Robert Rose Publications

Better Food For Dogs

And so the month of dieting, and best-selling diet books, begins. Judging by the stacks on our desk, this year's back cover theme is the anti-diet, with books like The Parisian Diet: How to Reach Your Right Weight and Stay There promising a "sensible and holistic approach ... not a flash-in-the-pan fad [but] a new approach to food and a way to celebrate life, helping you look and feel your best."

The socially conscious theme is also a common thread, with books like The Clean Plates Cookbook touting "sustainable, delicious and healthier eating for every body" (recipes include the raw cauliflower tabbouleh from M Café). For added effect, the glossary includes a list of movies to download, like Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, presumably for those nights when you're considering chucking the diet and calling Domino's. Oh, the late night dieting fun.

The recently updated version of Better Food for Dogs is a handy way to focus your 2013 diet resolutions on your dog rather than yourself (and get plenty of "exercise" by cooking). It sounds like any dog lucky enough to be put on this diet is going to eat a lot better than their owners most days. Get a treat recipe for your dog -- and who knows, maybe yourself -- after the jump.

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Comedy Central

Americans love fried chicken

Why are Americans so damn fat, and what can be done about it? A newly launched nonprofit organization, the Nutrition Science Initiative, is trying to find the answer to that mind-boggler. NuSI's goal is to "create a Manhattan Project-like effort" to solve the problem of obesity in the U.S. by focusing on nutrition.

Gary Taubes and Dr. Peter Attia founded the San Diego-based organization "in response to the skyrocketing prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the United States today and the estimated $150 billion in related healthcare expenditures," they say in a press release. Taubes is a science journalist who helped launch the low-carb diet resurgence with his books Good Calories, Bad Calories and Why We Get Fat. Attia trained in surgery at Johns Hopkins and the National Institutes of Health.

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Flickr/EvinDC

It beats French toast.

Remember Bill Cosby's classic 1982 routine about feeding his kids chocolate cake for breakfast? It went like this:

"The child wanted chocolate cake for breakfast! How ridiculous! ... And someone in my brain looked under chocolate cake and saw the ingredients: eggs! Eggs are in chocolate cake! And milk! Oh goody! And wheat! That's nutrition! ... And their father said, 'Chocolate cake coming up!!' ... And five children sat at breakfast and the morning music was playing and they were eating chocolate cake and singing songs to me: 'Dad is great! Give us the chocolate cake!'"

Cosby's creative take on the all-important first meal of the day (he gave them grapefruit juice, too!) didn't go over so well with Mrs. Cosby: "The skin and hair split and came off of her face so that there was nothing except the skull! And orange light came out of her hair and it lit all around! And fire shot from her eye sockets and began to burn my stomach! And she said, 'Where did they get chocolate cake from?!?'"

Thirty years later, Cosby's sweet breakfast idea has been vindicated. New research from a study at the University of Tel Aviv has found that eating dessert at breakfast could help promote weight loss for those with a sweet tooth, NASDAQ.com reports.

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The Paleo Diet

It's been a while since we heard about a new fad diet, but now comes the Paleo diet, which teaches followers to channel their ancestors by eating mostly plants and meat. Dr. Loren Cordain, the "world's leading expert" on Paleolithic diets, headed the creation of the self-proclaimed "world's healthiest diet." Cordain's system cuts out all grains, dairy, processed food and sugars -- things the earliest civilizations never ate. Meat, nuts, fruits and vegetables are the focal foods of the Paleo diet. So, say goodbye to your cup of ramen, the stuff in your rice cooker and your beloved Christmas sweets, it's time to worship Mother Nature by consuming more of Mother Nature.

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Need a change in your look and your diet before stuffing your face with turkey? This Swedish Diet commercial does its best to convince consumers to give in to the allure of ugly blonde wigs, blue dresses and bright yellow accessories. Plus, the green screen effects are magical. But the product sounds pretty fishy to us.

Anything involving the consumption of a tiny bottle of liquid pumped with that many chemicals, minerals and whatnot probably isn't the ideal way of getting into shape. According to the Swedish Diet site, users lose of average of 3-5 pounds during the first week. There's even a picture of an unidentified regal-looking doctor (or actor) to put his stamp of approval on the Swedish road to weight loss. Oh, and, the Swedish Diet company is based out of Largo, Florida. So much for authenticity.

Watch the ad after the jump.

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