Summary
It's not the type of diet that matters as much as your ability to stick with it, according to new research on popular diets. It appears that most popular diets (Atkins diet, Ornish diet, The Zone diet, etc.) will work, but few people actually stick to them for very long. And that's what causes most diets to ultimately fail.
It isn't the diet design that's bad, it's the inability of people to follow those diets.
Original source:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=18665
Details
A new study has indicated that the success of a diet depends much more on whether you stay on it rather than what type of diet you are one, say researchers from the Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, USA.
You can read about this study in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association).
In this study, led by Dr M Dansinger, 160 people were on a diet.
They all had either hypertension or high cholesterol levels (they were all overweight).
Some were on the Atkins, The Zone, Weight Watchers or the Ornish diet.
The researchers monitored these people for a period of one year.
At the end of a year the researchers assessed how much weight they had lost and whether (how much) their health problems had improved.
All the diets showed similar cardiovascular and hypertension (blood pressure) benefits.
All the diets showed similar success and failure rates (number of people who dropped out or stuck to it).
Experts say that losing weight, keeping it off and staying (getting) healthy is a question of adopting a permanent lifestyle.
The dieter has to adopt a lifestyle he/she can sustain for the rest of his/her life.
Possibly, the greatest secret in losing weight, maintaining ideal body weight and staying/getting healthy is to do things in moderation.
Eat too little and you will not be able to sustain it - when the diet breaks, all the weight comes back plus more.
Other studies have shown that physical activity can be an even greater contributory factor to achieving good health and your ideal
weight.
Many people who exercise regularly enjoy good health, even if they are not too careful about what they eat.
Of course, the ideal situation is to eat wisely and also take part in physical activity.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In 2010, Adams launched TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also a noted pioneer in the email marketing software industry, having been the first to launch an HTML email newsletter technology that has grown to become a standard in the industry. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. He's also author a large number of health books offered by Truth Publishing and is the creator of numerous reference website including NaturalPedia.com and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. His websites also include the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the innate healing ability of the human body. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
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Thursday, January 06, 2005
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