But that doesn't stop dieters, or publishers, from trying again in January.
This season, among the new crop of diet books, the trend is to downplay fad fare such as grapefruit, peanut butter and cabbage-soup diets in favor of health/nutrition education and sustainable "diets" maintained for a lifetime.
Many of the new books share a consensus that reducing carbs to a moderate level (not necessarily low-carb) is good. So too, cutting down sharply on sugars - especially refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. The goal: a "balanced" diet of wholesome fresh foods.
On the health side, nutritional healing has gone mainstream as research supports the role certain foods and nutrients play not just in weight control but also in preventing, managing, even reversing health conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, arthritis, and more. Notable offerings include:
Joy Bauer's Food Cures: Easy 4-Step Nutrition Programs for Improving Your Body (Rodale), a guidebook for using food as medicine in the format of personal consultations.
The Omega-3 Cookbook: Over 100 Smart Recipes for Body and Brain by Michael van Straten (Kyle) goes beyond cod liver oil and canned salmon to make more of this beneficial oil-based nutrient (abundant in fish) available even in vegetarian diets.
Diet regimens come at us from all sides - from South Beach, Sonoma, New York and Beverly Hills, from Drs. Weil, Pritikin, Ornish, Atkins, and Phil.
That's why The Diet Selector: How to Choose a Diet Perfectly Tailored to Your Needs by dietitian Judith C. Rodriguez (Running Press) is a treasure that may be the last, or next to last, diet book you'll ever need.
