Oprah’s Diet Expert David Katz

David Katz is one of Oprah’s diet experts.

Katz does not believe that diets work.

“If dieting worked, there would be a bunch of skinny people walking around,” said obesity researcher Dr. David Katz, head of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center…” From “Dieting most always fails in the long run,” published 04-22-07. [i]

Or maybe he does.

Despite what he says about diets not working, he has authored diet books [ii] [iii] and endorsed others. [iv] [v] [vi]

His integrity is similar to Oprah’s.

David Katz is a Yale MD who is a “colleague” (Katz’s own word) of Jorge Cruise.

An Associate Professor Adjunct in Public Health Practice at the Yale School of Public Health, he, together with Jorge Cruise, misrepresented that Yale endorsed their 3-Hour Diet scheme:

David's and Jorge's Misrepresentation

Yale's Truth

To give you a sense of how utterly corrupt Oprah’s experts are, this is what Katz had to say about Cruise in the Foreword to Jorge's and his book, The 3-Hour Diet:

"Jorge Cruise understands weight control. He knows that losing weight quickly is relatively easy, but that gaining it back with interest just as quickly is both predictable and devastating. He knows a fad diet when he sees one.

In fact, the one word I would choose to represent my friend and colleague to you is understanding. Jorge will guide you to both weight loss and lasting weight control with an incomparable wealth of understanding. He has done his homework, so he understands human metabolism. He understands the science of nutrition, the fundamentals of physiology. But what really sets Jorge apart is that he understands you! He communicates regularly with several million clients at www.JorgeCruise.com. He gets insight and feedback from the more than twenty-three million he advises on nutrition at America Online. He has been everywhere, talked to everyone, and listened with genuine interest, concern, and rare empathy. Jorge understands weight loss.

The 3-Hour Diet ^tm is the product of that understanding. This book will unquestionably help you lose weight and keep it off, because it is written by somebody who understands what it takes to get that job done. (emphasis in the original) Jorge knows that cutting out whole categories of food from your diet can't last. Most of us rebel against such restrictions, and pay the price when we do. He knows as well that even if restrictive fad diets could be maintained, they would still be a bad idea, because they are at odds with health. Jorge will guide you to weight loss, but not at the price of your health.

In The 3-Hour Diet ^tm, Jorge places a primary emphasis on the timing of food intake. This is a powerful insight. Eating in accord with this plan offers both physiological and psychological benefits. You will never need to be hungry, so there is no sense of deprivation. You do not need to jettison whole categories of food to get calories under control. By spreading food out in frequent meals and snacks, you lower insulin levels, reducing the tendency to make body fat. The plan is even designed to help maximize your body muscle without exercise.

If I may have two words to describe Jorge, then I would add caring to understanding. Jorge Cruise doesn't just understand how to help you lose weight. He cares about how you get there!

Because of this caring, Jorge will not resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention. If you want to lose a pound a day, look elsewhere. Jorge is courageous enough to say - quite correctly - that you should not be losing more than two pounds a week if you want your weight loss to be both safe and permanent. Jorge is also honest and correct in acknowledging that calories count, and all arguments to the contrary are smoke and mirrors.

Jorge Cruise has built The 3-Hour Diet ^tm on a foundation of deep understanding and genuine caring. To that can be added one more vital ingredient: experience. As you may already know, Jorge lived through, and nearly died from, his own struggles with weight and health. Yet he turned this situation around so thoroughly that he is now a role model of health and fitness for us all. Jorge is not sending you off to parts unknown; he is inviting you to follow a trail he has dutifully blazed.

The unique understanding, caring, and experience of Jorge Cruise come together in The 3-Hour Diet ^tm. This book is a gift you can and should give yourself if lasting weight control eludes you. And if you are one of those rare individuals who has your own weight fully under control - congratulations! Give this book as a gift to someone you love so they can get there, too!

The 3-Hour Diet ^tm is sensible and simple, practical and powerful, innovative yet intuitive. In the challenging quest for lifelong weight control, there are few who can guide us with the understanding, caring, and experience of Jorge Cruise. In The 3-Hour Diet ^tm, Jorge has paved the way to a healthier, happier, slimmer you. Follow it. In this excellent book, he is extending to you his sure and steady hand. Take it!

Now, for a more careful look at just some of what Katz had to say about Cruise in the Foreword to Jorge's and his book (quotes from the Foreword are in red).

"Jorge Cruise understands weight control."

Katz's (and Cruise's) bull (denial of the Laws of Thermodynamics) - “There is a popular nutritional axiom that goes like this: If the calories you eat equal the calories you burn, your weight will remain stable. If the calories you eat total more than the calories you burn, you’ll gain weight. Finally, if the calories you eat are less than what you burn, you’ll lose weight. The axiom makes sense most of the time, but it isn’t as black and white as it sounds.” From: Cruise, J. The 3-Hour Diet: How Low-Carb Diets Make You Fat and Timing Makes You Thin. New York, NY: HarperCollins 2005:85. Foreword by David L. Katz, MD, p.55.

True Fact - “The human body functions in accord with the laws of thermodynamics. If total food Calories exceed daily energy expenditure, excess Calories accumulate and store as fat in adipose tissue.” “Weight loss occurs whenever energy output exceeds energy intake regardless of the diet’s macronutrient mixture, reaffirming the first law of thermodynamics.” From McArdle WD, Katch FI, Katch VL: Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance (5th Ed.). Baltimore: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins (2001):840

Conclusion - Clearly, Oprah’s experts, Katz and Cruise don't understand even the most fundamental truths of weight control. Or, as with the Yale endorsement and Oprah’s own misrepresentations, they are lying.

