The Dr. Nowzaradan diet
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Be aware: this is only the goal of this diet, not necessarily its outcome. Results vary from person to person. Consult your doctor or dietician before starting this (or any other) diet.
The Dr. Nowzaradan diet, also known as the Dr. Now diet, was devised by Younan Nowzaradan, a physician from Texas.
The diet is a (very) low-carb and low-calorie diet, designed to prepare you for bariatric surgery.
On the home page you can compare this diet to other diets.
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The diet is named after Younan Nowzaradan, known for the television program "My 600lb life" and the book "The scale does not lie, people do."
Dr. Nowzaradan is from Iran, where he studied medicine in Tehran, and now lives in Houston, Texas, where he works as a physician. Originally a cardiac surgeon, Dr. Nowzaradan went on to become a general surgeon.
Today, Dr. Nowzaradan is known for performing bariatric surgery on morbidly obese patients and for the television program "My 600lb life," in which he puts patients on this heavy diet in preparation for weight loss surgery.
Dr. Now asks patients to lose around 30 pounds (14 kg) in 30 days.
The patients in the program are typically people who weigh more than 600 pounds (272 kg). Losing weight should reduce the risk of complications in these patients, but it also shows whether the patients are able to adjust their lifestyle.
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The Dr. Now diet is intended to prepare patients for bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery is a term for different surgical techniques that can be used to reduce weight. Below is a small overview of the different techniques.
A gastric sleeve is stomach reduction surgery in which 70-80% of the stomach is removed. Because the stomach is made much smaller, you can eat less after surgery. It should also make you feel "full" faster.
A Gastric bypass is another method that is used for weight loss. Here too the stomach is reduced in size. In addition, part of the small intestine is placed at the beginning of the stomach.
This operation combines the gastric sleeve with a modification of the small intestine. Part of the small intestine is skipped by connecting the last part of the small intestine directly to the first part of the small intestine.
The idea is that you can absorb fewer calories, because the small intestine is shorter. On top of that the gastric sleeve limits the amount of what you can eat.
The laparoscopic gastric band is a silicone ring that is placed around the stomach, which reduces the amount of food that can enter the stomach. Unlike gastric reduction (gastric sleeve), the lap-band is reversible.
Read more about these techniques here.
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The healthline website states that only people who need to prepare for bariatric surgery should follow the Dr. Now diet. Also, the diet should be performed under medical supervision, including a physician and a bariatric dietitian.
In addition, healthline mentions that the diet should not be followed for more than 2 months.
The Dr. Now diet is relatively high in protein, (very) carbohydrate-restricted and low in fat. The diet also contains very few calories.
Read more about how many calories per thought is considered "normal" here.
The diet limits itself to a maximum of 1200 calories per day and can therefore be seen as a crash diet.
The purpose of this low calorie count is to make you lose enough weight to be allowed to undergo surgery by Dr. Now and to demonstrate that you can change your lifestyle.
In order to lose enough weight and adjust your lifestyle, Dr. Now mentions three important aspects: frequency, amount and type of food. These terms together form the abbreviation FAT.
The frequency is about how often you eat each day. The advice here is to eat 2-3 times a day. Consuming snacks in between these meals is not allowed.
Amount refers to the number of calories you consume. As mentioned earlier, the maximum number of calories per day is 1200.
The calories here are divided equally by the number of meals: 400 kcal per meal if you eat 3 times a day and 600 kcal per meal if you eat 2 times a day.
Type is about what foods you consume. When following the Dr. Now diet, low-carb, low-fat, high-protein and high-fibre products are chosen as much as possible.
Examples of products you should not eat are: bacon, full-fat dairy products, potatoes, candy, cookies, but also cashews and almonds. These are all products with relatively high calories.
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In addition to protein- and fibre-rich products, it is advised to use unprocessed products. Products such as candy, fries, potato chips and fruit juices are not allowed.
It is advised to drink enough water. Additionally, it is recommended to take small portions, as for example in the Smartsize me diet.
Dr. Now recommends that, at the beginning of the diet, you should make a list of foods you like. You then take off anything that contains too much fat or too much carbohydrates. Processed products are also removed from the list.
What remains on the list are products you can continue to eat during the diet (in addition to the healthy products that may not have been on the list).
Do not just start following this diet. Consult your dietician or (house) doctor first. Additionally, if you are overweight, please contact your dietician or (house) doctor.
One of the risks with this diet is that you consume too little of certain nutrients. The diet can also lead to changes in your intestinal flora.
Several daily menus of the Dr. Now diet can be found online. Below an example of a one-day menu found on healthline and health.usnews.
This example assumes three eating times in a day.
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Dr. Nowzaradan wrote the book 'The scale does not lie, people do (ad link),' in which he describes the diet in detail.
However, several other books and cookbooks have been written about this diet. We've listed them as ad links from Amazon, Apple and Ebooks for you below:
In addition, you can find books on the 1200 calorie diet, for example, "1200 calorie diet," and books on gastric bypass, for example, "A Diary of Gastric Bypass Surgery" and "Gastric Bypass Surgery."
On CBS sports radio's US podcast Gio & Jones (ad link), Dr Nowzaradan was interviewed about My 600 LB Life. Listen to the interview below:
Another diet that involves taking in up to 1200 calories a day is the 1200 calorie diet. Other crash diets include the Hospital diet and the 3-day diet plan.
Did you notice a mistake on this page? Please let us know.
As you see fit
The purpose of this diet is to prepare for a stomach reduction. Therefore you learn how to eat more often a day and in small portions. You must eat more often a day after a stomach reduction because otherwise you will easily run short of nutrients after the operation. It could also be that eating more often a day is better suited to this target group, because a higher percentage may have eating disorders or be emo-eaters. In itself it is fine and even advisable to eat as many unprocessed products as possible. Good for everyone. It's also good to pay attention to sufficient protein, which can help you lose weight. There is also nothing wrong with eating fewer carbohydrates. It's even effective for losing weight. Carbohydrates in our current diet are often found in many processed products anyway. So leaving out processed products, as this diet advises, already results in a carbohydrate restriction. I don't agree that 1200 kcal is called a crash diet. A diet of 1200 kcal can still be quite full and can also be maintained for a longer period of time. It will also be necessary to keep this up for a longer period of time if you are morbidly obese like the clients in the TV programme. I do think that for this target group, morbidly obese, it is difficult because they may be used to eating very differently with more convenience food. Even though it is necessary for them to indeed lose weight effectively so that they can undergo an operation such as gastric bypass.
With the professional help of a dietitian it should be easier to reach your goals. Please contact a dietician in your area or talk to a doctor before starting any diet.
Please take note that most diets do not have a scientific basis.
Consult your doctor or dietician before starting a diet, especially if you have a chronic condition like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, lung disease or kidney disease.
If you think you might have an eating disorder (like anorexia or bulimia), it is important to look for professional help. Contact your (house) doctor or find help elsewhere. Here you can find a list of several websites that can provide (online) help. These sites also provide information for people that know someone with an eating disorder.
