Dr. Sanford Siegal is getting used to being called “The Cookie Doctor.”

Since 1975 he has used his hunger-controlling cookies to help patients stick to a reduced-calorie diet.

Now, Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet has been used by more than 200 other doctors who have seen results with more than 500,000 people.

And the diet’s popularity is spreading with the opening of the first retail store in Beverly Hills two months ago.

Development

Dr. Siegal first started thinking about helping people lose weight when he opened his practice in Miami  (one he still maintains) in 1957.

In his general family practice he noticed that every other patient was suffering problems related to weight. “The first thing we had to do is get the weight off,” Siegal said.

The methods available, like medications, didn’t give Siegal the results he wanted.

“Diets have to be low calorie,” he said. “And hunger is a big problem, no matter how motivated the person is. As soon as hunger strikes, it wrecks the diet; that’s a big stumbling block.”

So he started studying hunger-suppressing foods. “We know that combinations of certain amino acids (found in proteins) are more effective,” Dr. Siegal said. About that time he also wrote his third book, Hunger Control Without Drugs. His fifth book, Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet: The Book (Hyde Park Publishers Ltd.), will be published in about five weeks.

The next step was to engineer a hunger-suppressing food. So he started experimenting in his kitchen.

“The cookie came to mind and that was a natural vehicle,” Dr. Siegal said. “Cookies are portable and don’t have to be refrigerated. A woman can carry them in her purse.”

After getting good reviews from family and friends, Siegal began prescribing the cookies as part of a diet plan, and getting good results.

To make the quantities of cookies needed to handle the volume of patients, Siegal moved the operation out of his kitchen to his own bakery, which he still supervises.

He became well-know in south Florida, and “The Cookie Doctor” was born. “I’m not delighted with the title, but I've gotten used to it,” he says.

The Diet

The cookie—which comes in five flavors: oatmeal raisin, chocolate, blueberry, banana and coconut—was designed to control hunger, Siegal says. “It does not melt away fat. It helps someone stay on a low-calorie diet.”

In the program, clients eat cookies when they get hungry—up to six a day for 500 calories—no breakfast or lunch and a 500-calorie, high-protein dinner.

“On 1,000 calories a day, there is not an adult who won't lose weight,” says Siegal, “so they have to burn up fat. Everybody loses weight at a rapid rate.”

Siegal is strict about a quality dinner. “You don't do better if you go lower than 500 calories, and metabolism starts to slow down. The body goes into protective mode." That doesn’t happen on the 1,000-calorie a day level, he says.

Admitting that he’s sometimes criticized for advocating such  a  low-calorie diet, Siegal points out he’s treated half a million patients in 50 years, “and hasn’t seen the first problem.

“I’ve tried many things in my practice and  nothing has worked as effectively, fast and safely,” Siegal said. He’s not a fan of surgeries, where many patients regain the weight, and which have an estimated 2 percent risk rate, he said.

Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet is motivating, Siegal believes, because  patients see results quickly. “About 10 pounds of weight loss per month is encouraging. And the success rate is good if the patient complies.”

Dr. Siegal encourages those who undertake the diet to work with a doctor who can follow his method,  or put a patient on a higher-calorie-a-day diet.

Two years ago cookiediet.com was launched so people could buy the cookies on line, followed by Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet kiosks in malls.

“They had a big following in certain areas, one was Los Angeles and particularly Beverly Hills,” Siegal said.  So the company opened its only retail location at 407 N. Bedford.

"Celebrities like the idea,” Siegal said. “For one thing, they don’t have to wait for cookies to be shipped in from Miami. A lot will send their chauffeur in to get their cookies.”

For more information, call 310-278-3438 or visit www.cookiediet.-com.