The Gitmo Diet: Day 9

WASHINGTON – Today is the last day we'll be doing our daily blog updates and Web casts. At this point, the natural thing to do is to think about what we've gained from doing this report and what we can pass on to you.

So many of our readers have said, "Why are you doing this? What's the point?" What was once a humorous conversation between two colleagues turned into a rather labor-intensive project. In truth, we wanted to know whether we were being told the truth by our lawmakers and politicians. In explaining the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay (search), the government stressed the high quality of their diets. We were told they were treated well because they ate well.

• Click here to hear Sharon and Shana discuss the Gitmo diet.

After eating what the detainees ate for these past two weeks, we can say definitively that yes, the detainees at Gitmo do eat well. They eat healthfully. The quantities of food they receive are generous. Is it a gourmet diet? No. But it is better than the food served at civilian prisons and the food served to children at public schools. It is designed to keep the prisoners healthy and calm. In fact, we plan to incorporate some of the lessons of the Gitmo Diet (search) into our everyday menus: balance between protein, vegetables and starch; careful measurement of portions; and a dramatic reduction in white flour and sugar. As we've mentioned over the past few days, eating the way the detainees do has some surprising health benefits!

We would like to thank all the public affairs officers at the Pentagon, SOCOM (search), CENTCOM, and the Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay for helping us with our research.

Click here to read the menu for the two-week diet.

Click in the video box above to hear a report about the Gitmo Diet.

Shana Pearlman is a producer for FOX News Radio's Tony Snow Show and can be reached at shana.pearlman@foxnews.com. Sharon Kehnemui Liss is the politics editor for FOXNews.com and can be reached at sharon.liss@foxnews.com.