One of the biggest emerging markets in the diet food industry these days seems to be the diet cookie. From Dr. Segal’s Cookie Diet to a Japanese diet plan called Soypal, more and more companies are cashing in on the idea that people want to lose weight while eating sweets.

If you’ve ever considered a cookie diet, here’s a quick rundown of the major players in the market.

Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet

The first and probably most well known of the cookie diets is ">Dr. Siegal's Cookie Diet. Dr. Sanford Siegal is a D.O. and M.D. who lives in Florida and says he first came up with the idea of treating hunger with cookies back in 1975. He's a weight loss doctor who has written books about thyroid problems and weight loss.

He says on his blog that he discovered in the 1970s that hunger is the main cause of diet failures, and that a diet of around 800 calories a day is most effective for weight loss. Of course such drastically low calories would have to be accompanied by serious appetite suppression.

At the same time, he says he was researching natural substances that suppress the appetite and eventually developed his cookie recipe including amino acids that are known to suppress hunger.

He says he went with a cookie because it's small, portable and doesn't need refrigeration. He advised patients to eat six cookies a day, no other food for breakfast or lunch, and a small dinner.

Now the cookies are available at kiosks in malls across the country as well as ">online. They cost $8 for a day's supply. Keeping to a low-calorie diet of around 800 to 1,000 calories a day should lead to weight loss of about 15 pounds a month, Siegal says. The company also sells diet shakes and vitamins.

He says more than 500,000 people have used the cookies and shakes through the years, and that they can be used as his diet plan suggests or as an alternative to less healthy snacks as part of a diet supervised by a doctor. He suggests that people who follow the diet should always be monitored by a doctor throughout.

Smart for Life

The cookie war begins with Dr. Siegal and a Canadian doctor, Sasson Moulavi, who used to sell the Siegal cookies and use his plan in weight loss centers that were called Siegal Smart for Life. The original partnership came about in 2002 and Moulavi was forbidden from selling any products in his shops that weren't the Siegal brand, and he wasn't supposed to develop his own cookies, shakes or supplements, either.

But in 2006 he did just that, severing his ties with Siegal, changing the name of his franchises to Smart for Life and beginning to sell his own cookies, shakes and soups. Siegal says on his blog that he never shared the recipe for his cookies with Moulavi and that his products do not contain the special blend of amino acids that the Siegal cookies do.

Instead, the Smart for Life cookies are touted as being 60 percent organic and less expensive than other diet programs (a two weeks supply is $133.90 or about $9.50 a day).

In addition to the cookies, Smart for Life sells muffins, shakes, soup and dessert mixes, jams, salad dressing and coffee creamer. The company says that people can lose 12 to 15 pounds a month on the plan, and the website is full of revolving pictures of successful people who have lost 28 to 47 pounds in 22 weeks.

The company's rhetoric sounds a lot like Siegal's, as it explains that hunger and metabolic disorders are the most common reasons people fail at diets. They say their diet is different because the meal replacing cookies eliminate hunger, and people stay motivated because they lose weight quickly week after week.

Though you can purchase the company's food online, the website emphasizes evaluation by a doctor at one of their diet centers (they're found in 12 states, the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces). A first visit to the center involves bloodwork, a physical, recording of your medical history, lab work as required to determine if you have a metabolic problem that also needs to be treated, and an electrocardiogram (patients at Siegal's clinics in Florida get a similar workup).

You can also be injected with a "Smart Injection" that "kick-starts your weight loss and makes you feel like you're bursting with energy."

The two companies are now fighting over which has the right to call its diet the cookie diet, and you can read much more about the partnership and how it fell apart.

Update: U.S. Medical Care Holdings, the company behind Smart for Life Weight Management Centers, filed for Chapter 11 bankrupcy on September 25, 2008. A Chapter 11 bankrupcy allows a company to stay in business while a bankruptcy court supervises a reorganization of debts and contractual obligations.

Hollywood Cookie Diet

The Hollywood Cookie Diet was devised by the same people who brought us the 48 Hour Miracle Diet and the Hollywood 15 Day Detox.

The cookies come in three flavors and are 150 calories each. Dieters eat four cookies a day instead of having breakfast and lunch. The company says the cookies are high in protein and low in fat, leaving people satisfied for hours. Each cookie has 20 grams of protein, 12 grams of fiber and a cookie-load of vitamins and minerals.

The diet was mentioned in an episode of "Lipstick Jungle" as the source of one character's radiance and weight loss. It's also been featured in writeups in OK, In Touch, First and Oxygen magazines. Word has it that Kelly Clarkson and other celebs have used the diet to slim down.

The site doesn't make a lot of big promises about how much weight people can lose, but testimonials on the site say people lost five pounds in three days and up to 20 pounds in two months on the diet.

The company provides recipe suggestions for the dinner part of the equation, including smoothies, salads and soups, as well as some more substantial meals such as roast chicken, stir fries and spaghetti.

Soypal

The latest diet cookie comes from Japan and is known as Soypal. This product has actually been available in Japan for a couple of years but is just starting to gain popularity stateside.

The cookies are made of soy milk and okara, which is the fibrous stuff left over after making soy milk or tofu. The cookies are said to help people lose nine pounds in nine days, and a testimonial says a cookie eater lost 15 pounds, but doesn't give the time frame.

Those who use the Soypal cookie diet are to eat one package of seven cookies a day as a meal replacement. They are advised to drink plenty of water, tea, soy milk, juice or other healthy liquids while consuming the cookies so the okara will expand in the stomach, leaving a feeling of fullness.

The cookies come in three flavors and there are 150 calories in a package. They suggest that the cookies be eaten in place of dinner, since people tend to eat the most calories at that meal.

Soypal cookies can be purchased online, up to five boxes at a time. A pack of a nine day's supply of cookies costs $49, or about $5.40 a day. They offer a subscription purchase program in which regular buyers get a rebate that increases over time. The company also says that the cookies can be used to control hunger as part of a different diet or even when you're not dieting at all.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 and is filed under Diet pills, drugs, supplements and devices, Diet programs. Both comments and pings are currently closed. Permalink.