2007 Diet Awards

I, for one, find it mildly incredible how many spins our society has been able to put on dieting and weight loss so far. At the end of the day, it all comes down to exercising and eating healthy. Whether you group it into fives, threes or twenty-sevens does not, in the end, make a blind bit of difference as to the substance.

That's not to say that some of these diets do not contain some very valid pointers; however, in my opinion, most of them often end up being a triumph of form over substance.

All the best and Happy 2008!
George

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes

It's not a diet book, but it should be required reading for anyone considering a reducing diet. Really, it should be required reading for anyone who eats.

GCBC is a revisionist history of nutrition science covering the past 150 years or so. Taubes, an award-wining science journalist, tracks the shoddy science and cult of personality that resulted in our modern (about 30 years old), unfounded, beliefs that:

- eating fat makes you fat
- saturated fat and cholesterol causes heart disease
- diabetics should eat a low-fat diet rich in grains
- exercise will make any overweight person lose weight
- carbohydrate restriction can be described as "new," "untested," "a fad," and "dangerous."

It's an astounding book.

Totally agree with the Taubes comment. He states in his book that there wasn't a need for another "diet book." It's not a particularly easy read, but I highly recommend reading it. Here's his summary on what he believes to be true:

1. Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart
disease, or any other chronic disease of civilization.

2. The problem is the carbohydrates in the diet, their effect on insulin
secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis-the
entire harmonic ensemble of the human body. The more easily
digestible and refined the carbohydrates, the greater the effect on our
health, weight, and well-being.

3. Sugars-sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup specifically-are particularly
harmful, probably because the combination of fructose and
glucose simultaneously elevates insulin levels while overloading the
liver with carbohydrates.

4. Through their direct effect on insulin and blood sugar, refined carbohydrates,
starches, and sugars are the dietary cause of coronary heart
disease and diabetes. They are the most likely dietary causes of cancer,
Alzheimer's disease, and the other chronic diseases of civilization.

5. Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation, not overeating, and
not sedentary behavior.

6. Consuming excess calories does not cause us to grow fatter, any more
than it causes a child to grow taller. Expending more energy than we
consume does not lead to long-term weight loss; it leads to hunger.

7. Fattening and obesity are caused by an imbalance-a disequilibriumin
the hormonal regulation of adipose tissue and fat metabolism. Fat
synthesis and storage exceed the mobilization of fat from the adipose
tissue and its subsequent oxidation. We become leaner when the hormonal
regulation of the fat tissue reverses this balance.

8. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are
elevated-either chronically or after a meal-we accumulate fat in our
fat tissue. When insulin levels fall, we release fat from our fat tissue
and use it for fuel.

9. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat and ultimately
cause obesity. The fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner
we will be.

10. By driving fat accumulation, carbohydrates also increase hunger and
decrease the amount of energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity.

Well -- perhaps it doesn't really matter which diet you go on, because NONE of them work for longer than six months. Anyone read her blog? http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2007/12/part-one-what-does-evidence-reveal-can.html

Funny thing, any diet book works...if you actually follow the advice inside 100%. There are no new ideas in weight loss, these people are not inventing anything but just new fancy ways of presenting and selling it...new shinny boxes on the outside, same stuff on the inside. Eat right, dump your sugars, stop thinking you need sweets (cravings), lift heavy stuff once in a while (strength train) and have an active lifestyle doing whatever. Consistency is the biggest key to any weight loss effort. Stop looking at the scale, change your attitude to be healthy in your life's choices for eating and activity and your body will soon reflect those choices (aka lose weight, look good). Plenty of people out there who have never been in a gym or heard of fat burning zones...but yet they are healthy, strong and have the appearance of it as well...because they make simple healthy choices on a daily basis.

Another plug for Taubes book...as it is not a diet, but an explanation of what you need to do to be healthy.

121 and MikeOD - agree completely!

On Taubes' book - I'm still awaiting my copy as I've been behind on my reading lately. I will play devil's advocate though as I heard a radio interview with him while driving a few months ago. In this particular interview, he claimed that exercise and energy balance have NOTHING to do with weight. I just about drove off the road. I'm curious to see how he rationalizes this in his book or if he says something different. If he were to say it's not the only factor - I'd be on board but he doesn't.

I'll also be reading his research very diligently when it comes to his minimalization of the impact of exercise as a weight loss tool.

Again, great commentary on the state of diet books! Have a great New Year everyone!

