The Doctor’s Diet has become a very popular plan and people want to know if it meets expectations. This review will provide you with everything you need to know about it so you know exactly what to expect.
How the Doctor’s Diet works:
This plan isn’t really a diet. It’s more of a lifestyle change than anything else.
The whole point of the Doctor’s Diet is to get you to adopt a healthy lifestyle, which includes more than just eating. There’s also ways to improve sleep, exercise tips and more.
This plan takes a very standard yet philosophical approach to weight loss. There are a lot of obvious facts written there that most if not all of us already know. Things such as:
- Eat healthy/organic.
- Eat more vegetables/fruits.
- Stay away from bad carbs.
- Why so much food around us is bad (processed, chemicals, pesticides, additives, harmful ingredients, ect…)
- And more…
But in addition to the obvious, Travis Stork also wrote the book in a way that helps you adopt the changes he recommends. This is through his 3 phase approach: STAT, Restore & Maintenance. Here is a breakdown of each phase:
Phase 1: The 14 day STAT plan:
In this phase, you kick things off by switching over a new way of eating that will help initiate the weight loss, hence the STAT name. For many, this phase isn’t going to be easy. You’re basically going to set the foundations for eating right and after the 14 day period, things will ease up.
In this phase, the majority of the foods you’ll eat will be vegetables/meat, basically a low-carb meal plan (but there are grains/carbs too!). You will be allowed snacks in between meals as you go through this diet. Dr. Stork recommends eating nuts, particularly walnuts as a great source of protein, energy as well as satisfaction. At the same time fruits such as strawberries, bananas are allowed.
There is a limit to how many calories you can eat, but the best way to utilize the STAT plan in my experience is by simply never eating to 100% on major meals. This is an important approach to dieting that will help with weight loss while not making you go hungry. More unusual tips.
Examples of foods you’ll be eating on STAT: Fish, meat, potatoes, broccoli, grapefruit, apples, berries, whole wheat bread, tomatoes, cheese, , fresh peppers, and more.
Note: When eating fruits, you are allowed 2 servings a day.
Weight loss results? Even though STAT is meant to kick start the weight loss, results do vary. It is possible to lose 12 pounds in the 14 days of the STAT plan. Odds are your results will range within that number.
Phase 2: The Restore Plan (Also 14 days)
There is a lot more flexibility within the Restore plans, but at the same time major emphasis is on healthy eating, though there certain things you will be able to eat such as popcorn. In addition alcohol will also be allowed, but in limited proportions.
Within Restore, a majority of the foods you eat will now be spread between vegetables/proteins (meat/fish)/carbs (bread, fruits). But there will be more choices available. You’ll eat in the same manner as before.
Note: Snacking is a big part of the diet. A lot of suggested snacks in the Doctor’s diet are actually high satiety foods with low calories. So while you may “ruin” your appetite by eating them, your body will benefit from it.
Examples of Restore foods: Everything in STAT + cherries, bananas, oranges, wine, extra virgin olive oil, popcorn, vodka, wine, beer, pears, grapes, pasta (whole grain).
Weight loss results here aren’t going to be as quick as during the STAT plan but at the same time, the results you will be ongoing. Slow, but ongoing. Remember this is a long term fix, nothing short term whatsoever.
Phase 3: Maintanence Plan (Life long)
You will implement many of the lessons from phases 1 & 2 and try to adopt this diet into your life such as snacking in between meals. It’s going to come down to eating most of the foods you already had during the first 2 phases.
There will be more flexibility allowed, but in order to maintain results you’ll have to do things such as snack in between meals, exercise, and overall follow the guidelines within the book.
Additional details:
The fruits used in the diet are referred to as “Super fruits” because they’ll help you fill up faster (high satiety foods), get more healthy components and keep enjoying life.
There is also a lot of emphasis placed on eating foods from the sea. This doesn’t just come down to fish and shrimp, but also kelp.
There is a chapter on the health benefits of legumes which are basically plants that carry a lot of healthy components such as vitamins A, C, fiber, potassium and more.
Following the guidelines of the Doctor’s diet is truly a great way to improve your way of life. It’s not just going to help you lose weight, but also help provide a lot of other benefits: More energy, better sleep, a stronger you, better focus, and more.
I do also recommend this alternative diet if you have a situation where you’re in a bit of a hurry to drop some pounds. It’s also healthy, but less of a lifestyle change and more of a “stat” weight loss plan.
Pros:
- Endorses healthy eating.
- Provides a long term plan for maintaining results.
- Doesn’t just talk about foods, but other health components.
- If followed, helps decrease chances of diseases.
Cons:
- Pretty strict diet.
- For the most part, the information isn’t really new. The basic: Eat healthy & exercise.
- Some users complain about the wording in the Kindle edition of this book difficult to see (not really a con, but something to keep in mind).
The Doctor’s Diet Score:
3.5 stars out of 5. Very good long term plan. Not really a diet. Will require commitment.
Want faster weight loss results? This diet does that.
Conclusions on the Doctor’s Diet:
For the most part, this plan is a great approach to not just weight loss, but long term health. Really the only issues with this diet are:
- The Kindle edition being hard to read.
- Most of the information is stuff we already know about dieting.
Other than that, this plan is very solid. Though Dr. Travis does point out some obvious things, he also takes the traditional and most proven approach to helping people improve their health. This diet may be difficult to maintain for a lot of people, but at the same time it’s certainly worth trying especially if you already have problems that you need to deal with.
Like I said before, this is NOT a short term fix and it will require commitment to stay on. Keep this in mind. Overall a great diet.
If you’re looking for alternatives, you can also check out the #1 rated diet called the 2 Week Diet which provides both short/long term solutions while helping you eat healthy. It’s faster acting than the Doctor’s diet. There’s also another more moderate diet like this that’s good.
Both diets are great for health improvement. While the Doctor’s diet is more standard, the 2 Week Diet is better for faster results. There is also a long term solution after you complete the 2 weeks.