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Diets
Meal Based
QUICK FACTS
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BACKGROUND
PRO
CON
DIET and NUTRITION
EXERCISE
CONCLUSION
Common Misspellings
Whats better than
Smart for Life?
Diets
Meal Based
Smart for Life
A low calorie cookie diet supervised by a medical doctor.
Top Rated Diet Shakes of 2024QUICK FACTS
Start the Diet Now Advertisement
- Established: 2004
- Founder: Dr. Sasson Moulavi
- Headquarters: Boca Raton, Florida
- Accessibility: Centers and online
- Diet Type: Cookie diet, low-calorie
- Gender: Male and female
- Coupons: Get started by saving with these Smart for Life Coupons
Do You Know the Best Diet Shakes of 2024?
BACKGROUND
Eat decadent carbs like cookies and muffins and lose weight? Sounds great, doesn't it? That is the premise behind the Smart for Life diet. The program uses its own line of "no hunger" foods and its own interventions like vitamin injections that are used to correct any metabolic conditions. All of this is accomplished under the supervision of a medical doctor. Smart for Life promises to help you lose 12-15 pounds in one month as long as you adhere to their program.
The Smart for Life program is built on the premise that 25% of overweight or obese people have metabolic or hormonal conditions that prevent them from losing weight.
With a line of "no hunger" foods like muffins, cookies, soups, shakes and desserts, all of the foods are made with organic and natural ingredients and contain protein, fiber and amino acids. Most famous for the Smart cookie, the product line has expanded to include different flavors and products of their trademark line.
In the fall of 2010, Smart for Life introduced its first ever gluten-free product, a gluten-free Banana Chocolate Chip square. The square is low in calories and includes HeroFiber(TM), a super fiber, which includes ForteFiber(TM) Soluble Dietary Fiber, which helps to maintain cholesterol, glucose and insulin levels that are already within the normal range. By adding this new gluten-free product, the weight loss plan can now be followed by anyone who follows a gluten-free diet.
The program also includes education and motivation instruction to help you target the emotional and mental issues behind your cravings, binges and weight issues. As part of the program, you are teamed up with a physician who works one-on-one with you to customize a program and treat any underlying metabolic dysfunction that you may have.
Once you sign up, you undergo a comprehensive physical examination that includes blood work, an EKG, a Body Mass Index analysis and a discussion of the program vitamin and supplement component. In some cases, injections of Smart injections at done at specified Smart for Life Centers.
You work with the Smart for Life staff at the designated Smart for Life Centers each week to monitor your weight loss. Once you've reached your weight goal, you enter into Phase 2 of the program which is the maintenance stage. Constant contact with the trained health professionals is required until you feel confident enough to keep your weight under control on your own.
But the Smart for Life Medical program also requires that you receive an injection of hCG, a growth hormone that increases during pregnancy. hCG is a very controversial diet practice because its long-term health effects are not known and it is not accepted or approved of by the medical community. The Smart for Life Medical Weight Loss program recommends the dieter receive this Smart Injection, which is intended to kick-start your weight loss and gives you a serious boost in energy. Just how long you must receive the injections is not known.
Read also: hCG Diet
PRO
- There is medical supervision for the Smart for Life program
- Addresses underlying emotional issues of eating
- Teaches healthy eating habits that will allow you to maintain weight loss
- Food products are organic and all-natural
- Maintain healthy blood sugar levels and metabolism
CON
- No scientific proof that the metabolic and hormonal conditions cited as being dysfunctional in overweight people are in fact dysfunctional
- Eating the trademarked Smart for Life line of food is no magic bullet for losing weight
- Smart for Life food line may be more of a marketing hype than the real deal
- Extremely low calorie diet
- Uses hCG injections as a way to stimulate weight loss, a very controversial and potentially dangerous practice
DIET and NUTRITION
On the Smart for Life eating program (the program doesn't like using the word "diet") you consume seven balanced meals throughout the day, which are intended to keep you in the fat burning zone continuously.
Six of those meals are Smart for Life cookies and one healthy, low fat dinner of chicken or fish with five cups of vegetables as outlined in your Program Guide included in your order.
The Smart for Life eating routine is built along the concept of mini-meals and retraining your body and mind to eat small and portion-controlled meals regularly throughout the day.
Daily caloric intake for Smart for Life is about 800 calories per day, eating seven meals and their food products, namely the Smart for Life cookies, and a healthy, low fat, high protein dinner.
Smart for Life cookies contain a proprietary blend of amino acids, fiber, and vitamins that are designed to quell cravings and give you the nutrition your body needs.