"Jorge will guide you to both weight loss and lasting weight control with an incomparable wealth of understanding. He has done his homework, so he understands human metabolism. He understands the science of nutrition, the fundamentals of physiology."

In light of the above, what follows and stuff like this, the statement is malarkey and further evidence that Oprah’s hand-picked experts suffer from a severe lack of knowledge.

"Because of this caring, Jorge will not resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

True Fact – recall the Yale “endorsement” (above) and see here for faked MRI images.

Conclusion - Katz and Cruise do "resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

"He communicates regularly with several million clients at www.JorgeCruise.com. He gets insight and feedback from the more than twenty-three million he advises on nutrition at America Online. He has been everywhere, talked to everyone, and listened with genuine interest, concern, and rare empathy."

Katz's and Cruise's bull - I fail to see how anyone can "communicate regularly with several million clients," "get insight and feedback from (the) more than twenty-three million he advises," and  "be everywhere, talk to everyone, and listen with genuine interest, concern, and rare empathy." (minor changes made in quotes for readability)

True Fact - According to Jorge himself, Katz's self-acknowledged "friend and colleague," “Jorge Cruise launched his weight loss career in 1998.”  This is a quote from Jorge's website which is copyrighted 1997.

Let’s assume it all began in 1997 and Jorge has “coached” merely 3 million people. From January 01, 1997 until December 31, 2005, there have been 3,287 days (including two leap year days). Each day has 24 hours, each hour 60 minutes, each minute 60 seconds. From January 01, 1997 until December 31, 2005, 283,996,800 seconds will have passed. Assuming only 3 million people and no sleep, it takes Jorge about 94.6 seconds to “coach” a client. Once. Possibly less since I was figuring from January 1997 through December 2005. (http://www.jorgecruise.com/home/index.php?page=AboutUs)

Or maybe Jorge is not that busy. His book 8 Minutes in the Morning is copyrighted 2001. According to the back cover, by then he had “helped more than 3 million people slim down via his website www.jorgecruise.com.” Maybe no one else has used his services since 2001. Admittedly, more than 3 million is an open number. But even Mickey D, whose food Jorge seemingly promotes (their logo is on his website), is diligent enough to update its numbers. Incidentally, if we go from 1997 to 2001, the average time spent “helping” a client is about 52.5 seconds.

Conclusion - untrue and likely a "resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

"If you want to lose a pound a day, look elsewhere. Jorge is courageous enough to day - quite correctly - that you should not be losing more than two pounds a  week if you want your weight loss to be both safe and permanent. "

Katz's and Cruise's bull - 10 pounds in 2 weeks is more than "two pounds a  week" according to my calculations. This equals 71.4% of a pound per day, not quite 1 pound per day.

True Fact - Here are the official Amazon images and listing for the paperback edition of the 3-Hour Diet ^tm book: The 3-Hour Diet (TM): Lose up to 10 Pounds in Just 2 Weeks by Eating Every 3 Hours! and The 3-Hour Diet (TM) Cookbook: Lose Up To 10 Pounds In The First 14 Days. Katz is still the author of the Foreword. And the Foreword has not changed.

Inescapable Conclusion - Katz and Cruise do "resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention."

These are the covers of the books, see for yourself. Each is a hyperlink to its respective Amazon address, read for yourself.

Katz, Oprah’s expert, also endorsed a book called The Abs Diet. I think the book is garbage.

Here is what Katz has to say about this drivel:

"Clear, crisp, refreshingly sensible, and as entertaining as it is enlightening, The Abs Diet will reward its readers handsomely. There are few 'diet books' that I am willing to endorse; I endorse this one enthusiastically. If you have an abdomen, get this book!"

DAVID L. KATZ, M.D., director of medical studies in public health at Yale University School of Medicine and director of the Yale Prevention Research Center

The author is David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of Men's Health magazine.

Like Cruise he preaches that one pound of muscle burns 50 calories (sic) per day at rest (p. xiii), their websites look similar and he is in bed with Katz.

Zinczenko is also an alchemist. He claims he can turn fat into muscle. No one else can.

Well, no one telling the truth can.

Katz has other connections to Zinczenko. This is from Katz’s bio that appears on his website: [vii]

He is a contributing editor to O, The Oprah Magazine, and a member of the editorial advisory boards of Health Magazine, Arbor Nutrition Updates, The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and Men's Health, among others.

Katz is a member of the editorial advisory board of Zinczenko’s magazine.

Further, Rodale publishes the Abs Diet. Interestingly, it also publishes Katz's Flavor Point Diet. Both on the same day, too. Could there be a connection?

Abs Diet:          "Publisher: Rodale Books (December 13, 2005)" [viii]

Flavor Point Diet:       "Publisher: Rodale Books (December 13, 2005)" [ix]

Katz also lies about his own diets. For example, recall the following quoted earlier from the Foreword to The 3-Hour Diet:

Because of this caring, Jorge will not resort to deception or exaggerated sales pitches to gain your interest or attention. If you want to lose a pound a day, look elsewhere. Jorge is courageous enough to say - quite correctly - that you should not be losing more than two pounds a week if you want your weight loss to be both safe and permanent.

Look at his own book, the Flavor Point Diet. The image is from the amazon.com website: [x]

Note the very top of the book cover where it says, “Drop up to 16 pounds in 6 weeks.”

This is in excess of Katz's expressed “you should not be losing more than two pounds a week if you want your weight loss to be both safe and permanent” limit

It is a little shy of 3 pounds per week. (2.67 pounds per week)

It is clearly in Katz's unsafe and impermanent weight loss range.