BOOK REVIEW FROM SANTA BARBARA NEWS

Yes, It Does Exist:
A Diet that Encourages Indulgence
Leah Etling, News-Press Staff Writer

December 30, 2005

The two questions Dr. Haven Logan gets most about her California Wine Country Diet, are these:

• Can I drink as much wine as I want?
• Do I have to drink wine?

The answer to both is no, said the Mendocino County-based author and psychotherapist.

Just after the new year, Dr. Logan will visit the Santa Ynez Valley to discuss her concept of conscious indulgence, a plan she believes may help those who struggle with diets because deprivation is just downright hard.

Her new book includes two wine country diet recipes from Santa Barbara County restaurants, the Los Olivos Café and Bouchon in Santa Barbara.

Originally, she planned to focus on the wine country closest to her own home in Napa, Mendocino and Sonoma. But it wasn't long before she realized that expanding her geographical range might broaden the book's appeal.

"I would like to look at this as a healthy 'Sideways' tour," she said, referencing the film with scenes shot at the Los Olivos Café. "Wine Country Diet" extends north all the way to Humboldt County.

So how is it possible to turn the indulgence of the wine country into something that includes the word "diet"?

That's where the concept of conscious indulgence comes in, Dr. Logan says.

"Conscious indulgence is a constant process of looking at the logical part of what you need nutritionally, the exercise you need, and the other side of what you love and what makes life worthwhile.

"Yes, you can still have that cookie or whatever your indulgence is. The trick is that you're not going to let that part be in charge, just like you wouldn't let a 3-year-old entirely run your house. You need to meet nutritional needs for health, then see where we can fit in the part that we love."

Dr. Logan says the concept has helped her lose 30 pounds. The diet works by giving "pleasure calories" on top of each weight loss level. Three different programs are presented in the book, depending on how much weight you need or want to lose.

"That's where wine comes in, chocolate or an extra portion of fish that might be above the daily guidelines," Dr. Logan said.

She herself grew up with a father who was a gourmet cook and head of research at General Foods. She tried her first diet in graduate school, and later earned a doctorate in psychology. She founded the eating disorder treatment program at Mt. Diablo Hospital in Concord.

Her first book, Choosing to be Well: A Conscious Approach to a Healthier Lifestyle, examined why people don't make obvious, proven choices that would help them be healthier.
One of the reasons, of course, was deprivation.

"What I found, as most people in the country have, ends up being a process of yo-yo dieting, of going on diets and losing weight and then gaining the weight back. When I moved up to Mendocino County, I really began looking at the healthy foods of California cuisine, which have grown to combine both fresh seasonal food and delicious gourmet eating."

Recipes in the Wine Country Diet include salads, fish, chicken, beef and pork. The contribution from Los Olivos Café's Nat Ely is "Pan Fried Willapa Bay Oysters with Hearts of Palm, Red Endive and Scallions Salad and Buttermilk Vinaigrette."

It sounds challenging, but Dr. Logan said that the recipe is actually fairly easy to make.

One of the tricks to the diet, she says, is getting you out of food ruts and introducing new ingredients to your food routine that are tasty and have healthful benefits. She prescribes six principles of weight management, one of which is variety.

The book also addresses fad diets, such as Atkins, and why they work in the short term but can be dangerous in the long term.

"The California Wine Country Diet does not have stages like that where you eliminate certain foods. It's based on meeting all of your nutritional needs, every day, and eating the prescribed amounts based on the government's most recent guidelines."

Wine is suggested by each chef with their recipe, but there are also recommendations for nonalcoholic drinks.

She says the diet has helped her maintain her weight loss.

"One has to be conscious, especially as one gets older, of weight slipping up. What I like about it is that you're eating basically the same foods in the same pattern when you're trying to lose weight as when you're just living your life."