COOKBOOK REVIEW

Bob Greene is famous in some circles as the man who helps Oprah lose weight -- when she's losing weight.

He has ridden this celebrity to 10 books, including cookbooks. But Greene is not, as it turns out, a chef. He is an exercise physiologist.

The recipes in his latest work, "The Best Life Diet Cookbook," taste as if they were created by an exercise physiologist. Even though they were created by an actual chef, Sidra Forman (mentioned once in the acknowledgements and never again), they still taste all physiologisty.

The food is healthful, and tastes it. It relies on little salt, little oil and no dairy products aside from the occasional yogurt. Greene (or at least Forman) believes in big flavors. Bold flavors. And, unfortunately, bad flavors.

We made Chicken Breasts with Pumpkin Seeds, a variation on a Mexican dish that can be amazing when done right. And, in fact, this book's version begins promisingly, with a robust-tasting paste to coat the chicken breasts before baking. But the recipe allows for no marinating, so what you end up with is an overly intense coating (and too much of it) surrounding a bland, though juicy, chicken breast.

For a side dish, we made the Steel-Cut Oats "Polenta," an effort to mimic polenta by using oatmeal. It didn't taste like polenta at all; it tasted like oatmeal. Instead of milk or sugar or any of those things that make oatmeal good (or for that matter, polenta), this recipe calls for sage. Sage, as it turns out, does not go with oatmeal. At all.

One section of the book is given over to recipes from world-class chefs who, unfortunately, adhere to Greene's dietary restrictions. The recipes from these chefs, from Thomas Keller to Charlie Trotter to Anita Lo, tend to be much more complicated and involved.

We made Vitaly Paley's Spice Grilled Chicken Breasts with Couscous Salad and Sesame Sauce, which cooks the couscous in water with the same spices used in the chicken: turmeric, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon and star anise, plus saffron and mint. To Paley's credit, my wife loved this highly spiced dish, but it tasted too healthful to me. It tasted like highly spiced lint.

For our last foray into the Best Life Diet, we made the Shiitake Mushroom and Greens Soup. The broth for this soup requires 6 cups of water, one onion, one carrot and a few shiitake mushroom stems -- just the stems, mind you -- simmered for 20 minutes. In other words, it is wan and watery. The final addition of shiitake mushroom caps and collard greens adds little.

What it needs is chicken broth. That's just 20 calories a serving, and a world of flavor.