Oprah’s Diet Expert Jorge Cruise – The 3-Hour Diet

Eating Every Three Hours (debunked here)

Jorge Cruise’s deal (together with David Katz, MD) is a program where you basically eat every three hours. They claim that “this new way of thinking will make weight loss effortless.” (http://www.jorgecruise.com/home/index.php?page=HIW4)

This is not new.

For example, Cliff Sheats in his book, Lean Bodies (copyright 1992, Warner Books) had you eating about every three hours.

To support their diet scheme, Jorge and David have posted the following on the "How Our Diet Works" page at: http://www.3hourdiet.com/home/index.php?page=HIW3:

Studies suggest that people who eat the right foods every three hours lose fat around their middle first! Why? Because WHEN you eat is critical for increasing your energy, suppressing appetite and lowering the levels of cortisol, the belly bulging hormone!

A major study at the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto showed that by increasing the frequency of when you eat for just two weeks, subjects reduced the their levels of Cortisol by 17% 1. This study showed that a diet made up of smaller and more frequent meals not only lowered the levels of Cortisol, but also reduced levels of insulin and cholesterol.

By following the 3-Hour Diet™ and reducing the level of Cortisol in your body, it becomes easier to lose stubborn Belly Fat First™. By eating three meals, two between-meal snacks and an after-dinner treat under the 3-Hour Diet™ plan you will not only lose an average of 2 pounds per week, but you will improve your levels of insulin and cholesterol.

1 - Nibbling vs. Gorging: Metabolic Advantages If (sic) Increased Meal Frequency by D. Jenkins, et. al. (1999); Department of Medicine, University of Toronto

In support of their diet scheme, they cite only one reference. This one:

Nibbling vs. Gorging: Metabolic Advantages if Increased Meal Frequency by D. Jenkins, et. al. (1999); Department of Medicine, University of Toronto

The only article I could find that has this title and author is from the New England Journal of Medicine. Here is the URL of its abstract: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/321/14/929?ijkey=e1a5d2e59bb94a123cf15e28ea30ff575443e969&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Here is the official citation: N Engl J Med 1989;321:929–34. This means New England Journal of Medicine, published 1989; Volume 321: pages 929-934.

Apparently, Jorge and David are off by a decade.  It is not 1999. It is 1989.

Here is the abstract:

Nibbling versus gorging: metabolic advantages of increased meal frequency

DJ Jenkins, TM Wolever, V Vuksan, F Brighenti, SC Cunnane, AV Rao, AL Jenkins, G Buckley, R Patten, W Singer, and et al.

Abstract

We studied the effect of increasing the frequency of meals on serum lipid concentrations and carbohydrate tolerance in normal subjects. Seven men were assigned in random order to two metabolically identical diets. One diet consisted of 17 snacks per day (the nibbling diet), and the other of three meals per day (the three-meal diet); each diet was followed for two weeks. As compared with the three-meal diet, the nibbling diet reduced fasting serum concentrations of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B by a mean (+/- SE) of 8.5 +/- 2.5 percent (P less than 0.02), 13.5 +/- 3.4 percent (P less than 0.01), and 15.1 +/- 5.7 percent (P less than 0.05), respectively. Although the mean blood glucose level and serum concentrations of free fatty acids, 3-hydroxybutyrate, and triglyceride were similar during both diets, during the nibbling diet the mean serum insulin level decreased by 27.9 +/- 6.3 percent (P less than 0.01) and the mean 24-hour urinary C-peptide output decreased by 20.2 +/- 5.6 percent (P less than 0.02). In addition, the mean 24-hour urinary cortisol excretion was lower by 17.3 +/- 5.9 percent (P less than 0.05) at the end of the nibbling diet than at the end of the three-meal diet. The blood glucose, serum insulin, and C-peptide responses to a standardized breakfast and the results of an intravenous glucose-tolerance test conducted at the end of each diet were similar. We conclude that in addition to the amount and type of food eaten, the frequency of meals may be an important determinant of fasting serum lipid levels, possibly in relation to changes in insulin secretion.

Source Information

Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, ON, Canada.

If this is the article, isn't it from the Department of Nutritional Sciences, not the "Department of Medicine" as Jorge and David say?

And as far as the website's quote presented above, "This study showed that a diet made up of smaller and more frequent meals..." check out the abstract.

In this study, the nibblers ate 17 snacks. If this is a 3-hour diet, then I calculate David’s and Jorge's day as being more than twice as long as on planet Earth.

Untruths About Muscle and Metabolism

Jorge says,  “Lean muscle controls your resting metabolism. Yep, lean muscle tissue controls how many Calories you burn when doing nothing ... When resting on the couch, driving your car , sitting at the computer or even when sleeping in your bed.”

Muscle does not “control your resting metabolism.” Lean muscle contributes a decided minority to the number of Calories you burn while resting; 18% or less than one-fifth of the Calories. Here is a chart from a physiology textbook written by scholars, academics and real experts.

