Judy Mazel

Judy Mazel (December 20, 1943 – October 12, 2007) was an American weight loss advocate and the author of "The Beverly Hills Diet", which became a 1981 best seller and a nationwide diet craze. Judy Mazel was a devout practicing Jew and was raised in a conservative Ashkenazi Jewish home.

Biography

Mazel was born in Chicago on December 20, 1943, as the youngest of three sisters. They claimed that many dieters lost weight simply because the Beverly Hills Diet was low in calories. The diet often made many nutritionists' lists of their top 10 fad diets. Nutrition experts have described the Beverly Hills Diet as quackery and based on the discredited idea of food combining.

Celebrities, however, embraced the Mazel's book. Noted followers of The Beverly Hills Diet included journalist and California First Lady, Maria Shriver, as well as Sally Kellerman, Engelbert Humperdinck and Linda Gray.

Death

Judy Mazel died of peripheral vascular disease at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, on October 12, 2007. She was 63 and was a long-time resident of Pacific Palisades, California at the time of her death.