Breaking the Scales

You want to lose weight, but you’re not sure which route to take. Low-carb or low-cal? Low-fat or no sugar? Which is best? Which one will work for you? If you feel lost in the sea of diet claims out there, you’re not alone! Different people find success with different approaches to weight loss. Finding the program that “fits” you is a major component to doing some trimming where needed. Active living and healthly dietary practices of variety and moderation should be key components regardless, but from there, the challenge and multiplicity begin. Here’s a look at the most popular weight loss plans and how they measure up:

DO IT AND LOSE IT!

Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy
Dr. Walter Willet wrote this book not just as a weight loss plan, but to show where the USDA Food Guide Pyramid was wrong. Willet’s Healthy Eating Pyramid is the response. The diet emphasizes whole grains, plant oils, fruits and vegetables, nuts and legumes, fish, poultry, eggs, alcohol in moderation, low-fat calcium sources, exercise and overall healthy lifestyle practices. At first glance, The Healthy Eating Pyramid over-emphasizes fats, but the overall message is still a good one.

Weight Watchers
A popular point-tallying, group-supported system that enforces portion control and moderation. Those who overeat can benefit by tracking what they consume and being conscious of reducing calories. Dieters are rewarded for choosing healthier options with “point” flexibility, and there are multiple programs to choose from, depending on your individual tastes. Though long-term healthy lifestyle changes are still up to the dieter, Weight Watchers is a great way to get started.

South Beach and Sonoma Diets
If you’re really bent on going low-carb, the South Beach and Sonoma Diets start extremely restrictive, similar to other low-carb diets, but are soon more reasonable in emphasizing balanced eating—relying on lean protein, good fats and beneficial carbohydrates. South Beach focuses heavily on the role of insulin and how spikes in blood sugar make you hungry. Sonoma is a Mediterranean-based plan for weight loss. Although the initial phases are decidedly too restrictive, the secondary phases are more reasonable and the advised long-term changes in both diet plans are more doable (and better for your future health!) than most low-carb options.


DON'T EVEN TRY 'EM!

ATKINS and the Like
Initially, the Atkins Diet eliminates most carbohydrate foods, leaving you with mostly protein and fat: no bread, no pasta, no fruit and few vegetables—not enough nutrients. Emphasizing protein is good, but emphasizing unhealthy fats and eliminating many other foods that are important to maintaining good health
is not. By simply restricting the foods you eat, you are likely to drop pounds because you dramatically reduce your total caloric intake. However, you’ve also drastically reduced your intake of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber, while increasing your intake of artery-clogging saturated fats.

Eat Right For Your Type
This diet claims that negative reactions between the foods we eat and our blood type are responsible for many ailments. The list of what is “good” and “bad” is extensive and differs dramatically according to your blood type. It may well turn out that there are important interactions between diet and one’s blood type, but there is currently little scientific evidence to substantiate this. In the end, the author adds the caveat that individual variations still occur within blood types, so you shouldn’t expect all of the recommendations to apply to you. It’s nice to have it both ways, especially when book sales are involved.

The Single Food and Liquid Diets
Diets that primarily emphasize one type of food or beverage (like grapefruit, cabbage soup, commercial supplements, etc.) are generally not your best choice. Although you will most likely lose weight due to lack of variety and drastically reduced calorie levels, these diets are definitely not altering or addressing the lifestyle practices that caused the weight gain in the first place. Unfortunately, that means these diets will undoubtedly lead to the eventual recurrence of that weight as well.

Lee T. Murphy, MS-MPH, RD, LDN