How do you decide to try a new, popular diet book? Is it based on the celebrity who promotes the book? The food choices? Your friends' recommendations? Someone gives you a copy?

I'm struggling with this topic myself, primarily because there are so many diet books available. To narrow it down, I looked at the top 5 weight control books on Barnes and Noble.com. Here's my take on each:

#1:  The South-Beach Diet Supercharged. I'm not a fan of the South Beach diet, or any low-carb plan because I don't agree with eliminating entire groups of foods. In my view, this is just a repackaged version of the South Beach Diet, with some new, unsubstantiated claims that small amounts of exercise will somehow coerce your body into burning more calories. I don't buy it.

#2:  The Eat Clean Diet is based on the type of diet body builders use to prepare for a competition. Eat every 2-3 hours, include lean protein with each meal, and focus on complex carbs. It's actually a healthy way of eating if you can sustain it.

#3:  The Most Decadent Diet Ever is written by the same person who authored the Biggest Loser Cookbook. It's really more of a cookbook, with lower fat and lower calorie recipe makeovers. That's one important step toward long-term weight loss, especially if you like to cook.

#4:  I Can Make you Thin is written by a hypnotist, which makes me wonder why I haven't written a best-selling diet book yet. His primary focus is on eating mindfully, or paying attention to hunger and fullness levels and the reasons why we eat. This is a great approach overall and one that I think we ignore far too often.

#5:  The Spectrum is written by Dean Ornish, MD, who popularized a primarily vegetarian, very low fat way of eating as a method to reverse heart disease. The Spectrum really isn't a weight loss or diet book, but instead is more of a guideline on empowering people to make food choices to promote an overall healthier lifestyle.