Product Description
Dr. Smith’s diet has been featured on VH1’s number-one rated show, Celebrity Fit Club, where Hollywood celebrities follow his customized diet plan and compete to lose weight. Now, with The Fat Smash Diet, everyone will have access to the revolutionary eating plan that leads to lifestyle changes and permanent weight loss forever.
The Fat Smash Diet is not a gimmick or short-term fix. It is a four-phase diet that starts out with a natural detox phase to clean … More >>
The Fat Smash Diet: The Last Diet You’ll Ever Need
The Fat Smash Diet: The Last Diet You’ll Ever Need
April 24th, 2010 
Guru Jim 
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This is a simple book with straightforward advice. Easy to read and it costs only a few bucks, so everyone can try it. Fatsmash is not a diet. It’s rather a program for a permanent lifestyle change. Dr. Smith presents eating plan together with a reasonable exercise plan. The plan is indeed very sensible – there is no counting of calories but a slow, progressive change of eating habits and lifestyle.
The Fat Smash Diet program is very simple. There is no need for large, encyclopedic diet books. It’s unnecessary. In fact the Fat Smash Diet it is so simple that it is good idea to supplement it with another great book titled “Can We Live 150.” This book is much more comprehensive, with more emphasis on healthy living and longevity, proper nutrition being an important, but only small part of it. When you combine the advice from those two books, the only possible outcome is a slow but permanent weight loss over a period of a few months. Additionally I recommend signing up for daily yoga exercises. You won’t believe how quickly you will succeed. I did.
Rating: 5 / 5
I am nearing the completion of Phase I. I’m not the best of writers so what follows is pretty much stream of consciousness.
I am, however, a very fine cook and teach classes in my home. Maybe too good a cook, as what I prepare usually tastes so good that portion control is a big problem for me.
Knowing that I need to drop 30 pounds, it is time to find a diet and exercise program that suits my personality. Which is what the Fat Smash Diet has done for me because the recipes that I have pulled from the book are tasty. They are also repeatable meaning that you will want to make them again.
What the “detox” phase is doing for me is weaning me from my craving for wheat products, starches, chocolates, etc. Fruits and vegetables are not forbidden, so that there is a source for “sweet”. Four to five meals a day keeps the hunger pangs down, although I still have stayed hungry. Protein sources come from skim milk, egg whites, yogurt, tofu, beans and lentils in Phase 1. I am not a fan of dairy with the exception of yogurt. So, I have been making yogurt on a daily basis and straining it to thicken into a cheeselike consistency (1 quart low fat milk brought to 180 F then cooled to 105 F, add 1 tablespoon,no more than, yogurt (Dannon works as does Mountain High) and let sit in a closed unheated oven for 24 hours, then strain with cheesecloth; add chopped de-seeded cucumber and garlic if desired).
Now, by focusing on whole fruits and vegetables rather than processed products or juices, Fat Smash gets you into the mode of adding more fiber to your diet, which is excellent.
I eat oatmeal (not instant, which is so powder-y you don’t get any fiber) and I eat it savory, seasoned with a little Tony Chachere seasoning rather than with milk and cinnamon.
Recipes tried, the green bean salad (excellent) and the vegetable soup (also excellent, the mushrooms add a surprisingly nice flavor component. Carrot soup ( I think he messed up on the quantity of curry powder unless he was using very old curry powder. Three teaspoons seems more apprpriate than 3 tablespoons. Lentils and grilled mushroom, asparagus and asparagus broth, also an excellent recipe.
No white rice but brown rice is part of Phase 1. Normally I would prepare brown rice in a rice cooker from scratch but I am cheating and using the Success Rice brown rice boil in bags. One of the rare commercially produced products that is pretty good.
Will you get hungry? Yes. But if you can fight the urge to eat, your tummy will shrink and you will be less hungry the next day.
Have I lost weight? Going into day 9 the answer is yes. I have dropped at least 5 legitimate (not water weight) pounds.
Do you need to exercise? Absolutely. I’ve been doing the recumbent bicycle at 30 minutes and a heart rate of 135. I plan to increase as time goes on.
Major impact: I haven’t had any bread products, non-fruit sweets, or chocolate. The diet allowed me to burn out my constant craving for starches.
