The Reverse Diet (2007) was written by Tricia Cunningham, a woman whose personal diet plan inspired the book, and Heidi Skolnik, nutrition advisor.

Tricia Cunningham lost 150 lbs using the principles she writes about in The Reverse Diet, which is based on the old saying, “Eat like a king for breakfast, a prince for lunch, and a pauper for dinner.” She says that she found, as most dieters do, that mornings and afternoons tend to be the time when people restrict their calories the most, leading to overeating at dinner and late-night snacking which prevents weight loss. Cunningham used reasonable weight loss approaches to reframe her way of eating, maintaining her weight loss for three years.

The first step, Phase One, is the most active weight loss phase. In it, dieters are encouraged overall to eat low calorie, balanced meals, but to eat the largest meal of the day within a couple of hours of rising to fuel the body for the day’s activities. Meals should not be skipped, but should progressively become smaller throughout the day — eating a light dinner around 3 hours before bedtime.

Planning meals carefully and keeping a food diary or journal is important. There are no “off limit” food groups, but of course lower calorie, lower fat foods are encouraged for optimal weight loss. Canned, jarred, and other processed foods are discouraged, as is caffeine and alcohol.

The second step of the diet plan is called the Bridge Phase, when the dieters has reached his or her goal weight and can begin to re-introduce some food items back into the diet. Salt, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and most processed foods are still discouraged as they are not beneficial to overall health. Calories are still somewhat restricted in an effort to maintain the weight loss, so the Reverse Diet is more of a lifestyle change than a short-term diet.

Tricia Cunningham brings to light some very positive features with this Reverse Diet. One, a person should not skip or overly restrict meals in an attempt to lose weight faster. She also does not encourage avoiding entire food groups, such as carbohydrates, but plans meals to include a variety to ensure most nutrients are consumed daily. And lastly, she encourages the limitation of processed foods which often are deprived of important nutrients such as antioxidants and fiber.

One of the biggest downfalls of the diet is that it does not promote physical activity. Tricia Cunningham did not use exercise as part of her weight loss plan. Heidi Skolnik addresses this partially in one chapter. She says that while dieting alone worked for Tricia, weight loss is not likely to be maintained without increasing physical activity, and that overall health is not only dependent upon weight maintenance, but also exercise to keep the cardiovascular system fit and bones strong and healthy.