In addition, you can also use the cookies as a basis for certain Smart for Life recipes, like a Summer Parfait, which adds sugar-free preserves and chocolate dips to crumbled cookies.
There are also Smart Shakes, Smart Muffins and Smart Soups which can also be eaten as part of the Smart for Life program. One shake is the equivalent of two cookies and one soup or one muffin is the equivalent of one cookie.
The Smart for Life products contain HeroFiberTM, a super fiber blend, fish oil, plant sterols, inulin, flax seed, whole oats, and canola oil. There is also a gluten-free Smart for Life Banana Chocolate Chip Granola Square for those who cannot tolerate the protein gluten.
EXERCISE
On the Smart for Life diet, exercise is only a part of the maintenance of your weight loss. You will work with a Smart for Life health representative to work out an exercise plan that allows you to maintain your goal weight.
When you do start an exercise program on the Smart for Life program, you are encouraged to increase your intake of water and other clear and calorie-free liquids.
Once you have reached your goal weight, it is recommended that you exercise moderately for at least 3 hours per week.
CONCLUSION
The Smart for Life program is not that much different from other similar diet programs that have you consuming specific trademarked food in order to achieve weight loss. But a very stark red flag with the Smart for Life program is its requirement of hCG injections to jumpstart weight loss. This potentially dangerous and controversial weight loss practice has unknown health effects and is not accepted by the medical community.
The good news is that the Smart for Life program does incorporate such an eating plan with the addition of using their specific foods as well as an exercise plan once you reach your maintenance phase.Moreover, this program does instill in the dieter tools and knowledge for keeping weight off for good.
Even though the Smart for Life is under the supervision of medical doctors who can monitor your progress safely, you are strongly encouraged to exercise caution before spending any money on this weight loss program.
Rather, research on successful weight loss programs has shown us that long-term and immediate weight loss comes from a smart exercise program and an eating plan that includes a low calorie, low saturated fat diet.
Common Misspellings
Smart Four Life, Smart for Live, Smart Life, Soup and Cookie Diet, Cookie and Soup Diet, Smart Cookie Diet, Smart for Life Diet, Smart Life Diet, the cookiediet.com
How Does Smart for Life Compare?- Product Name
- User Rating
- Has Good Appetite Suppressant
- Has Only Natural Components
- Good Taste
- 18Shake
(Editor’s Choice) - 97/100
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Smart for Life?
User Feedback
(Page 6 of 11, 217 total comments)Samantha
+I lost 80 pounds in 7 months on the Smart for Life cookie diet. I did the medical program in Miami (Aventura) Florida. The cookies were great, the support, phenomenal. I tell my friends in South beach that it's worth driving to Aventura if they don't want to be fat anymore. I see someone on here had a bad experience (supposedly) with the Aventura center but i also see that the person didn;t lose weight. The medical diet I do is 800 calories and I am monitored by a doctor there (wonderful man). I know if I didn't lose weight in the first week, they would find out why.l I think anyone who only loses 5 pounds in a month doesn't follow the diet. Impossible to be on 800m calories, monitored by a doctor and not lose weight. Unless you are cheating. That would explain the nasty remarks made. Those people at the Miami office are the bomb! I'd still be fat if it weren't for them.
posted Feb 3rd, 2010 9:59 amHelene
+I did the smart for life diet at the clinic in Aventura - the medical program. It costs me only $199 to start the medical program and the cookies cost me only $49 a week. So far, in 2 weeks, I lost 8 pounds and I love the diet. It's easy and I am hunger free. The staff there are very helpful and they especially help me when all I do is think about food, even though I'm not hungry. It really gets me mad to see anyone on here direct insults to the center I go to when I know if it weren't for Gina and Elvis, I would still be 8 pounds heavier. This diet is the best in South Florida.
posted Feb 3rd, 2010 9:43 amMelissa
+I went to the Smart For Life in Aventura and they were extremely helpful. Stephanie may have had a bad experience but I lost 30 pounds in 2 months with the medical plan and didn't spend anywhere near $600. I think the program is easy if you have good support and I have great support at the Aventura Center. I think that people that aren't ready to diet have to blame someone. I say, see for yourself. Go into Aventura - that center rocks!
posted Feb 3rd, 2010 9:29 amJanice
+Well today is day 2 for me. Day 1 went ok. I don't mind the taste of the cookies, I actually sampled them before I started and knew I could handle them. I do seem to be more hungry in the afternoons though, and can really stretch out my cookies in the mornings. I'm not sure how long I will stick to the program, but starting at 230lbs,I am hoping to lose about 50 lbs. Anything I can lose before my honeymoon in 11 weeks is awesome!
