Fat 2 Fit Show #10 - Do All Diet Books Actually Work?
It is pretty hard to find a diet program or book that doesn’t work if you follow their suggested plan exactly step by step. Everybody will lose at least some weight. So… if every program out there works, why are there any overweight people left, or for that matter why do we need more than a couple of diet books or programs since they all work?
We discuss seven of the popular diet programs that we have followed and why they didn’t succeed in the long run. We give plenty of advice and suggestions from things that we have learned over the years of trying to follow commercial diet programs.
A listener comment about a current diet book that suggested that you should not eat mini meals through-out the day sent our research team into high gear. We covered tons of reasons and research that points to the benefits of eating many times during the day. This also led us to ponder why so many different diet books have totally opposite advice.
Jeff’s news articles dealt with a study that showed just how expensive “good” food is compared to “junk” food per calorie, and some no-nonsense advice about the 4 principles of weight loss. Russ had a great story that dealt with the Kimkins diet scandal. The Kimkins diet turned out to be an unhealthy and unrealistic diet complete with faked before and after photos. So many people became ill on the program that a class-action lawsuit has been launched.
Links mentioned in the show:
Research on Leptin
Study: more meals per day, lower average BMI
NY Times article: Cost of Good Vs Bad Food
7 Tips for eating healthy on a budget
The only 4 things you need to know about weight loss
The Kimkins diet scandal
Recipe of the Week:
Low Fat Tuna Sandwich
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Comments
One Comment on Fat 2 Fit Show #10 - Do All Diet Books Actually Work?
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MCamp on
Tue, 18th Dec 2007 10:49 am
How can I thank you two for the great, in-depth answer to my question? Wow, is all I can say. You really went the extra mile to provide a practical approach to weeding out facts we need to know from programs that may or may not help us in our dieting.
The Sumo Wrestler/Fitness Model part of the answer made so much sense. I do believe that you have to look at what works in real life. Years ago, when the Atkins diet was so popular, I picked up the book in a bookstore and browsed through it. And when I saw the photo of Dr. Atkins, my first thought was “He does not look healthy and fit. If he follows his own diet protocol, then this does not appear to be a healthy program.” He was not a good diet/healthy lifestyle model.
Like many other people, I read about diet programs and want to believe the authors when they say that the reason why people are so fat is because they haven’t tried the author’s program, which contains newly discovered methods for weight loss. The Leptin angle really was new and because it came out of the Human Genome project, I was excited about it. It was when I reached the part about not eating mini-meals spread more evenly throughout the day, that I began to question it.
But after listening to your in-depth response to my question, I have tried to look at it from the viewpoint we had when I was much younger. And that was calorie control and increased exercise. I’m talking about the late 1960’s/early 1970’s here. When we needed to drop a few pounds, we’d cut back on calories and starch - like omitting bread or rolls at dinner, skipping dessert and only eating one serving of each course. We didn’t load our plates with the super-size portions you see in restaurants today. We always skipped “sweets”. We didn’t omit fats, as far as I can recall. And I don’t recall soft drinks/sodas being kept at the home. We drank water, milk, tea and juices. Juice was for breakfast and was served in a small glass (4 oz). This method seemed to work, no matter who was dieting.
Thanks for reminding me to use common sense and remember that if a method is peer reviewed and approved, it’s a better choice until science can find and agree on a newer method.
Mitzi C. (mcamp)
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