Word: montignac
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...diet-crazy U.S., Montignac, 49, might be shrugged off as yet another media-hyped Dr. Feelgood. But in France, the former pharmaceutical-company executive has made a mint telling Gallic gourmands what they want to hear. His empire, dubbed "La Galaxie Montignac," is an $11 million-a-year business with a chain of food boutiques, a vineyard producing Chateau Michel Montignac Bordeaux, a mail-order firm selling Montignac foie gras and Montignac chocolate, a quarterly magazine, an Institute of Vitality and Nutrition through which 350 physicians prescribe his method, and a company offering one- day diet seminars for corporate executives...
...Montignac's method, based on "a synthesis of my scientific readings," strictly limits starches, sweets and alcohol during an initial weight-loss period of several months. Then, in the maintenance phase of the diet, he allows such goodies as red wine, sausage canapes, foie gras, cheese and the occasional chocolate dessert. Whole grains are in. Soft drinks are "poison." Alcoholic aperitifs are discouraged, and wine is to be drunk only with meals...
Rather than count calories, Montignac measures foods by their "glycemic index," or the blood-sugar level they induce. Sugar, he contends, stimulates the overproduction of insulin, which leads the body to store fat. Thus foods with a high index, such as potatoes and white bread, should not be combined with fats like butter...
Much of the medical establishment is skeptical. "Montignac's diet works short term because anyone loses weight when deprived of sugar and starch," says nutritionist Dr. Jacques Fricker. "But it could be dangerous, since up to 70% of his calories come from fat, which increases the risk of heart disease." Says Felicia Busch of the American Dietetic Association in Chicago: "The most important thing we know is that fat content is what makes people fat, and his theory goes against the scientific grain." Others complain that he encourages too much alcohol consumption, which could cause liver damage. Montignac denies...
...Montignac knows about weight problems firsthand. After losing his job with an American drug company in 1986, he was at loose ends. Having trimmed down from a high of 200 lbs. to 165 lbs. while reading some 300 diet books, the 5 ft. 8 in. Montignac decided to write his own. Targeting his fellow expense- account-habitues, he titled his book Dine Out and Lose Weight and published it himself. Its word-of-mouth success -- 500,000 copies sold, without advertising -- led to three sequels, and Montignac was launched...