Mike H. said:
In this particular interview, he claimed that exercise and energy balance have NOTHING to do with weight. I just about drove off the road. I'm curious to see how he rationalizes this in his book or if he says something different. If he were to say it's not the only factor - I'd be on board but he doesn't. [...]

I heard him on Larry King, and this part really got the other guests, especially Jillian from the Biggest Loser, upset. His reasoning on this is that exercising makes you hungry, so you eat more. Therefore, exercising is more likely to make you gain weight than lose it. He had some studies to back that up, but it just seems a bit to simplistic to me.

True, any diet will work as long as you follow it. I followed a few diets to the letter back in high school and yeah, I lost weight. I also got REALLY sick of egg whites, melba toast, and lettuce. So once I'd lost 15ish pounds and my clothes fit looser, I'd start eating like I used to again and get fat again. I actually had the best success with the Weight Watchers plan. I kind of combined it with the Volumetrics plan (which, incidentally, gives high marks to WW). I eat what I want to eat, but I am aware that I can eat a lot more of certain foods (broth-based soups, salads with light dressings, veggies, fruits, etc) and less of other foods (like nuts, chips, cookies, etc). I don't eat JUST low-calorie foods, but I do fill up on them so I don't eat so much of the high calorie foods.

I'd be kind of interested in hearing this guy Taubes' opinion of obesity. In my own experience, working out doesn't really make me any hungrier than not working out. If anything, it suppresses my hunger a bit. I guess some people overcompensate for working out by eating more, but if you are sensible with your diet AND work out, you can't help but lose some weight.

Gary Taubes' main hypothesis in 'Good Calories, Bad Calories' is that carbs are the cause of obesity and many diseases of modern civilization including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many types of cancer.

There's just one major problem with this theory -- the traditional diets of the Mediterranean and Asia are rich in carbs from pasta, rice, bread, legumes, fruits and vegetables. These traditional diets are also associated with low rates of obesity and chronic illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancers of the breast, prostate and colon.

However, when people from Mediterranean and Asian countries migrate to Western countries like the U.S. and Britain and abandon their traditional diets in favor of a meat-heavy and highly processed Western diet, their rates of obesity and chronic disease increase to our levels.

This makes it very clear that carbs aren't the problem.

And I know this myself, because carb-rich foods like pasta, rice, bread, legumes, fruits and vegetables have been a major part of my diet for many years (along with fish, poultry, nuts and good fats) -- and I've never been leaner or healthier.

Foodoo said:
There's just one major problem with this theory -- the traditional diets of the Mediterranean and Asia are rich in carbs from pasta, rice, bread, legumes, fruits and vegetables. These traditional diets are also associated with low rates of obesity and chronic illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancers of the breast, prostate and colon.[...]

Are you aware that the ancient Egyptians had real problems with heart disease and obesity? (They had the ultimate Mediterranean diet.) Obesity is certainly not unknown in Asia, either. And who's to say that some of those results don't have to do with the traditional lifestyle, which involves a great deal of exercise and (I presume) much better portion control than here.

I have come to believe that there is a small subset of humans who do better on higher carb ratios. Are you of Mediterranean and/or Asian heritage yourself? I have blood lines that come from non-farming regions of the world. Trust me - there is no way I personally could eat any significant carbs and stay skinny or healthy.

Thanks for the input everyone. Once the book is in at my local library, I will tackle it. Until then I will reserve judgement. Foodoo and Amy - both good points. Amy - there is certainly a variation when it comes to individual carb tolerance. That said, I don't think traditional mediterranean diets are obesigenic or in any way lead to heart disease.

Spectra - agree completely with your last point. If we eat sensibly, exercise can't help but put a dent in weight loss efforts. Individual results do vary.

Spectra, if you're looking for Taubes's reportage on obesity, New York magazine recently published an excerpted chapter from Good Calories, Bad Calories here:

http://nymag.com/news/sports/38001/

The article is titled "The Scientist and the Stairmaster."

Here's a point many people miss: Taubes is not promoting a theory. He is reporting on the results of scientific attempts to find a link between exercise and weight loss. So far, scientific studies have not found evidence of a strong causal relationship. Taubes is just the guy with the nerve to say that out loud.

