Cooks' Books by Lisa Messinger

"Why You Can't Lose Weight: Why It's So Hard to Shed Pounds and What You Can Do About It" by Pamela Wartian Smith, M.D., M.P.H. (Square One, $16.95).

It's a tad after the New Year. Do you know where your weight loss resolutions disappeared to? Pamela Wartian Smith, a physician with a master's degree in public health, says, if you're not savvy, you may never catch up with them again.

Smith, the author of "Why You Can't Lose Weight" ponders on everything from whether your adrenal glands might be fatigued to whether you are deprived of exercise, fiber, sleep, water and/or overloaded with stress, food allergies, chronic inflammation, toxins or yeast.

Questionnaires that examine your lifestyle and biochemical factors shed further light on whether your problem might be depression, hormonal imbalances, genes, insulin resistance, neurotransmitter dysfunction or pregnenolone insufficiency.

"Earlier in this book," writes Smith, "you learned how hormones like progesterone, estrogen and testosterone each play a role in helping the body achieve a healthy body weight, as well as performing many other important functions. What you may not know is that none of these hormones could exist without the substance known as pregnenolone. Pregnenolone has been called the 'mother hormone' simply because it is used to make so many of the hormones that enable your body to function properly.

"So far, so good. Your body uses pregnenolone — which is itself a hormone — to produce other hormones, and these compounds help keep you healthy. But there's a catch: Not everyone makes all the pregnenolone they need. In fact, some people make only about 65 percent of the amount required to keep the body on track. The result can be ... myriad ... health problems, including weight gain and difficulty in shedding extra pounds."

If you think that's an eye-opener, be prepared not to blink for a while. Smith, the director of the master's program in medical sciences, with a concentration in metabolic and nutritional medicine, at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, provides hundreds of not-often-recounted reasons your pudginess may not budge. If not yet flush with happiness over weight loss, you may at least find relief as to the reasons why you couldn't lose the weight and most importantly, possible solutions.

These reasons are provided throughout the book, but especially well in a chapter at the end titled "Putting It All Together." Here, similar information you may have heard about regarding dietary modification, exercise and supplements takes on new meaning when coupled with all you will have learned about the reasons your body may have been behaving stubbornly.

And speaking of that, don't skip ahead to the juicier part of this meal.

For true enlightenment, be sure to read the first chapter "What Really Goes on Inside Your Body?" Biological clues as to why you are hungry and how you digest what you do eat make for a fascinating first course for those who are consumed by these issues.

Enlightenment is also the special of the day in "Flat Belly Diet" by Liz Vaccariello, vice president and editor-in-chief of Prevention magazine, and Cynthia Sass, M.P.H., R.D. (Rodale, $25.95). It's been out a few years, but there is a big online push now for the book and a newer accompanying online program. "Flat Belly Diet" also has an excellent cookbook and pocket guide associated with it.

The plan targets what physicians call the indicator of the worst potential health-related problems: belly fat. This type of visceral fat is often the hardest to lose. Researchers have identified monounsaturated fats (MUFAs, as Prevention and others refer to them) as fat fighters. Studies have shown MUFAs to help dieters to lose more belly weight than those who don't eat recommended serving sizes of MUFAs.

This means you'll be getting cozy with a tasty MUFA at every meal and snack (the other healthful basic meal components are also given in free introductory online info about the diet), such as 2 tablespoons of almond butter, 2 tablespoons of walnuts, 1 tablespoon of pesto sauce, 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil, one quarter cup of avocado or 10 large black or green olives.

This is all just the tip of the branch of the olive tree when it comes to the filling MUFAs you can eat and the helpful information provided.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "After-Work Gourmet" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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