Book Review: The Dorm Room Diet

The Freshman 15-it's a phrase guaranteed to send shudders down the spine of any student. Daphne Oz's new book, The Dorm Room Diet, is guaranteed to alleviate that fear.

Though the title includes the word "diet," Oz's plan reads more like a lifestyle guide than a restrictive regimen like Atkins or South Beach.

Oz's program will especially appeal to college girls struggling with their weight, as she has gone through the same ordeals herself. Oz, a Princeton undergraduate and self-proclaimed former "big girl," lost 30 pounds following her plan.

Though she isn't a physician or nutritionist, she received expert advice from qualified professionals close to home. Her father and two grandfathers are heart surgeons, and her grandmother is a complementary medicine specialist.

The dorm room plan promotes healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. Stressing meals of complex carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, dairy and lean proteins, Oz shows how this type of eating can be accomplished within the confines of a college cafeteria. Additionally, she provides information about choosing healthy foods when eating out, shopping at the college convenience store and snacking during all-night study session.

Oz stresses other factors outside of eating in order to create a healthy lifestyle, such as ways to keep active between classes. Her chapters also offer words of inspiration, guides to vitamins and supplements and ways to avoid danger zones such as parties and emotional eating.

Oz's plan is a refreshing break from the restrictive fad diets popular among college girls. Her book has a down-to-earth conversational tone that makes it easy to relate to the author. Her frank description of her own struggles with her weight also gives the book an overall feel more akin to a talk with a good friend than a dietician polemic.

Though The Dorm Room Diet does not advocate anything particularly revolutionary, it is a concise summary to leading a healthy lifestyle that is particularly useful for freshman girls making the transition to college life.