Have I cheated? Yes. Sort of cheating was to toast some lentil based pappadums as “chips”. I went to a Chinese cafe with the intent of getting a tofu dish, ordered Ma Po Tofu, and when I discovered it had pork and oil, I ate around it anyway. Still hungry, I went to a Middle Eastern restaurant for tabouli.
Best discovery: Find yourself a Middle Eastern buffet restaurant. Here in Houston, Dimassi’s is best. You’ll be able to eat tabouli, fatoush, greek salad, bean dishes to your hearts content. Lots of flavor and variety so you won’t get bored. No pita though. Watch the oil. Yep, definitely find a Middle Eastern cafe to eat at.
At first it seems like an overwhelming diet to follow. But you can get through Phase 1. You may want to stay in Phase 1 longer though.
Update 1: I have completed the Phase 1 detox and am pleased to confirm that by diligently following the recommendations, I have successfully eliminated my craving for bread products and white rice. I have been able to say “no” to naan at two Indian restaurant outings and home-made bread at one restaurant and at home. Of note is Dr. Smith’s recommendation that meals not be eaten too closely to bed-time. This has proved to be beneficial. Yesterday I made the asparagus and lentil soup. It is flavorful and filling, so, of all the recipes tried, all have been good. My weight has dropped 6 pounds from the start of the diet.
Uodate 2: Again, it is critical that you stick with the Phase 1 “Detox” program. It truly burned out the continuous cravings for bread and sweets in my case. I have been able to say “no thanks” on multiple occasions now to desserts and bread. I discovered that the sugar free Pep-O-Mint brand of Lifesavers is a good aid when one gets the craving for something sweet. Additionally, I’ve had the opportunity to make the gumbo, substituting a finely chopped chicken breast and spicy turkey sausage for the seafood. I used a vegetable broth (“Imagine” was the brand name). Be sure to prep all of the ingredients first before you make the gumbo to make it go easily.
Update 3: Right now, I have a crockpot going with chick peas, great northern beans and lentils cooking away, waiting to be added to onions, carrots, celery and spices. In addition to the significant lifestyle change brought about by reducing the amount of white rice, white potatoes, white bread, etc. from my diet, I have switched to organic fruits, biting the bullet and paying the (almost double) price. I have renamed “Whole Foods Market” “Whole Paycheck Market”. There is the issue of pesticides of course, when one increases one’s intake of fruits, but I am doing it more for the flavor benefit. Organic grapes and plums taste terrific. With the shift in my diet to home-made soups with lots of lentils, chick peas, carrots, bell peppers, chicken breast,etc. I have become overly aware of how much starch and sugar really is in most packaged products. Just comparing, for example, Special K, which is touted as a weight loss cereal (but has corn syrup and sugar in it) and Cascadian Farms Purely O’s (high fiber, mostly grain, no sugar but very tasty)…just clarifies that the Fat Smash Diet really is about a lifestyle change. You do start looking closely at ingredients lists. So the “10 day detox phase” really worked for me.
Update 4: On my last visit to my cardiologist we were able to confirm that I had lost 8-9 pounds since my previous visit. He remarked that it isn’t often that a patient of his actually follows his advice. But then there was a serious relapse in November and December brought about by stress at the office and more difficulty in sticking with places to eat at lunch that allowed Fat Smash Diet choices. Also, my friendship with a spectacular local chef at his Indo-Pak restaurant and my visits there for lunches (high fat, delicious naan bread. I have been able to avoid all breads, crackers, etc. with the exception of his. I learned that, for me at least, it is not possible to “have a special treat every once in awhile”. I really do have to cold turkey from bread products. So, I am having to start over again. I regained some pounds, but more critically, due to fatigue at the end of the day, I let my exercise curriculum slip.
January 1 and I am making a carrot soup from page 66 and the green bean salad from page 62. Rating: 5 / 5
Let me give you my stats. I am beginning this diet at 5′5, 250 pounds and I’m a 25 year old, male. I have been going to the gym and weight lifting for 1 year and have already lost 100 pounds prior to this. I got stuck and needed a change. I am going to update this review as I go along this diet. So keep on checking as time goes on…
I rated this book 4 stars because I believe that the jist of this diet is quite healthy and effective. However, the book is poorly written. I am a graduate student so it only took me 30min to read the book. The theory behind his diet is simple. He doesn’t go into a whole lot of depth explaining it. This can be both positive and negative. It’s simple to understand but if you are like me, you may want to more know of the “why?” behind it.
