The 3-6-9-12 Diet
The 3-6-9-12 Diet is a candid dieting book whose shared calorie-counting method led one woman to weight loss success.
Pamela DeSimone’s snappy diet guide The 3-6-9-12 Diet reintroduces general dieting principles to those who are struggling to lose weight.
Its tone charismatic and conversational, this text suggests only eating as many calories as can be burned; only eating foods with calories that can be counted; and limiting empty calories, like alcohol and carbohydrates. It suggests that, for the the average woman, the magic number is 300 calories per meal, spread across five meals per day. Set within this framework, the book functions like a personal food journal and an example to eat by.
DeSimone emphasizes finding easy, healthy alternatives to high calorie foods that actually taste good. To help, she records the calories which she ate per day at the beginning of her own 3-6-9-12 dieting, and shares realizations such as that her daily chef’s salad was, despite appearing to be a healthy choice, well over her per-meal calorie allotment because of its Thousand Island dressing, bacon bits, and swiss cheese. To adjust, she worked on replacing such ingredients with low calorie alternatives, like red wine vinaigrette. Such anecdotes, covering small, mindful switches and critical thinking about food choices, are straightforward about setting applicable examples.
DeSimone also covers her cheat food cravings, like fast food burgers and shakes, helping to soften the rigidity of the book’s recommended calorie counting method. Warm digressions regarding her personal motivational methods are a lighthearted and encouraging addition to the book’s broad, customizable dieting principles and interest in more mindful eating.
The book’s advice emphasizes low calorie fruits and vegetables as snacks; limiting sugar intakes; allowing for a cheat day every so often; creating eating routines; and landing on go-to meals that are actually tasty. These notions are easy to tailor to individual tastes. However, they’re also not fresh: calorie counting is a popular pop-dieting method.
Further, the book’s recommendations are based upon personal dieting experiences, not in medical expertise; its sources are limited to calorie counts on food packages and internet searches to determine a woman’s average caloric intake. It evades analyzing the nutritional value of many of the daily meals it names, which include cheeseburgers, artificial sweeteners, and frozen meals. In the end, its narrow analysis and limited research undermine its credibility.
The 3-6-9-12 Diet is a candid, personalized diet book that shares a calorie-counting method which led one woman to weight loss success.
Reviewed by
Paige Van De Winkle
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
