Debunking diet myths
Every day people search the internet for the latest, fastest, best diet… and everyday people are uploading diets labeled the latest, fastest, best! The weight loss industry is worth £ billions, so it’s no surprise that there are hundreds and thousands of diets to choose from.
With so many diets to choose from, it can be very confusing and sometimes overwhelming… which ones actually work?
The quick answer is that any diet which gets you in a daily calorie deficit will help you to lose weight.
If that’s the case, why do so many of us fail to lose weight and keep it off?
Again the quick answer is that most of us want immediate results, so we go for the most extreme diet that we think we can cope with… but find that it is too extreme and we can’t sustain it. And because we shocked our body with virtual starvation, it overcompensates when we start eating again… just in case we starve it again! This is commonly known as yo-yo dieting.
Let’s look at the facts!
A year-long randomised clinical trial has found that a low-fat diet and a low-carb diet produced similar weight loss and improvements in metabolic health markers. It also found that insulin production and tested genes had no impact on predicting weight loss success or failure. So the evidence to date indicates you should choose your diet based on personal preferences, health goals, and sustainability.
This year-long study, creatively named The Diet Intervention Examining The Factors Interacting with Treatment Success (DIETFITS), involved 600+ participants. It was conducted by Dr. Christopher Gardner of Stanford University in conjunction with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI), and a team of nutrition experts.
As you can see from the table above… both groups had very similar results. So if the style and type of the diet don’t seem to affect the outcome… what does?
The DIETFITS study concluded with this statement: ‘There is no “best diet”. B oth low-fat and low-carb diets can work for weight loss; the healthy diet that will work for you is the one you can stick to.’
Look at the table below to see the differences between some of the most popular diets.
They all have different methods, but the reason they could work for you is the same for all of them!
The BIG takeaway from this article is that you can lose weight on most healthy diets, but you have to give it time and you have to stick to it. For the best results, it’s about making small healthy changes that become lifestyle habits.
Don’t think about diets as being short term fixes… create a healthy eating plan that you will enjoy every day. Remember to include treats, meals out, and the things you enjoy… in moderation… if you’re not enjoying life, you won’t stick to it… aim for a calorie deficit of around 500 calories a day for healthy and sustainable weight loss.
Remember this can be achieved by increasing your exercise levels… it’s not always just about eating less.
Do you have any helpful tips you can share with us on how to stick to a diet? Comment below. Share this with someone who you know would benefit from reading this. The U Perform family loves sharing ideas and encouraging each other.