Sonoma Diet: Complex and Expensive

by Johnny Smith
(Augusta, GA, USA)

I tried the Sonoma Diet after seeing one of the books for sale in the bargain bin. After a quick read through the diet seemed straightforward and the claims made sense.

The Sonoma Diet focuses on ten power foods, such as blueberries, almonds and olive oil for example. And combining these into meals that are tasty and low-calorie.

It claims that combining power foods into meals create certain natural metabolic synergies that burn calories naturally.

Once you get deeper into the recipes you find two problems. Some of the ingredients are hard to find, especially if you don't live in a large metropolitan area or have a specialty food store convenient to you.

It's not necessarily the power foods but the accompanying recipe items that are hard to find. It makes for some interesting meals but I don't have access to esoteric Middle Eastern grains for example.

Another problem is even if you do have that kind of access buying the ingredients for the recipes will get expensive fast.

Blueberries aren't available year round and they're not cheap where I live. Extra virgin olive oil adds up fast too.

And some of those odd or rare recipe items (that I can't even find) cost a lot even if you only use a tablespoon for one recipe.

Add up all the time you'll use chasing down ingredients and you might not have enough left over to cook! If you're on a budget and your time is short, building Sonoma Diet meals will be difficult and drain your wallet.

Johnny

Note from Dr. Dan

Johnny,

The cost of dieting isn't mentioned very often, but it can be quite important. The better quality foods can be expensive.

The best diets use healthy staple food items -- lean proteins, a good assortment of fibrous and starchy vegetables, and occasional fruits.

The food is usually better if it's local. Why? Because if it's locally grown it will tend to be less expensive since shipping costs are lower, and it will have nutrients that are better suited for the climate in which you live.

For example, people at the North Pole need fatty foods more than they need bananas. And in the Bahamas it's better to eat oranges for their liquid and electrolytes.

Dr. Dan