A Scam? Harley Pasternak's 5 Factor Plan Diet Making Headlines

There is a lot of buzz about Harley Pasternak's 5 Factor Diet that has celebrity endorsements from big names such as John Mayer, Eva Mendes, Alicia Keys and even Kanye West. But what is it and is it the answer to your weight problem?

The 5 Factor diet, in a nutshell, is a five-week plan that has you eating five meals each day, exercising for 25 minutes each day and allows for one cheat day per week for a total of five cheat days. Each meal is comprised of (you guessed it!) five components: Carbohydrates, protein, fiber, fat and one beverage.

The meals of the 5 Factor Diet are similar to South Beach Diet in that they are higher protein and utilize carbohydrates with a lower glycemic index. There is emphasis placed on healthy fats and fiber intake.

I have struggled with my weight for years and have given due diligence to most major diet trends. I was most successful with Weight Watchers having lost and kept off twenty one pounds. I tired of program changes, calculating points and paying for either weekly meetings or monthly online fees. I was not as successful following the Atkins diet plan which only cost me the price of a book and ingredients and low carbohydrate foods were easy to find but did lose an additional eight pounds when I switched over to the similar high protein South Beach Diet. As plateaus tend to do I became discouraged and tried the Slim-Fast plan. That only lasted a week due to a huge drop in my energy level.

Is the 5 Factor Diet just the latest sparkly celebrity endorsed diet? In my opinion this gimmick laden diet plan has more of a focus on fattening Harley Pasternak's wallet than getting the fat off you. The 5 Factor diet plan book retails for around twenty dollars or you can join the 5 Factor diet online. The website boasts of tools available such as shopping list, recipes, meal planner, weight tracker, online journal etc for paid subscribers. Reading the fine print carefully I found that the 5 Factor subscription is fifty two dollars billed quarterly. Why quarterly if it is a five week plan?

You may cancel of course and receive a refund minus the minimum twenty dollar payment. There is an abundance of completely free diet and nutrition sites on the internet which provide the majority of these tools. I am not going to waste my time or money on a diet plan that is more style than substance. The 5 Factor does boast of hundreds of recipes on its site and has forty pages of recipes in the book but many of these are time consuming and include ingredients which availability and or cost could preclude their regular use. People who work would have a difficult time with preparation of some of these recipes.

Sure it has celebrity endorsements but none of those celebrities overcame obesity so their recommendation of the 5 Factor Diet does not hold much water for me. The big names that support it aren't exactly known for having a big weight problem are they? The 5 Factor diet is geared towards celebrity watching, tabloid reading consumers who fall for a slick catch phrase. I'll take a pass on this one.