
» SIEGAL: They're good, but they're not great. I'm not sure anyone would go into a bakery and order these. We could have made them taste better, but if you overate the cookies, that would defeat the whole purpose.

» EXPRESS: Because your diet calls for eating just six cookies a day, and a small dinner, right? Are there any concerns about such a low-cal diet?
» SIEGAL: We advise people that this should be done under the care of their physicians. In our practice, it's 800 calories a day. I've treated over 500,000 patients and never had a problem.

» EXPRESS: But wouldn't anyone who exercises have a problem?
» SIEGAL If you're doing strenuous exercise, we don't recommend it. That's because from research we know that 800 is the right number — if you eat less, you don't lose faster. You might even lose slower because your body goes into starvation mode. And if you're exercising and only eating 800 calories, the same thing will happen.

» EXPRESS: Do you ever eat the cookies?
» SIEGAL: Only when I need them, which is not that frequently. I recently had a hip replacement, and that cut down on my tennis playing, which is how I maintain my weight. So, I ate cookies then.

» EXPRESS: How long do people generally stay on the diet?
» SIEGAL: It depends on how much weight they have to lose. Once they hit their goal weight, they need to increase their calorie intake or they'll waste away to nothing.

» EXPRESS: Madonna said a few months ago that her husband went on the Cookie Diet and lost interest in sex.
» SIEGAL: It's just not true that it has any effect on your sex life. Occasionally, we'll hear what sounds like the opposite. When people lose weight, their
self-image changes.

» EXPRESS: Maybe he was eating too few calories to have the energy.
» SIEGAL: I think you're giving too much credit to that form of exercise.