H
Hamptons diet
DefinitionThe Hamptons diet is a low-carbohydrate, low-
calorie diet that could be described as a cross between
theAtkins dietand theMediterranean diet. The orig-
inator of the Hamptons diet, Dr. Fred Pescatore, is
the former associate medical director of the Atkins
Center. He has himself described the Hamptons
diet as ‘‘low-carb with a Mediterranean twist.’’ The
diet focuses on eating healthy monosaturatedfats,
especiallyomega-3 fatty acids, found in fish and
vegetables.
OriginsThe Hamptons diet is a relatively recent addition
to the list of popular diets. Its basic guide,The Hamp-
tons Diet: Lose Weight Quickly and Safely with the
Doctor’s Delicious Meal Plans, was published in
2004, and the official cookbook of the diet appeared
in print in 2006.
According to Fred Pescatore, the author ofThe
Hamptons Diet, his interest in nutrition originated in
his painful experiences as an overweight teenager
‘‘frustrated by his inability to get a date,’’ as he told
one Australian reporter. He went on a crash diet for 40
days during his sophomore year of college and
resolved to ‘‘never allow myself to get that way
again.’’ After college, Pescatore went to medical
school at the American University of the Caribbean.
Pescatore then returned to New York City, where
he completed a residency in internal medicine and a
master’s degree in public health. Still concerned about
his weight, he tried the Atkins diet and reportedly lost
an additional 20 pounds. In 1994, a recruiter for the
Atkins Center in Manhattan hired Pescatore, who had
started a nutrition-based practice in East Hampton, to
be the associate medical director of the center. Pesca-
tore remained at the center until 1999, after the pub-
lication of his first diet book—on the importance of
preventingobesityin children. A second low-carbohy-
drate diet book,Thin for Good, followed in 2000. This
book was disting\uished by a comparatively extenstive
treatment of the psychological issues involved in
weight loss. It also contained a series of diet plans
designed for men and women in different life stages.
After the Atkins Center closed in October 2003,
Pescatore and four other former Atkins employees—an
internest, an osteopath specializing in spinal manipula-
tive treatment, a psychotherapist, and a physician’s
assistant—formed a practice called the Partners in Inte-
grative Medicine (PIM). Pescatore describes PIM as
creating five ‘‘amazing partnerships... at the center
of low-carb medicine’’—partnerships between tradi-
tional and alternative medicine, between the patient
and PIM, between body, mind and spirit, between the
staff at PIM, and between PIM and other professionals.
Pescatore’s variation on the Atkins theme, which
he says took him five years to develop, was to separate
good dietary fats from bad fats, a step that Atkins had
not taken. More specifically, Pescatore departed from
the high levels of saturated fats recommended in the
Atkins diet. He based the Hamptons diet on the use of
more healthful food oils—monounsaturated fats,
which are fats or fatty acids with only one double-
bonded carbon atom in their molecules. Monounsatu-
rated fats soften and liquefy at lower temperatures
than saturated fats, and are thought to offer some
protection against heart disease. They are found nat-
urally in such foods as nuts and avocados. When
Pescatore was asked in 2004 whether the changes he
introduced in his diet plan means that Atkins was
wrong, he said that Atkins ‘‘was starting to come
around towards the end....Dr.Atkins wasn’t wrong
at all. It’s just times change and things evolve. And as
the science evolves, so should the low-carb dieting
world evolve, because it is not just a fad.’’