Do Diets Work?
As obesity increases in New Zealand , there are hundreds of diets promising dramatic weight loss in a matter of weeks or even a few days - seemingly without great effort or disruption to our busy lifestyles. Two hugely popular slimming crazes have gripped the country in the past couple years - the Atkins and The Zone diets. PAMELA COILS looks at how safe they are they and whether they really work:
You don't easily recognise Bruce when you look at the photo on his driver's licence.
Bruce (not his real name, naturally) is good-looking, youthful - and slim. But the photo, taken just a few years ago, shows a different person. Without drawing on the sort of pejorative language Paul Holmes reserves for politicians, Brian was big.
So what happened? His story is typical of the modern dieter's. He did the Atkins.
The diet could work long term, Bruce says, but he found it difficult to maintain for any great length of time because it was quite draining mentally.
“If you have a strong mental focus you could stay on the diet for longer, but like any diet, it is difficult to stay on it for long periods of time because you get sick of eating the same foods.
“The Atkins diet works in terms of losing weight, but whether that is in inches is quite hard to tell, because even though I lost seven kilos in about four weeks, it didn't make a lot of difference to my clothes sizes.”
“Cost is a contributor as well, because the Atkins Diet foods cost more than I would usually spend on groceries in any given week. I ate bacon and eggs for breakfast and salads for lunch, but evening meals were the easiest time because it was usually chicken, beef or canned fish for dinner on most days.”
“Energy levels were not the same, and giving up fruit, carbohydrates and coffee takes it out on you a bit, but it wasn't too bad. For me, I think I need the carbs to maintain a high energy level, and to stop the hunger which seems to go with any diet you may be on.
“The good points of the Atkins Diet were that you could eat as much as you want and if you like the types of food offered in the diet it's quite good. It's easy to go on if you are into eating those types of foods, and you do seem to lose weight.
“The bad points are the long term concerns I had regarding what effects it would have on the body in terms of cholesterol and that type of stuff. It's difficult to stay focused on the diet and to find foods that you are allowed to eat, especially when you are going out for dinner at restaurants and fast food outlets.”
Even though this dieter lost weight, he doesn't recommend Atkins.
“I think it's better to change bad eating habits and eat a more varied diet of healthy foods and have an exercise regime, rather than go on any particular diet because most diets are really hard to stick to for a long time.”
This is a story about goods and bads.
In the new millennium, current wisdom has it that good fats are those that are in liquid form at room temperature and found in fish, nuts, and most plants.
Bad fats (solid at room temperature) are saturated animal fats found in meat and dairy products such as margarine, vegetable shortening, and many processed foods.
Good carbohydrates are fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains that are rich in fibre and nutrients and more slowly absorbed.
Bad carbs are sugary foods and starches such as pasta, white bread, and potatoes, which are quickly absorbed in our digestive system and raise our blood sugar levels.
Dietitian Jill Nicholls says most people go on the Zone or Atkins diet on their own accord, not with a dietitian or doctor's recommendation.
“People are looking for an easy way to lose weight,” she says. "The books have always been good sellers. The limitation with diets is that you only do it for a short period of time, and then you go off it and go back to your old eating habits.
"We try to change people's whole thinking about food. The way they cook, the way they use food, like when you are bored, or lonely, you eat. Looking at other ways of dealing with those situations, so that you're not always eating.”
Behaviour change, long term, means looking at labels, making sure that they are low fat and low salt. Behaviour that someone can follow for the rest of his or her life, rather than a diet that they go on for six weeks.
“Any diet (change from your normal eating) that you go on for a short period of time causes you lose a lot of muscle as well as fat, and when you go off it, your body reacts to being allowed to eat more, because when not eating very much, your metabolic rate slows down, and when you eat more your metabolic rate is still slowed down, causing you to put on more fat."
She says going on and off diets creates a huge problem, and people are making themselves fatter.
“These diets are marketed by their good short-term results, and there's always a new diet coming out, so people try these hoping that they will work when the 15 previous diets haven't.”
Changing cooking methods and eating habits is a long slow process.
“When people want to lose 10kg fast, before they go to a wedding in a month, is why these diets are so popular. They promise something that they usually can't give. People can sometimes lose a lot of weight, but it's never a long-term loss.”
New Plymouth YMCA fitness manager Jan Castle says she could not recommend either diet because the Atkins is too high in fat and the Zone diet is too restrictive.