Also, the lists are a little confusing. If you stick with what “you are not supposed to eat” you will be fine. Even that list can be a little confusing because it’s not all encompassing. You will notice the phase two list has foods that you are now allowed to eat that you weren’t allowed to before. But those aren’t listed on what you can’t eat during phase one (corn for example). With that said, it’s my educated guess that you don’t have to follow the plan religiously. What i mean is, as long as you eat on a schedule (outlined in the book), do the excersize (also well outlined in the book)and do not eat the “bad” foods (or types of foods) listed during each phase you will lose weight.
As for the diet itself. The detox is simply 9 (I’m doing 10) days of the diet. It’s simply meant to wean you off cafine and refined carbs/sugars and cleanse your system. It is hard to do and takes some commitment. You will be lethargic and you will crave bread, meat and sugar. This is all part of detoxing your system. I will write more about this as I am completing it.
In phase 2 you add some lean meat, seafood, eggs, cereal and drink options. There are portions listed and you should stick to them as close as possible. The excersize is very important. He is asking at this point, that you do about 35 min of cardio 5 days a week. This shouldn’t be that hard. You can go to the gym, take a walk, walk the dog, walk around the mall, ride a bike, go to the zoo etc. As long as you are getting 35 min in.
In phase 3 you add some more foods including wheat bread/pasta and small desserts. The excersize is now up to 45 min of cardio 5 times a day.
In phase 4, he lists some recommended portions of fast foods, pizza, ham etc. The goal is to get 1hr of cardio 5 days a week and lift 2 days a week. In my opinion if you did 45 min of weights and 20 min of cardio 2 days a week then the hour 3 days a week you’d be fine. He’s not suggesting you power lift. Just tone up because you are going to be losing a lot of weight.
Another important element to this diet is to surround yourself with supportive people. He says this in the beginning of the book. You are working on changing life-long eating habits and it is not going to be easy. But having folks who support you is very important.
My Journey…
So far I’ve been on the detox phase for 6 days. The first few days were really hard. I felt like I was starving and was very tired. Now it’s getting better. I’m hungry 30-40% of the time. For most of my life I have been a meat and potatoes sort of guy. So tofu and vegis etc. didn’t sound great. But I’m actually doing well with it. I actually ate tofu and liked it. Not to mention all the good fruits. I weighed myself and I’ve lost 9 pounds in 6 days. This is kind of fast but not for a detox period. My body is getting rid of a lot of junk. Technically, I don’t think you are supposed to be eating vegi burgers but i did have one and it had a trace amount of seeds (which you aren’t supposed to have). I also drank a smoothy made with soy milk one day. Compared to waht I was eating, this isn’t so bad. I will post my weight at the end of this phase and keep updating.
Edit 1. I ended up doing the 9 days of detox as the book recommends. I weighed in at 240.4, That’s almost 10 pounds lost! I will say that I felt quite lethargic during this time and my muscles felt sore. So far I am 2 days into phase 2. My muscles are feeling better overal but have started cramping occassionally. However, my energy level is much higher and I feel good about the diet. I look forward to weighing in at the end of this phase. I will keep you up to date…three weeks from now will be the end of phase 2 and i will be into phase 3. Rating: 4 / 5
ok, i have always been skeptical about diet books–none of them ever worked. but…i tried this one. i started it in january of this year at the weight of 232. i lost 10 pounds in the first 9 days….40 pounds in the first 3 months…and within 6 months was down a total of 60 pounds which i have been able to keep off using his guidelines for how to eat for the rest of your life. my cholesterol went from 249 to 164 and my blood sugar corrected itself so i didn’t have to go on medication for being pre-diabetic. it’s the easiest diet i’ve ever done—once i got through the first 9 days. my hairdresser has done this now and lost 30 pounds. it’s an amazing diet–and all it really does it teach you how to eat healthy–we could all use lessons in that!! there are no special shakes or pills. it is a wonderful diet that helped me go from a size 20 to a size 12. i don’t know what i would have done without it. Rating: 5 / 5
I really wanted more substance in this book. Short little chapters, very little detail about diets, about the body, about why this diet is better or as good as other diets out there.
Basically you get a few pages welcoming you to the diet and then a list of foods to include and not include. That’s not a book. That’s a grocery list. I like the doctor a lot on the TV show but I hate to say the “book” is a little light weight. Rating: 2 / 5