Anyone could lose weight on 500 calories a day!

I have a good friend who just finished following the HCG diet. That's the one where you put some homeopathic drops under your tongue...I'm not sure it's really HCG. But she looks great and she swears the diet works. So, seeing that I was still skeptical, she let me borrow her book: The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau.

Let me just begin by saying, Kevin is not a good author. The only reason this book ever made the NYT Bestseller list is because so many people are so desperate to lose weight. And if you can lose weight on this diet, you can lose weight on ANY diet. It is unrealistic and full of lies. That alone made me so angry that I would not do any part of this diet that might cause money to enter Kevin Trudeau's bank account. He has such a thing for conspiracy theories, but if anybody is telling lies to make money, it is he.

From here on out, I am just going to share quotes from the book.
Page 7 "When you finish the protocol your metabolism is reset to the normal level...You will be able to eat any food you want."
Page 9 "Most importantly, when I finished losing all the fat, inches, and weight I wanted, I needed to be able to eat anything I wanted, any time I wanted, as much as I wanted, and never gain the weight back."
Page 19 "This does not mean you will be restricted to certain kinds of food. On the contrary, when you finish 'the weight loss cure protocol' you will be able to eat any food you want in any amount you want any time you want."
Page 29 The even better news is when you are finished with the protocol you will be able to eat any kind of food you want. You will be able to eat cheeseburgers, French fries, ice cream, cookies, cakes, breads, pasta, cheese, butter, cream, steak, pizza, Mexican food, mashed potatoes and gravy, virtually any kind of food you want."
Page 47 "To further prove that the treatment, in fact, cured the disorder, all patients must have the ability to eat normally any food he pleases in any amounts without regaining abnormal fat or weight after the treatment."

Compare those quotes with these:
Page 76 "Phase 4: This phase is for the rest of your life. It contains the simple easy to follow dos and don'ts that make sure..."
Page 105 "Phase 4 is for the rest of your life. This phase will consist of some basic and easy to follow dos and don'ts that will become your new, exciting habits."
Page 106 "The simplest rule to follow is to eat anything you want, as much as you want, as often as you want. The only caveat is only eat 100% organic food."

The "simple easy to follow dos and don'ts", the "new exciting habits" consist of a list that numbers 50 items! I'll just give you a taste (which is really about all you can eat on phase 4: the rest of your life!)
Page 106 "1. Eat only 100% organic food."
Page 107 "2. No "brand name" food. The rule here is not to eat food produced by publicly traded corporations. Remember, large publicly traded food companies are the enemy."
Page 107 "3. No fast food, regional or national chain restaurants."
Remember, this is THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!
Page 107 "4. Do a Candida cleanse."  Umm easy? I don't even know what that is!

It goes on to list a colon cleanse, a liver cleanse, a parasite cleanse, a heavy metal cleanse...and on and on and on. The list is so ridiculous. But it's the dichotomy of his first chapters that claim you can eat whatever, whenever, as much as you want and then the chapter where he finally lays out the phases of the diet and it is clear that you will NEVER be able to eat whatever you want, as much as you want, blah, blah, blah. I hate when I get lied to. I hate people who don't think I am smart enough to figure out their game. Kevin Trudeau's game is to make money by writing about a diet that is so impossible very few people could ever follow it, and therefore, they can't blame him when it doesn't work.

Please, please, please be careful if you do this diet. I have serious concerns about the healthiness of some of the procedures he recommends. And at the height of the diet, you are only supposed to eat 500 calories a day. Anybody could use weight on 500 calories a day but it sure doesn't seem healthy to me.