“They are reduce calorie diets, so energy intake is lower than what it normally would be. The Atkins diet effects the ability to work out. Because it is so high in fat and not carbohydrates, dieters usually lack energy. And the Zone diet is pretty much the same.
“We don't promote any diets like the Atkins or Zone diets and if people come in who are on those types of diets, we try to educate them about eating less and doing more,” she says.
As people are becoming more aware of the health risks of being obese, more obese people are doing something to change their lifestyle and lose weight in a more healthy way by eating less and exercising more.
“If someone exercises hard and eats a little bit less, you do get really good results. You've got to do both because it's a lifestyle change. It's a long term thing learning that you can't always eat everything you would like to. A lot of people know what the right thing is to do when it comes to healthy eating, but it can be difficult to put it in to practice.
“People know what they should and shouldn't be eating, and how much, but it's sometimes easier said than done.”
A s one who has tried almost every available diet, some of which worked (in the short term, anyway) while others have been miserable failures, one dieter says the most difficult thing about losing weight is that "one still needs to eat to stay alive. Most diets leave you hungry for 99% of the time, which inevitably leads to binge eating, so do diets work?"
There probably will never be an easy answer to losing weight and keeping it off long term. The best anyone can hope for is to change eating habits and exercise regularly to maintain good weight management and a healthy heart. That is what seems to work for most of the people, most of the time.
The Atkins Diet
The Atkins Diet was founded by American Robert C. Atkins MD, and follows a diet plan of limited carbohydrate consumption and an increase in fat and protein consumption.
According to ??? this low carbohydrate plan is called the “metabolic advantage”. It works through a fat mobilising substance called ketone bodies, which are released in body wastes when a person eats only a bare minimum of carbohydrates, and uses protein and fats to fuel the body.
The Atkins diet has a two-week induction phase where carbohydrate consumption is limited to 20 grams a day.
Following the induction phase, carbohydrates are added back to the diet at an extra five grams per day.
On-going weight loss is said to continue until the weight loss goal is almost reached, and then carbohydrate consumption increases until a “critical carbohydrate level for maintaining weight” is achieved.
During the induction phase, fats and proteins may be consumed at almost unlimited quantities, but only one cup of salad twice a day, or one cup of salad and one cup of low carb veges is allowed.
Foods which are not allowed at all on the Atkins diet are high carb veges such as potatoes, peas, and carrots; also rice, bread, pasta or any baked goods or sugar.
Exercise is an important part of any diet regime and Atkins r ecommend…
The Zone Diet
The Zone Diet was originally developed by Barry Sears PhD and is a breakdown combination of foods into allowable quantities depending on the category of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates stimulate insulin, protein stimulates glucagon, and the zone diet tries to balance between these two hormones.
Meals are based on a 40, 30, 30 system – 40% carbs, 30% fats, and 30% protein and broken into the "eyeball" method or the "blocks" method.
The eyeball method is using your hand to measure portion sizes of the food allowed.
The protein portion should be equal to the size and thickness of your palm. Carbohydrates are measured the same way, depending on whether they are favourable carbs (broccoli and green leaf vegetables), or unfavourable carbs (highly refined foods like pasta, white breads and bagels).
If you choose favourable carbs, you can have two loose fists full as a portion. If you choose unfavourable carbs, only one tight fist full portion is allowed.
Dietary fat is measured simply by what has already been chosen for the protein portion. If the protein is high in fat, no more can be added to the meal, if not, a few nuts or some olive oil may be added to complete the combination requirements.
The five fingers on your hand are used as a reminder to eat at least five times a day (three meals and two snacks), and to never let more than five hours pass between a meal or snack.
The blocks method is a more detailed way to keep track of what is consumed.
This allows for more accuracy with daily requirements calculated by gender, body fat percentage and daily activity
One block is broken into three mini blocks (one protein, one carbohydrate, and one fats), and each block is calculated using grams.
Seven grams of protein is equal to one mini block of protein. An example is one ounce of chicken breast.
Nine grams of carbohydrates is equal to one mini block of carbohydrates. An example is one cup of strawberries or three cups of steamed broccoli.
Three grams of fat is equal to one mini block of fat. It is only added to the meal if there is no fat from the protein portion, to complete the combination requirements.
Zone recommends 30 minutes of aerobic exercise such as walking, and 10 minutes of anaerobic exercise – strength training - every day.