Oxygen Consumption for Various Body Tissues At Rest

Source: McArdle WD, Katch FI, Katch VL; Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance (5^th ed.); Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2001; p.192.

Clearly, the liver and brain have the muscle beat when it comes to what “controls your resting metabolism.”

Faked MRI Images

Dishonest image labeling.

There is this compelling image. Below the image are Jorge's and David’s own words. (I assume they meant magnetic resonance imaging.)

"Muscle loss happens on most fad diets, as shown in this cross-sections of thighs (by magnetic imaging)."  (This is Jorge's and David’s caption.)

This, Jorge’s and David’s "Secret," quite definitely says that “muscle loss = obesity.” This is incorrect Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or greater. That’s it. You can be obese with muscle gain, with muscle loss or with no change in your muscle. Muscle loss does not equal obesity. A BMI greater than 30 does (heavily muscled individuals might be excepted).

The other striking feature of this image is the associated caption: “Muscle loss happens on most fad diets, as shown in this cross-sections of thighs.” (Many people, especially those educated beyond grammar school, would have phrased it as “these cross-sections.”) This states unequivocally that obesity is the result of “most fad diets,” whatever a “fad diet” is (see the arrowhead). The visitor to the 3-Hour Diet website is led to believe that the picture on the right is what happened to someone following a “fad diet” and the picture on the left resulted from following their 3-hour scheme.

If you visit another of Jorge’s and David’s website pages, you will see the following compelling image and caption. The caption below contains their words. (Again, I assume they means magnetic resonance imaging.)

“Muscle loss can begin after age 20, as shown in cross-sections of thighs (by magnetic imaging). Only resistance training can restore youthful fat-burning muscle tissue."   (This is Jorge's and David’s caption.)

Clearly, this the same image as before. Only this time it is being used to show muscle loss allegedly due to growing older.

Well which one is it? Is the thigh on the right an allegedly obese one from following a “fad diet” (see above) or is it a thigh from being “age 40+” and having lost muscle from aging?  Is the thigh on the left from some "3-hour diet" (see above) or from being “age 20”?

Oprah is no stranger to lacking in integrity.

Besides possible conflict of interests and consumer fraud, she also engages in dishonest representations.

Here is what she says:

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.”

Here is what she does: 

Clearly altered images that not only reuse the same Oprah in two contexts, she uses a fake Oprah that has not existed for years, if ever.

This is Oprah: 

Big and fat. And without integrity.

Bad Science

David and Jorge say, “Each pound of muscle burns approximately 50 Calories every day just doing nothing.”

In the book Ultimate Fitness, Gina Kolata, wrote that the metabolic rate of resting muscle is very low. "Skeletal muscle burns about 13 Calories per kilogram of body weight over twenty-four hours when a person is at rest," citing researcher Claude Bouchard. Dr. Bouchard thus places the number of Calories a pound of resting muscle burns at 5.9 per day, about 900% less than Jorge. By the way, Dr. Bouchard’s work can be found in PubMed. Jorge’s does not appear to be. “PubMed is the free public interface to MEDLINE. MEDLINE is the National Library of Medicine's premier bibliographic database covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and the preclinical sciences. MEDLINE contains citations from the 1950's to present. There are currently over 14 million records in the database. MEDLINE collects from an array of over 4,500 biomedical journals published in the United States and internationally.”

Jorge and David say, “Each pound of lean muscle loss causes a 5 pound fat gain.“

One pound of lean muscle loss causes one pound of lean muscle loss, that is it. There is no obligatory fat gain from muscle loss. Fat gain is a function of a positive caloric balance, i.e., you take in more Calories than you use. If you lose a pound of muscle (or two pounds of muscle or ten pounds of muscle) there will be no weight gain in the absence of overeating for your activity level and current condition. There is just the one pound loss. Further, this statement is a calculation based on the flawed notion that one pound of muscle burns 50 Calories per day.

If you want a real-life example of what happens when muscle is lost and how the gaining of fat is not a necessary consequence, review some images from Auschwitz. See how fat those people got following the loss of muscle.

Jorge and David say, “The science behind the Jorge Cruise diet is simple. A slim body is determined by timing.”

If there were a list of factors that determine the slim appearance of one’s body, you can bet that “timing” wouldn’t be on it, except as a near to last placeholder. Prove it to yourself. A rule of thumb for determining the amount of Calories your body needs at rest is to multiply your weight in pounds by 15. Take your weight. Multiply your weight in pounds by 15 and eat that number of Calories in three meals for one week. Weigh yourself again. Now eat triple that number of Calories in 5 meals with one meal every three hours. Do this for one week. Weigh yourself. Check the mirror to see if you appear slimmer. See. “Timing” did not prevent you from gaining weight and becoming less slim.

Consumer Fraud, A Faked Endorsement

This has been covered elsewhere.