Rooted from the two most agriculturally abundant and vital regions of the world (the fertile coast of the Mediterranean Sea and California's lush Sonoma Valley), Dr. Connie Peraglie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D brought us a uniquely flavorful weight loss plan that brings together the art and science of food: The Sonoma Diet.

Here's an excerpt from the book, The Sonoma Diet:

(thanks to Jeffery Anderson of FBS Associates for allowing a reprint)

*Olive Oil: A Weight Loss Blessing*

By Dr. Connie Peraglie Guttersen, R.D., Ph.D.
Author of /_The Sonoma Diet_/


In Sonoma County each year, there's a special festival called the
Blessing of the Olives. That's how central olive trees and the foods
they yield are to the economy and the eating habits of the region.

Olive oil, the most treasured gift of these blessed trees, is just as
central to The Sonoma Diet. There's probably no food choice you'll make that does more for your health and weight loss efforts than olive oil.

Which is good news for your taste buds, because no other vegetable oil
comes close to olive oil's rich and pleasing flavor. It's at the heart
of Mediterranean cuisine's appeal. A dish prepared with olive oil almost
seems to announce to anyone who smells or tastes it, "I'm special."

*Healthy Fat
*The research is clear as can be that a major reason for southern
Europeans' low rate of heart disease is their liberal use of olive oil
as their main source of dietary fat. By adopting olive oil in the same
way, you'll get the same benefits. And because you'll learn to enjoy
olive oil in healthy amounts in place of the harmful fats you may be
used to, you will lose weight.

To appreciate olive oil as a power food, banish from your mind the
notion that it's the "least bad" fat. It is a heart-healthy food that is good for you. You need dietary fat to lose weight, but you need the
right kind. Olive oil is one of the best. Choose extra-virgin olive oil
and you'll also enhance the flavors of your food.

Put simply, the kind of fat that olive oil is mostly made of
(monounsaturated fat) actually lowers your levels of the bad LDL
cholesterol as well as blood fats called triglycerides. The fats you'll
be avoiding (saturated fat) raise those levels. That right there
qualifies olive oil as a power food par excellence.

*A Wealth of Antioxidants
*But there's more. Unique among vegetable oils, olive oil --
particularly extra-virgin olive oil -- is rich in the same family of
antioxidant phytonutrients that make all the other power foods on the
Top Ten list so effective in preventing heart disease. The same phenols
that make olive oil taste so good also make up its main category of
antioxidants. Olive oil also contains carotenoids (like beta-carotene)
and vitamin E.

In addition, olive oil reduces two other heart disease risks -- high
blood pressure and inflammation.

*There's Fat and Then There's Fat*

As the title tells us, not all fats were created alike. There are three
naturally occurring types of fat: saturated, monounsaturated, and
polyunsaturated, as well as one manufactured fat, known as hydrogenated
oil (commonly referred to as trans fat).

The majority of the types of fat you should eat come mostly from plant
oils. The healthiest are led by monounsaturated fats, such as
extra-virgin olive oil, nuts, canola oil, and avocados. Other healthy
oils are found in the polyunsaturated category, such as grapeseed oil,
sunflower oil, and the omega-3 oils found in some cold-water fish,
flaxseeds, and walnuts.

The kind of fat you must limit eating is the saturated fat found mostly
in animal foods such as meats and dairy products, as well as those found
in palm and coconut oils. This does not mean you can't eat meat or
dairy. You can. But it does mean that you must seek the lean or nonfat
versions of meat or dairy foods.

You can recognize saturated fat because it's solid at room temperature
or lower -- the white rimming a steak, the marble in prime rib, the
chicken fat that skims a soup in the fridge, a stick of butter. Its
primary sin is raising the levels of bad LDL cholesterol in your
arteries, inviting heart disease. In fact, saturated fat ups your blood
cholesterol more than dietary cholesterol itself. Hydrogenated oils
should be avoided because they have far worse effects on your health and
heart than saturated fats.

You can read more about the Sonoma Diet at the Diet blog and from its website.