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Each month seems to bring forth a new diet, which immediately shoots to the top of the non-fiction best seller list and makes the author disgustingly wealthy. At Speakwell we always have our finger on the public pulse and have now created the 'next big thing' in the wonderful world of weight loss: the "No 'C' Food Diet".

Have you ever noticed that when you're trying to lose weight, much of the forbidden fruit begins with the letter 'C'? It's no coincidence that the word 'calorie' is a 'C' word, as is 'carbohydrate'. The No 'C' Food Diet is simple, all you have to do is not consume (another 'c') any food or drink beginning with the letter 'c'.

Cake (remember that muffins are cake by another name)
Crackers	Cracker Jack	Cobblers
Cookies	Chocolate	Crumpets
Chips	Carbonated drinks (Coke etc.)	Canapes
Croissants	Chicken Fried Steak	Cocoa
Candy	Canned fruit	Custard
Crepes	Corn bread	Corn dogs
Corn syrup	Chili	Chimichangas
Coconut	Cole slaw	Caesar salad
Chop suey	Chow mein	Chinese food
Coq au Vin	Curry	Chutney
Croutons	Chevre	Confit
Cheese	Cannelloni	Casseroles
Chocolate milk	Cheeseburger	Caramels
Cashews	Coffee	Catsup
Corn meal	Cream (as in ice cream)	Cream soups
Cinnamon toast	Club Sandwich	Chocolate eclairs
Cinnamon buns	Cream puffs	Croquettes
Cheese Wiz	Cheesies	Couscous

The Dreaded Double 'C's

Coffee Cake	Creamed Corn	Cold Cuts
Creme Caramel	Cottage Cheese	Captain Crunch
Cauliflower cheese	Corn Chowder	Corn Chips
Cheese Cake	Chocolate Cake	Cotton Candy
Cup Cakes	Clam Chowder	Commercial Cereals
Crispy Chicken	Carrot Cake	Candy canes
Cream Cheese	Camembert Cheese	Custard Cremes
Crispy Creme Donuts (it's not our fault if they can't spell!)	Coconut cream	Crab cakes

Nutrition Action magazine recently listed some examples of "foods you should never eat" and told you why. Some 'Double 'C' Foods' were prominantly featured. Coffee Cake - Tim's Own Coffee Cake with a caramel topping is advertised as a nice change of pace from the typical Tim Horton's donut. This tasty little extra with your morning coffee provides a quarter of your day's calories (510), half a day's saturated fat (9 grams) and nearly 9 teaspoons of sugar. Chicken Club - Swiss Chalet's Chicken Club Wrap. Wraps often appear to be a healthy alternative to burgers, but not this one with its 620 calories, 8 grams of fat and 1280 milligrams of salt. These are big burger type numbers and what makes it even more burger-like is that it comes with fries, bringing the total calories to 1090. Cheese Cake - Compliments Classic New York Style Cheesecake. I'll just give you the numbers for one slice. A day's worth of saturated fat at 18 grams, 380 calories and 5 teaspoons of sugar.

And a couple of Triple 'C's

Chili Con Carne

Chocolate Chip Cookie

The 'C'ing Doubles

Cocktails	Champagne	Cabernet
Chardonnay	Cerveza (that's beer)	e.g., Corona, Coors, Canadian, etc
Cognac	Cider	Cosmopolitan
Cinzano	Cointreau	Chablis

Cut Out Comfort Foods

Our taste buds are designed to respond to fats, sugars and salt, and comfort foods are designed with those taste buds in mind. In the recent online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. N. Pecoraro reported that comfort foods block the body's response to chronic stress. However, he points out that short term relief can turn to long term stress as the comfort foods turn to an abundance of uncomfortable fatty tissue.

Comfort foods don't all begin with 'c' but if you're serious about weight loss eliminate this whole category.

We polled some colleagues to come up with a list of a few favorite comfort foods.

Buttery popcorn	Rice pudding	French fries
Pasta (especially Mac and Cheese)	Mashed potatoes
Donuts	Baked beans on toast	B.L.T.
Grilled cheese sandwich	Hot dogs	Banana custard

Convenience Stores

On the 'No 'C' Food Diet' you are not allowed to buy food and drinks in convenience stores whose shelves are loaded with calorie dense, low nutrient foods and drink.

The High 'C's

Not all 'C's are created equal and a No 'C' Food Diet could mean a life without:

Chives	Cod	Cabbage	Crab apples
Coriander	Chicken	Cauliflower	Cumin
CrabCelery	Cranberries	Carrots	Caviar

Most of the world lives without those anyway. If you feel nutritionally compromised on the 'No 'C' Food Diet' it is permissible to take 1000 mg of (what else) vitamin C.

The funniest thing about the No 'C' Food Diet is that it works. You can of course subvert it by bulking up on food and drink beginning with other letters e.g. designating cookies as biscuits and having 10 glasses of Sauvignon Blanc instead of Chardonnay. But just cut out the 'C' foods and the 'Double 'C' foods and you'll even be allowed a daily glass of wine or beer and no-one will worry too much if you have the odd piece of skinless chicken or 'High 'C' vegetable and maybe the occasional cup of coffee.

Whatever your weight, there is one set of 'C's to be avoided by all and here we are talking of cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco, all of which have powerful associations with The Big 'C' of cancer.

We'll be 'C'ing you.