posted Feb 2nd, 2010 9:32 amChuck
+Jon jay's dad died of a heart attack and it made him want to get his weight under control. he is radio dj in the az region. Their website has info on there... he is a changed person... Lost almost a hundred pounds and is an excercise freak now since he has more energy... it works... I have seen others... You have to commit to it though... no cheating, though they all say ur never hungry...
posted Jan 31st, 2010 6:14 pmJudi
I am interested in startinng this diet. Has anyone done it while nursing? The fact that there are no presevatives and mostly organic appeals to me. But am concerned about what if any nutrients may be lacking. I am taking a prenatal and calcium supplement already. My concern is obviously for my 2 month old, but I would also like to lose the last 15 lbs i have from this pregnancy (and from my first pregnancy as well ;). Thanks.
posted Jan 31st, 2010 7:15 amSherry
+Re: Smart for Life Cookie Diet. I saw the COSTCO advertisement on the internet for the 6-week plan @ $80.00 off and ordered it immediately. I have completed one week and lost 7 pounds. At no time have I been hungry nor have I felt deprived. I treat each cookie or muffin as a meal - taking my time to consume small bites along with a 20oz bottle of water to wash away the ashes as the fat burns. Chocolate Chip followed by Blueberry cookies are my favorite and for dinner each day, 10-12 oz of Grilled Chicken Breast and a healthy salad of raw vegetables selected from the menu of allowed foods have me completely satisfied. My ONLY REGRET is that I did not order more than 1 six week supply, as the $80.00 savings ended about 5 days ago.
posted Jan 29th, 2010 7:50 pmStacey
I am starting my 6 week plan tomorrow morning. Can some of you have been on it for a while tell me what your daily meal plan consist of? I have the cookies....shakes....muffins...soup & salad dressings. There is so much here I don't know what to start with first. Any input would help. Thanks
posted Jan 11th, 2010 7:46 pmAnne
+I liked it a WHOLE lot at first, and lost an easy ten pounds; I am still on it, on to 15 lbs and now closer to 20, but that came harder (well, ok, I do find myself cheating a lot more). Still, this thing is good. You MUST DRINK WATER to make it work, however--beware bad digestive upset if you do not drink 8 oz of water with each cookie! Overall I am still liking it, at the end of my 2nd month.
posted Jan 7th, 2010 7:56 pmFred Hamson
+I was hesitant to start the " cookie diet" but after a lot of research i chose to pick Smart For Life. I Started the diet on the January 1st for my new years resolution . I purchased the 2 week kit because I was not sure if i was going to like the diet. Let me say the cookies taste great " I really love the chocolate chip." and I've not been hungry at all and let me say i think I'm going to reorder the 5 week kit soon because i can already see it working its been 3 days now and i have lost 3 pounds, 20 more to go. wish me luck everyone
posted Jan 4th, 2010 4:11 pmSusan
+Well, I started my new year's resolution early this year and started on the Smart for Life Cookie Diet about two months ago. I have been very impressed with the quickness of the weight loss, and the variety that is offered to help me maintain the weight after.
posted Jan 4th, 2010 1:59 pm
+Andy K
I ate my first cookies this morning and they were great. I hope the chocolate tastes as great as the oatmeal raisin. No problem with the water, the cookies reminded me of chibatta bread texture and actually made you want to drink water. I think I can really do this!!!
posted Jan 4th, 2010 9:43 amLyssa
-**THE COOKIES TASTE AWFUL.***
posted Dec 26th, 2009 1:48 pmTried this diet a year ago...After 2 weeks of eating these bitter taste -tasteless cookies, I gave up and I usually dont give up that easily. Oh of course I lost a couple of pounds but I could have lost those pounds too by buying some regular organic cookies or protein bars or and eat 6 of them in a day for a lot less $$$$. After 2 weeks of this diet, I could not look , smell or stand these cookies anymore.
I was curious to try them because of the internet hype and MARKETING about this product even though I know that keeping the weight off in the long run means learning good healthy eating habits.
OH! and should i mention the bad mood -lack of patience you will experience and your family will have to live with?! WHy the bad mood? because while everyone sitting next to you is enjoying a sandwich or a nice breakfast (healthy one), you ll be eating these damn cookies which will start to make you mad and you ll express that anger on others around you. THink about a smoker who just quit smoking..are they fun to be around? humm dont think so..well i would compare me doing this diet as a smoker who just lost something they enjoyed doing
The problem why lots of these''lose weight fast''diets dont work is because we deprive ourselves of the pleasure of eating. Believe me when you spend all your life overweight mainly because you love eating, the tastes of food, the pleasure of food, you cannot drastically remove that pleasure off your brain and go on eating tasteless cookies for months.. 90% of the time ti is due to fail.