One more thing on Taubes--this is a link to a webcast of a presentation he did in November. It's almost two hours long but it answers many of the questions that have been asked in this comment thread:

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=21216

Mandatory Minimum Health Insurance. A concept I spoke about in a lecture circuit around Boston back in 2000. It received laughs and snickers. It’s now law in Massachusetts, several other states are considering it and presidential candidates have similar proposals.
More than ever before, it is an absolute necessity that you wake up to the fact that if you do not change your unhealthy lifestyles, health insurers and legislators will institute more dramatic and costly changes to health insurance and care. Changes that will usher in a “New Order” of health insurance and care:
· Using “Colossus”- the health insurance industry’s well-kept secret - to track health habits & lifestyles and issue “Lifestyle Grades”.
· Merit-Rated Health Insurance Premiums based on these “Lifestyle Grades”.
· Imposing “Lifestyle-Contributed Surcharges on Care”.
You should know what other changes may be and that you don’t get entrapped by this “New Order” of health insurance and care.
This guide is concise, complete and includes lifestyle changes from A to Z.
The differences that can be made in all aspects of your health & quality of life is astounding:
Fat, Lazy Americans
Why You’re Prey for the “Lose Weight” Mongers
How to Make a Total Transformation,
Make It Last for the Rest of Your Life and
Why You Should Do It Now By Dr. David Robinson is available at www.buybooksontheweb.com or 1-800-buy-book.

On the notion that any diet, any diet book, works, as long as you follow it 100%...

I just don't believe that can possibly be true.

It's tantamount to saying, "There is no such thing as bad advice, regardless of its content."

There is such a thing as bad diet advice.

Lowcarbarama said:
Here's a point many people miss: Taubes is not promoting a theory. He is reporting on the results of scientific attempts to find a link between exercise and weight loss. [...]

I disagree. What you say may be true in the limited context of the article you are referring to, but the book itself IS promoting a theory (actually a hypothesis). He wants the present scientific community to test the hypothesis that fat accumulation is not just a simple case of calories in minus calories used (i.e, gluttony and sloth).

The Taubes book is amazing...amazing in how people misinterpret lessons they should take away from it. They ignore not only common sense, but also science. They ignore that the key to fitness is discipline.

Look, people, it DOES come down to diet and exercise. Any diet that tells one that exercising is more likely to cause a person to gain than lose weight is simply pandering to what the target--that is, prospective buyers of the books and diet products--wants to hear. Yes, exercising will make you hungry, but part of losing weight is dieting and then not binging. Those of you who interpret the Taubes book as some sort of ringing truth that losing weight is not dependent on consuming fewer calories than one expends are deluding themselves. There are laws of thermodynamics, people, and I suggest that people consider the very first one.

I am 28, and due to graduate school, full-time work in the military, being a father and husband, etc. I don't get many blocks of exercise time--maybe two or three times week, if I'm lucky. But I eat a healthy diet, refuse to consume bad fats and sugars, and I don't take life's lazy shortcuts (e.g. using the elevator to go up two measley floors or trolling the parking lots to find the closest spots instead of parking and walking farther). Consequently I have a body fat % that has only risen above 6% once in my life, and that only because of recovery time after a combat injury.

Also, for those of you who deny that exercise is the key, remember that being thin is not necessarily being fit. A person who is thin does not necessarily have functional fitness or even good health.

I came up with a new diet that is really nothing new: Just Eat Half. Its all in a little e-book available at the Just Eat Half Web site. Based on portion control, I try to make things really simple.

Bradley

Bradley said:
The Taubes book is amazing...amazing in how people misinterpret lessons they should take away from it. They ignore not only common sense, but also science. They ignore that the key to fitness is discipline.[...]

And you are ignoring what Taubes plainly says. Your "discipline" statement is what he identifies as being one of the keys of the "positive-caloric-balance/over eating" hypothesis. It says people become obese because they lack the mental discipline to control their intake relative to their energy needs. Taubes offers evidence supporting an alternative hypothesis.

Taubes also does not say that exercise makes you gain weight, merely that people tend to match their intake to the energy output and fail to lose weight. And I haven't seen anywhere in this thread where "fitness" was discussed. No one says don't exercise. Taubes point in mentioning it is that just telling obese people to "eat less and exercise more" has proven to be very ineffective.

Ditto on the Taubes book. Reading it made me mad, very mad - at all the lies I have been told by "those in the know" and government. It should be read by everyone!

Are we still being directed to do "diets"?
The Triune Non-Diet sounds like it is much longer lasting (lifestime) to me. "Diets" are passe and faux pas! Make lifestyle and "habit-pattern" changes...Live Fit, Trim, Healthy...Live It For Real...Live It For Life!