Serotonin Power Diet

The Serotonin Power Diet was created by Dr. Judith Wurtman and Dr. Nina Frusztajer Marquis. In their book "The Serotonin Power Diet," They explain the brain's natural chemistry and how eating affects how you feel. The book teaches you how to turn off your appetite, lose weight and feel good without depriving yourself of carbohydrates. The doctors teach you to rely not on your willpower but on your food choices to help you curb emotional eating and lose weight.

Serotonin

• Serotonin is the feel-good chemical in your brain. It is made from the foods that you eat. When you don't give your body and brain the fuel it needs, you won't feel right. Serotonin relieves stress and produces feelings of happiness. Many people overeat in reaction to stressful situations. Their bodies are actually craving the carbohydrates to produce serotonin in order to calm down and feel better. Low-calorie diets and skipped meals can quickly reduce vital serotonin-making supplies. Coffee, aspartame, stress and lack of sunlight are all serotonin thieves and should be avoided.

The Diet

• There are three phases in the 12-week serotonin diet. For the first two weeks, you are required to eat three high-carbohydrate, low-protein, low-fat snacks a day about an hour before each meal. Breakfast and lunch are to contain a healthy carbohydrate source like fruit, vegetable or whole grains, and a lean protein source like eggs, poultry, meat or seafood. Dinner is mostly carbohydrates. For the next six weeks, you reduce the snacks to two a day and include protein in your dinner. For the last four weeks, eat one snack in the late afternoon and continue with your three meals a day. The snacks are starchy foods like pretzels, cinnamon raisin bread, waffles, marshmallows, crackers, cereal and graham crackers. If you follow these simple guidelines, the doctors claim, your weight loss will be effortless and easy.