Eating is a pleasurable experience we should not deprive ourselves from and can share with our family and friends. Eating real food is fun, trying different recipes , tastes, seasoning. We should not deprive ourselves of that pleasure but should rather have a healthy pleasurable eating experience, eating the right things WITH TASTE that we can also share with our family. They could benefit from it too.
Think about this, once we eat 3,4,6 months(if we can) of only these tasteless cookies, we loose the weight and get back to our real life....what do we do next ? we watch ourselves for the 1st month, eat regular food without learning portion control or size and next we pack on 1pound then 2 then 10 and we are back with pounds sometimes more than we had before..same vicious circle.
People, I just recently lost 35 lbs on my own. There are no easy way out. And trust me I tried all the diets in the book to realize that You got to cut the calories and get moving.
I can still eat my ice cream,a piece of cake or have a nice steak or a pancake in the morning...but in reasonable portion/size
Save your $500-$600 and invest it in a gym membership ,a bicycle, Rollerblades and start buying some fruits, veggies, chicken breast and have fun in the kitchen cooking then, making them tasty but healthy. If you have kids, lessons for them to eat healthy.
You can lose the weight without spending crazy money if you are willing to work at it. It is not easy but it can be done...There are too many health disease out there., genetic etc..Change eating habits around..YouCAN DO IT! DO NOT DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF THE PLEASURE OF EATING..YOU CAN STILL LOSE WEIGHT AND EAT DELICIOUS FOOD.
Stephanie
-I agree with you..It is a Scam. I started going the one in Boca Raton and then I moved to Aventura, and I had to go the Aventura Center..And let me tell you the worst worst service ever. The Manager is nasty! Everytime that I call, she put you on speaker..When you go to pick up the cookies, the treat you like a dog...I lost only 5 pounds in a month..And when I told them about my situation they told me that I was not doing right.. DIETS DON'T WORK!!! DON'T WASTE ALMOST $600 WHICH IS APPROXIMATELY WHAT YOU ENDING SPENDING OR MORE IF YOU THE MEDICAL PLAN...
posted Dec 21st, 2009 1:37 pmDON'T DO THAT!!!
Denise
-This diet is a scam. Of course you will lose weight if you just eat the cookies but nobody can do that for very long and I am a very disciplined person. DO NOT BUY THESE COOKIES
posted Dec 14th, 2009 3:57 pmAndrea
-Don't do that...Just eat fruit, vegetables and protein..Don't waist your money in cookies..are you insane???
posted Dec 9th, 2009 11:37 pmMichael Oliver
+Started with the cookies lost 12 pounds. Then went on to try there soups and shakes. Lost of total of 36 pounds in a 5 month period.
posted Dec 8th, 2009 3:49 pmThanks Dr.Harry Azadian
EileenLemelman
+I have tried many diets and finally found a diet that worked! It was easy, fast and effective. I have taken 35 lbs off and have maintained it for almost 2 years. I love the cookies and use them as healthy snacks now because they are all natural and organic. I love this diet!!! It changed my life. I am finally happy and thin!
posted Dec 1st, 2009 2:32 pmCookieLover4Life
+Eat yummy cookies AND lose weight? It doesn't get any better than this! This year all my friends are getting Smart for Life cookies in their Christmas stocking, a gift from my new waistine. 14 pounds in just 41/2 weeks? Wait til they get a load of me come New Year's Eve!
posted Nov 27th, 2009 12:42 pmMichelle
ARE YOU PEOPLE RETARDED!!???
posted Nov 11th, 2009 7:49 pmLOSING MORE THAN A POUND- OR TWO, MAX IS NOT HEALTHY!
DO YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR APPEARENCE OR YOUR LIFE? AND YOUR HEALTH?
DO YOU REALIZE YOU ARE UNDER EATING??? DO YOU REALISE YOU ARE CUTTING CARBS, AKA YOUR BRAIN FOOD
LADIES, NO CARBS MEANS LOW RETINOL PRODUCTION WICH MEANS WRINKLES! BAD HAIR! BRITTLE NAILS! TOUGH, DRY SKIN!
GET A GYM MEMBERSHIP, CUT WHITE BREAD, SUGAR, TRANS FATS AND INCREASE YOUR PROTEIN INTAKE AND SEE REAL RESULTS.