About 'diets'

[Guest guest]

Experts weigh in on our obsession with the latest and greatest diets.

 

By Denise Mann

 

 

The wackiest diet that Melissa Payne has ever heard of would probably

be " God's diet. "

 

 

" God's diet was pretty radical and the philosophy behind it is that

if god didn't make it, you should not eat it, " says Payne MS, RD,

LDN, at Orlando Regional Health Care in Orlando, Fla. " It involved

huge lists of things you could and could not eat and there were a lot

of restrictions in terms of sucrose, fructose, glucose, and all

sugars, " she recalls.

 

 

Other nutty ones that Payne and her colleagues who are on the front

lines of our diet-obsessed society have heard about include the all-

peanut butter diet, the breathing diet, the cabbage soup diet, the

raw-food only diet, and the blood type diet.

 

 

Just stroll down the diet/health section at your local bookstore and

you are likely to be bombarded with diet books, many with doctors' or

celebrities' names attached. There's actress Suzanne Somer's, Get

Skinny on Fabulous Food, The Metabolic Typing Diet " (which comprises

self-tests to discover your own metabolic type and determine what

kind of diet will work best for you); Dr. Kushner's Personality Type

Diet (which looks at diet, exercise pattern, and any emotional

barriers that keep you from your ideal weight).

 

 

And there's more: The Eat Right 4 Your Type: Blood Type Diet suggests

different diets for different blood types because foods are

metabolized in a unique manner by each blood group. And there seems

to be a new breathing diet every few years. The premise is if you

increase the amount of oxygen to various parts of your body, it works

more efficiently, your metabolism speeds up and you lose weight.

 

 

" The cabbage soup diet was big and so were 'combination' diets where

you can't have fruit with any other food group and meat and starches

can't be eaten together and the liquid-cleansing diets, " Payne says.

 

 

" People want a quick fix and they also want a program to follow, " she

says. " It's not enough to say watch portion sizes and increase

exercise, they need more structure. "

 

 

The Lure of the Fad Diet ...

 

Fad diets promise structure and immediate results. " And sometimes the

better the packaging, the more the appeal, " Payne says. " The South

Beach diet is more glamorous than following the USDA food guide

pyramid. "

 

What's more, " people are so confused by nutrition and are not sure

who to believe, " she says. " A lot of the ads sound promising and easy

to buy into because most say you can eat all you want, not exercise,

and lose all the weight, " she says. " We don't think about long-term

health benefits. "

 

 

That's for sure, says Joy Short, an assistant professor of nutrition

and dietetics at St. Louis University in St. Louis.

 

 

Short says that by far " the most popular fad diet is the current low-

carb craze, but I have seen everything under the sun from earrings

that rev up metabolism to drinks that zap fat out of the intestinal

system. "

 

 

Craze? The popularity of low-carb diets is more like a revolution!

 

In fact, 20% of adults said they had tried a low-carb diet since 2002

and 11% of Americans (or 24 million adults) are currently on one

whether it be Atkins or another plan. And 19% of people who are not

currently on a low-carb diet are " very " or " somewhat " likely to try

one in the next two years, according to a survey of 1,800 U.S. adults

by Opinion Dynamics Corporation in Cambridge, Mass.

 

 

Anatomy of a Fad Diet

 

 

Generally fad diets " take something that has been shown through a

little research to be beneficial like peanut butter (which is rich

in " good " monounsaturated fat and protein and helps you stay full)

and then someone recommends it at every meal throughout the day, "

Short says.

 

 

" We want something and we want it now, " she says. " Moderation,

variety and balance in the diet takes effort, long-term commitment

and lifetime change and people aren't patient. "

 

 

In addition, fad diets are very specific which people find

appealing. " It's so cut and dry, giving you something to follow that

you see as a recipe for success and think it might work, " Short says.

 

 

Finally, Short says, most fad diets are sold through " it worked for

me " testimonials, which consumers love and the research community

hates.

 

 

Grammar Lesson

 

 

" A diet is a noun; it is the foods and beverages that a person

consumes, " says Cynthia M. Goody, PhD, RD, LD of the University of

Cincinnati Medical Center in Ohio. " [but] people think of diet as a

verb; an activity involving the restriction of food for a period of

time to achieve a quick fix, in most cases, weight loss, " she says.

 

 

Fast-result, fad diets provide people with instant gratification,

Goody tells WebMD.

 

 

However, they don't promote proper maintenance of the weight that has

been lost. Most of the popular diets are nutritionally inadequate and

include certain foods that people would not typically eat in large

amounts.

 

 

So how can you detect one of those 'crazy diet fads?'

 

 

" If it promises a quick fix, is simple, lists good and bad foods,

makes dramatic statements, and has no scientific basis, then it's too

good to be true, " Goody says. " There are no good foods or bad foods, "

she says. " It's all about portion control and down sizing over super-

sizing. "

 

 

Whether it's grapefruit, cabbage soup, or peanut butter, " a single

nutrient diet can't give you all the vitamins, nutrients, protein,

carbohydrates, fat, and water that your body needs, " she says.

 

 

Summing It all Up

" People like to eat and losing weight is tough, " says Jeanne

Goldberg, Phd, RD, a professor of nutrition at the Friedman school of

nutrition science and policy at Tufts University in Boston.

 

" It's really hard to cut back on calories and increase physical

activity sufficiently such that you follow a very moderate path step

by step until you have lost the weight that you want, " she says. " All

of these diets promise a quick fix, but you don't get fat overnight

or over two weeks and you don't get skinny in that time frame

either, " Goldberg says. " All of these diets are magic bullets that

claim to defy the laws of energy balance which is calories in must

equal calories out. "

 

" It's really hard to say 'this will happen to you if you follow this

diet' and the truth is that there is some evidence that people have

lost weight on every diet that you conceive of, but the trick is can

they keep the weight off? "

 

And with fad diets, the answer is a resounding no

 

 

 

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* " There are too many idiots in this world. And having said it, I have

the burden of proving it. " (Franz Fanon)

* " Until he extends the circle of compassion to all living things, man

will not himself find peace. " (Albert Schweitzer)