Wine Country Diet, Sans Grape

Sonoma brings to mind golden vineyards and great-tasting, healthful food. So it's no wonder that "The Sonoma Diet" -- a book promising that "every step of your journey from overweight to perfect weight will be comfortable, pleasant and simple" -- is beginning to climb bestseller lists.

It's also piqued the interest of Lean Plate Club members during recent Web chats.

As its title suggests, "The Sonoma Diet" is written by a resident of California's wine country -- Connie Gutterson, a registered dietitian and adjunct faculty member at the Culinary Institute of America's California campus in the Napa Valley. She has a doctorate in nutrition, works with California vineyards, consults with a number of food companies including Kraft and Nestlé and served as an international spokeswoman for the Olive Oil Council.

She hopes that her book, inspired in part by her trips to the Mediterranean, will guide readers back to healthful eating "and get the quickest and safest results." (Interest disclosed: I have a nutrition book coming out later this year.)

Like the South Beach Diet, another eating plan named after a beautiful place, Sonoma has three phases. (Gutterson calls them waves.)

During the 10-day Wave 1, Gutterson restricts food to about 1,200 daily calories for women, 1,400 for men, to provide quick weight loss.

What gets limited? Dairy -- to one glass of skim milk per day.

What gets cut altogether? Fruit. As she writes: "Anything that even reminds you of sweetness -- even healthy fruit -- needs to be put aside for the time being."

Also eliminated from Wave 1 are most of the starchier vegetables, including carrots, corn, potatoes, pumpkin, beets, acorn and butternut squash, artichokes and sugar snap peas. "I think that whole grains offer more [nutrition] during the first 10 days," Gutterson says.

While the book has drawn praise for its emphasis on whole grains and healthy fats such as olive and canola oil and nuts, "eliminating the fruit bothers me," says registered dietitian Andrea Giancoli, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetics Association. "Eating fruit helps with sweet cravings. . . . We have an innate drive for sweets. I don't know if we ever completely lose that."

Sonoma's title may conjure images of wineries, but don't reach for the corkscrew yet: All alcohol is forbidden in Wave 1. One glass of wine daily is okay later, but no other booze is allowed until you reach your target weight.

To start Sonoma, you must also measure your dinner plates. Instead of counting calories per se, the diet restricts intake by using seven-inch plates for breakfast and nine-inch plates for lunch and dinner. (There are also instructions for bowls.) The practice fosters portion control, which also earns kudos from nutrition experts.