Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Mysterious Dr. Bridell's Amazing Book

When I first received a copy of Dr. Bridell’s Logical and Rational Poetic and Beautiful & Completely Guaranteed Diet for ALL Your Appetites, I had two reactions: 1) What a long title! 2) What a rip off! Twenty dollars seemed a lot to pay to learn how to consume half size meals—especially when I didn’t need to lose weight.

I’ve since eaten my words—well, half of them—I still think the title is longer than cooked spaghetti. But the overall antique effect of the cover is eye-catching and informative, so I’m sure it will grab attention.

First time through the book, I skimmed, leaving too much on the plate. Second time, I read in detail and digested to the end. Savoring all the ideas made a powerful difference. I no longer felt ripped off. On the contrary, I think it’s worth every cent, and can recommend Dr. Bridell to anyone who wants to live a full life (physically, spiritually and emotionally), and look and feel their best. Doctor bills, and the cost of many diets, are way higher than twenty dollars.


Although I don’t know the mysterious Dr. Bridell’s real name, he (or she) gave me the opportunity for an interview via his/her agent, Boyd Tuttle. I think you’ll find the answers to my questions unique and of great interest.

By the way, Mr. Tuttle has also read the book and says, “Everyone should read and follow this book. I have, and I can never again think about food or appetites in the same way. I literally enjoy both more than I ever did in the past.”

The Interview

Me: What difference is there between your diet book and countless others?

Dr. Bridell: Complete candid honesty! That’s one of the things that will set this diet apart from the rest. So let’s start with this: “Dr. Bridell” is a pseudonym, and I’m not a doctor. I’m not a dietitian either or an exercise therapist or anything else that would give me even the remotest credential for writing a diet book. What I am is a practical person who is interested mostly in results.

I’m also a writer who keeps noticing that diet books are always on the best-seller list. (And most of them promise far more than they can deliver and never address the emotional and spiritual causes of our physical problems.) What I like about the subject of dieting is that it’s current, it’s present, and it’s about the now--about our daily habits and routines, about what you’re going to eat today and tonight. You can start trying it right now.


Me: What are your credentials for writing such a book?

Dr. Bridell: I don’t know a thing about calories or fat grams or metabolism or antioxidants or even proteins or carbohydrates. In a way this ignorance is bliss. I don’t get confused about why the experts keep changing their minds about what is really good or bad for you. But I do know-- absolutely--a couple of important things:

1. I know a way anyone can lose weight, for sure, for real, and keep it off and be healthier than ever before . . . and actually enjoy the process;

2. I know there is a direct, unbreakable connection between human happiness and the control of human appetites--and I don’t just mean the appetite for food.

So, again, I have no credentials, nothing other than my absolute, outlandish claim that I know a simple diet that really works--for everyone! And that the same principles that make the diet work also apply to other appetites and thus make other things work better too—such as life!

Me: Are you sure your ideas work for everyone?
Dr. Bridell: Well, as you noticed on the first page of the book, I’m sure enough to guarantee it. You try this diet, and if it doesn’t work, I give your money back--and you can keep the book, give it to someone else if you want, see if it works for them, and then maybe take it back and try it again. And remember, this isn’t the publisher giving you this money-back guarantee, this is me, personally.

Most authors only get fifteen percent tops, so if more than fifteen percent of you want your money back, I lose. So be it. It won’t happen because this stuff works. That’s not just a personal testimonial. This book was an online column before it became a book, and some of the testimonials that poured in are included in this book. Actually, the total weight loss, just of those column-readers who took the trouble to write in and tell me about it, was over two tons! I have made the world a lighter place!


Me: Why should people bother with dieting?

Dr. Bridell: There are lots of good reasons to go on a diet: to feel better, to think better, to work better, to play better, to look better, to live longer. The bottom line is that we really are what we eat, so there is genuine merit in having some kind of strategy for what we put into our mouths (and what we don’t).

Me: So who would you say this book is really for?

Dr. Bridell: First, it’s for folks who’ve tried other diets that didn’t work, or didn’t work for very long or who heard about other diets and knew, without even trying them, that they wouldn’t work or that they couldn’t stand them or couldn’t do them. And, it’s for people who want to go beyond food control toward gaining control of all appetites. This book is for people who want a higher, more intelligent, more spiritual approach—those who want to understand and then to win the greatest of all personal battles: the battle between one’s spiritual nature and one’s physical appetites.

Me: What’s your opinion of other diet books?

Dr. Bridell:
There are way too many diet books out there, and most of them, in the long run, do more harm than good. Most are based on fads, on gimmicks, on quick fixes, and on shaky concepts based on pseudo science. This diet is different. It will present a series of concepts, starting with the deceptively simple, and will build to a deeper understanding of what a diet really should be and why it should be thought of spiritually rather than physically.

Me: Can you give us a taste of what to look for in your book?
Dr. Bridell:
Remember as you read (particularly the first few chapters) that all physical things are types or metaphors for the deeper reality of the spiritual. God could have devised any number of methods for refueling our physical machines. We could have plugged into trees or had some kind of built-in solar batteries, for instance. But he gave us the food method, with all of its nuances and variety and with the marvelous aspects of taste and appetite. Why? Because it is a way of learning about self-mastery and about the relationship between body and spirit that apply to all aspects of life and eternity. Once learned, these lessons provide us with the tools we need to find and create the mortal joy we were sent here to experience.


Me: Fascinating. Before we close the interview, do you have any anecdotes relating to your book that you’d like to share with readers?
Dr. Bridell: I was sitting by a scientist on an airplane the other day. I had just met her, and she was telling me that humans are just advanced animals--perhaps not even the most advanced. (She really liked dolphins.) I must have looked disagreeable, because she challenged me to name a really substantive "difference in kind." (She had already minimized the physical and mental differences as "differences in degree.")

Judging her to be unreceptive to spiritually-oriented ideas, I tried this one: Men and animals are polar opposites--180 degrees different--in terms of their purpose and the manner in which they maximize their potential. My punch line was this: "Animals become all they can be by following their instincts and appetites. Humans become all they can be by mastering and controlling their instincts and appetites."

Me: Thanks so much for taking time to share all this, Dr. Bridell. One last question—where did you find all the ideas for your book? They’re different to most current world views on the subject.
Dr. Bridell:
I freely admit that many of the core ideas for this diet are not mine. They come from a rather mysterious, two centuries old document that purports to be inspired by God. I will reveal more about this document later in the book, but for now, suffice it to say that I take no credit for the brilliant simplicity of the concepts. They come from a higher place. I have only tried to interpret and make accessible to others the things I have learned from this spiritual source.

One of the reasons for writing this book under a pseudonym is that it is important that it not be connected to a person or a personality. Its ideas must stand on their own merit; they must ring true to the reader because they are true, not because someone says they are true. As you read, let the truth speak for itself.
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Dr. Bridell’s Logical and Rational Poetic and Beautiful & Completely Guaranteed Diet for ALL Your Appetites can be bought by clicking on One2Another.

Return to the Neighborhood.

1 comments:

Luisa Perkins said...

Great interview, Anne! I absolutely LOVE Dr. Bridell's book; I think it's brilliant. I wish everyone would read it.