"At a time when many people are more confused about nutrition than ever, The Take-Control Diet is an intelligent guide to losing weight and keeping it off. Clear-thinking, scientifically based, and well written."--Dean Ornish, M.D., author of Eat More, Weigh Less and Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease

There were many reasons why I decided to write this book. As you read through it, many of them become alarmingly clear through my carefully chosen words and anecdotes. However, the first reason that prompted me is personal. In many of the medical columns that I've written for Time magazine and the New York Daily News and the stories I've reported for WNBC-TV in New York City, NBC's Today show, and NBC's Weekend Nightly News, I've spoken fervently about the growing rate of overweight and obesity in our country. Not only is it debilitating our country, but it's truly stealing the lives of Americans and others throughout the world. I have openly and fearlessly criticized gimmick diet books that put helpless and desperate people at risk for serious bodily injury, even death, rather than making use of accepted scientific information.

So when Mary Bahr, an editor at Random House, asked me if I wanted to write something for Random House, I jumped at the chance. For years I've wanted to write health and medical books as well as novels, and out of the blue an editor I had never met was offering me a chance to fulfill a dream and a personal mission. We met promptly, and after our first meeting we had two great book ideas that we thought would do a great service to people. The first, published last year, is called Dr. Ian Smith's Guide to Medical Websites, and its purpose is to give Americans a guide that rates ten of the best medical websites for each disease category. Its intention is to help direct people to useful medical information on the Internet and steer them away from those sites that don't have the most current or accurate information.

This book, however, works from a central philosophy of helping you learn about your mind, body, nutrition, and exercise. This knowledge allows you to take control of your life. If you're looking for a book that's offering guarantees about the amount of weight you'll lose in a specified amount of time, then my book is not for you. If you want a magic bullet that will take off those extra pounds, I respectfully suggest you look elsewhere. The only guarantee I make is that this book is the real deal. It respects your sense of integrity and aims to give you a plan not for two months or two years, but one that will change the quality of your life forever.

The take-control diet will challenge you both physically and mentally -- something that the journey to success often does. Your part of the contract is being prepared to take and believe in the challenge. If you don't really want to lose the weight and improve the quality of your life, the words on these pages will be hollow and meaningless. However, if you want to make positive changes in your life, you'll have to dig in to what my ever astute brother, Dana, calls those hidden spaces that we all have inside of us. These spaces are special reserves of confidence, self-respect, energy, and determination that exist in all of us. If you can tap into them, you'll be well on your way to taking control of life's endless challenges. The golden fuel hidden in these spaces will allow you to turn your life around in the face of failure and criticism and say to yourself, I can do this, because I believe!

It was my aim in writing this book to bring you the latest in scientific research about weight management, a healthy diet, and exercise in an understandable and easy-to-follow manner. I'm concerned about how you manage your weight, because it can have such a tremendous impact on your risk for numerous diseases, self-esteem, and ability to fulfill life's dreams. Please take this work in the following pages not as a bible of information, but as a well-thought-out guide that will empower you to take control and live the great life that is your undeniable right.