Shame On You: Maximo Ravenna

The current much-adored Argentine diet guru is Dr. Maximo Ravenna.

Thousands of men and women in Buenos Aires – from A-list celebs to struggling low-income workers who save every last penny to get an appointment with him – are on his “miraculous” diet.

While his patients certainly lose tremendous amounts of weight quickly (as evidenced by the growing number of Argentine celebrities who flaunt their extreme weight loss makeovers on TV shows), there is nothing miraculous about his meal plan.

In fact, it is downright dangerous.

Dr. Ravenna prescribes a low-carb, very low calorie diet. The daily average caloric intake ranges from 600 to 1000 calories.

To put this into context, prisoners at Auschwitz consumed roughly 600 - 700 calories a day.

Dr. Ravenna, however, appear to not see a problem with this. According to him, it only takes the body anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to adjust to eating 600 calories a day. How he can say that with a straight face beats me.

I challenge you to, literally overnight, go from consuming your standard caloric intake to 600 calories. I don’t think you will find yourself adjusting to your new ridiculously low meal plan in just 2 days.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Ravenna prescribes all his clients a multitude of vitamins and minerals.

It’s no wonder. A diet so low in calories contributes very low levels of these nutrients.

In fact, potassium – a crucial electrolyte -- is so low in this diet that if it were not being supplemented in pill form, fatigue and serious heart disturbances would undoubtedly be a side effect.

Apart from recommending dangerously low levels of caloric intake, Dr. Ravenna also claims – and his followers fervently believe – that flour is not only unnecessary in one’s diet, but also addictive.

“Flour is the great enemy,” he says, “because it is a vessel for fat.” He faults foods like bread as being “appetite openers” and believes carbohydrates sap people of energy.

The problem with these statements is that they are grave embellishments of concepts that make sense.

For instance, refined, fiberless carbohydrates with added sugars (ie: cakes, cookies, pastries) will absolutely result in spiked blood sugar levels followed by a sharp decrease. So, yes, they can affect your energy levels negatively.

However, a sandwich with whole grain bread (packing up to 8 grams of fiber from the bread alone) is quite a different story! It is a known fact that fiber helps stabilize blood sugar levels.

This low-calorie, carb-phobic meal plan is, not surprisingly, low in fiber. I'm surprised a doctor, knowing the many health benefits of fiber, would provide such a plan.

As far as carbs being vessels for fats, that is not necessarily true.

A bowl of oatmeal, a cup of brown rice, or a side dish of quinoa (none of which Ravenna is a big fan of) do not contribute significant amounts of fat to anyone’s diet.

I suppose the point he is trying to make is that most people mostly eat butter on bread, or alfredo sauce with pasta.

However, his blame system is askew. Fats naturally are more calorically dense than carbohydrates and proteins (they contribute 9 calories per gram, as opposed to 4).

The fact that they tend to be paired up with carbohydrate-rich sources does not make carbohydrates more guilty of inducing weight gain.

Many patients are even told they are flour addicts who will revert back to their overweight status if they bite into a slice of bread.

Not surprisingly, Dr. Ravenna’s plan has several strict guidelines. For optimal results, it is recommended you sign up for the meals-to-go program, which provides you with Ravenna-approved breakfast, lunches, and dinners that you can have at home or take to a dinner party, if you so desire.

Going on the diet also involves group meetings and therapy sessions, in which people are urged to let go of their food addictions and encouraged to stay on the plan.

Dr. Ravenna’s success in Argentina appears to be unstoppable at the moment. His latest book, “La Medida que Adelgaza” (“The Measurement That Loses Weight”) is a best-seller, and his diet plan continues to win people over.

Unfortunately, his patients’ success is not based on balanced, healthy lifestyles that include a wide variety of foods, but rather a system that teaches nothing but extreme dependence on an overly restrictive food plan.