Dr. Fischer discusses The Park Avenue Diet Center in a recent interview
What is the Park Avenue Diet? It’s a program that is not about just how you look but about how you feel – inside and out. It’s a ten-week plan that addresses multiple components of image simultaneously.
People who stand on the scale daily to see how they are doing are looking in the wrong direction. They need to watch the eyes and interest of their friends, family, classmates, or co-workers, since the outside world is the ultimate judge of how attractive we are.
Your center is based around seven components of image, what is that about? One’s image, namely how the outside world sees us, is made up of appearance and behavior. Under ‘appearance’, we have the following components: weight, bodily physique, hair, skin, and clothing. Under ‘behavior’, people observe our self-confidence and our interpersonal skills. At my Park Avenue Diet Center, all of these are attended to by experts who specialize in teaching people how to be “all put together.” Merely taking off weight really doesn’t change people all that much, and usually it’s a temporary and insignificant change.
How does a person’s image affect weight loss? When we look better (through simultaneous improvement in clothing choices, skincare, exercise, hairstyling, and weight) we feel better about ourselves and attract new friends and more attention. On the other hand, as we develop better interpersonal skills and more self-confidence, it gives us the impetus to look even better in how we dress/fix our hair. And this also keeps our eating habits in check. It’s what I call “inside-out, outside-in” reinvention.
You worked with the late Dr. Robert Atkins – how does your Diet Center differ from his? The problem with the Atkins or Ornish or Zone or Scarsdale diet...or any program that only attends to food choices is that only one component of image is considered significant, as if weight is the only thing we notice in other people. I treated thousands of patients during my Atkins medical partnership, but I came away with the feeling that only by a total transformation in a comprehensive program could people achieve their goals, both in health and personal happiness. Every medical study done in the past five years validates this approach. My approach transcends all those programs you’ve heard about for 40 years...and have not really helped us all that much.
You say you’re reinventing the word diet…. What do you mean by that? The ancient Greek word it comes from actually means “lifestyle”. We all talk about making lifestyle changes but these usually, incorrectly, wind up as simplistic food changes (that don’t get followed for very long). A lifestyle is reflected in our image, the sum total of seven components of appearance and behavior. That’s a lifestyle, and that’s how people can change.
How did you come up with the idea for The Park Avenue Diet? First, I thought of the image changes I had made myself many years ago.—the same ones I will be recommending for patients. Second, I looked at the glamorous people who live on Park Avenue. It’s not just their weight that’s impressive…they are “all put together”…the definition of a successful lifestyle…..great outfits and hairstyles, a spring in their step, masterful interpersonal skills, steady self-confidence….the definition of a dynamic image.
What is the magical combination of foods that will ensure permanent weight-loss? They are serving them right now at Ponce de Leon’s fountain of youth. There is no such simplistic, biochemistry-defying formula, and we can’t pretend that the programs of the past 40 years have accomplished anything positive. The statistics are dismal, and it’s time to move on a truly comprehensive approach, a most enjoyable process of self-examination and reinvention because you get better in so many different ways.
Why do you feel that hairstyling, skincare, and clothing are necessary elements to your program? Simple, do you really think that the only thing people notice is your weight? Life is short, life is beautiful, and there are lots of great opportunities for you. The better you look and act, the better your chances are.
When did you come up with this idea? A few years ago, when I realized that the only way to make lifestyle changes is a comprehensive way…and that means: re-evaluate everything at once and then reinvent yourself, a makeover that is internal and external, physical and psychological, cosmetic and philosophical, superficial and profound.
There are seven components to a person’s image. What shape are yours in?
It’s time to become the person you’ve always longed to be, and it’s just a phone call away.
Notes on "The Park Avenue Diet"
For your enlightenment, lightenment, and reading pleasure, here is a sampling of essays by Dr, Fischer reflecting his insights and opinions on the topic of weight loss-and its medical, economic, and sociological consequences. You will learn biochemistry, physics, and anatomy-and will particularly enjoy Dr. Fischer's satirical "modest proposal" inspired by Jonathan Swift.