The Skinny on Popular Diets
What Research is Saying about Today’s Trendy Diets
From Volumetrics to Atkins to the Mediterranean diet, how choosing which one is best for you may be easier with the latest research results.
There are so many diets available today for you to choose from. Researchers are constantly studying to find which ones offer specific benefits. Here is what researchers found in 2007.
The Volumetrics Eating Plan
If you need to eat a lot of food, the Volumetrics Eating Plan may be your best choice. Results released in June 2007 of a year-long study by Penn State researchers showed that diets consisting of foods that are low in calorie density, such as the Volumetrics Eating Plan, can promote healthy weight loss and help control hunger. Low calorie density foods – such as fruits, vegetables, soup, lean meat, and low-fat dairy products – are high in water and low in fat and provide few calories per bite. This allows people to eat significant portions of food, lowering their feelings of hunger and deprivation. Participants eating the low calorie density foods lost more weight during the first six months than those on a strictly low fat diet – on average 19.6 pounds compared to 14.7. The study also showed that these same participants ate 25 percent more food by weight and experienced less hunger than those on the low fat diet.
The Atkins Diet
If you want a diet that has proven results, the Atkins diet definitely does. The Atkins diet is a low carbohydrate, high protein diet. In March 2007, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine completed the largest comparison to-date of four of today’s most popular diets, and the Atkins diet finished first. Of the more than 300 women studied, those who followed the Atkins diet for a year lost more weight than the other participants (on average 10.4 pounds) and had the largest decreases in body mass index, triglycerides and blood pressure. Their high density lipoprotein (good cholesterol) was also higher than those on the other diets. Researchers feel the Atkins diet was the most successful because it encourages low sugar or fructose intake, higher water intake, and higher protein, the latter two helping you to feel full with less food.
The Ornish Diet
If you have a history of heart disease, the Ornish diet may be one you want to consider. The Ornish diet is a high fiber, low fat, vegetarian diet. You can eat as much vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes as you wish. An October 2007 study from the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) found that the Ornish diet performed the best in its ability to reduce cardiovascular disease compared to several other popular diets. The study compared dietary intake such as the ratio of white to red meat, polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats, and the quantities of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes, fiber and trans fats consumed, all of which affect cardiovascular health.
The Mediterranean Diet
You might want to look into the Mediterranean diet if you are a heavy smoker. The Mediterranean diet is based on a high consumption of foods common to the region such as olive oil, fish, red wine (a mild to moderate amount), as well as fruit, vegetables, bread and wheat. According to the results released in May 2007 of a 20 year study, the Mediterranean diet greatly reduces your chances of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as emphysema and bronchitis. Of the 43,000 men studied, those who ate a Mediterranean diet had a 50% lower risk of developing COPD than those consuming a Western diet (processed foods, sugar, red meat), even after adjusting for age, smoking, and other risk factors.
The South Beach Diet
If you have a high insulin concentration, the South Beach diet may be best for you. The South Beach Diet is a low-glycemic diet, which means eating good carbs (meat, fish, vegetables, eggs, cheese, and nuts) and good fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) and reducing bad carbs (dairy, sugar, bread, potatoes, fruit, and grains) and bad fats (trans and saturated). The result is your body loses its insulin resistance, and begins to use excess body fat for energy. In May 2007, researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston found that after studying 73 obese young adults, a low-glycemic load diet provides more weight and body fat loss than a low fat diet for those individuals with high insulin concentration at 30 minutes during an oral glucose tolerance test.
Of course, you should consult your doctor before you try any of these diets so that they can recommend the one that is best for you.
Please see my other articles: Low Cost Home Exercise Machines, Low Cost Home Fitness Equipment, Weight Loss Gadgets, and The Latest Weight Loss Research.
