Book weighs diets against each other
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2008
The way to lose weight is pretty simple: Eat less and exercise more. So why are there so many diet books and plans ?
Most of these plans have a gimmick. Many have catchy names — Intuitive Eating, Good Mood Diet, Fit for Life, The New Sugar Busters ! — but choosing or rejecting a diet based on its name isn’t the best path to wellness.
Just in time to prop up those waning New Year’s resolutions to get into shape comes The Diet Selector: From Atkins to The Zone, More Than 50 Ways to Help You Find the Best Diet for You by Judith C. Rodriguez. Rodriguez, a clinical dietitian and professor at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., enlisted colleagues in her department to evaluate 50 weight-loss diets and 25 disease management or eating plans to support good health.
While most of the diets rated in the book are weight-loss diets, Rodriguez felt strongly about including plans that promote good health. “If you follow a health program, you almost don’t need a weight-loss diet,” she says. She also recognized that “there are people who have special needs outside of weight loss. I thought it was important for them to have a sense of what the diets are and what elements they should be looking for.” The team used criteria that double as questions an informed person would ask when choosing a nutrition plan. One key question is “Does it have a multi-component approach, related to foods, behavior and physical activity ?” Rodriguez said. “The other piece is, does it fit your lifestyle and your [food ] likes and dislikes ?” The Diet Selector is easy to use. Each plan merits two pages, including a brief history and description of how the diet works, pros and cons, and a sample menu. Rodriguez also rates each diet on the strength of its long-term plan, flexibility, cost, family-friendly aspects and whether the plan is rooted in science.
The introductory chapters outline how to use the book and also take a practical look at what to expect from a diet.
The book presents facts rather than recommending one diet over another, although Rodriguez has her favorites. “There are some diets that I thought had healthier approaches, such as the French Woman’s Diet, which doesn’t talk about dieting but about behavior and lifestyle values,” she says. “The Mayo [Clinic Healthy Weight Program ] diet is another one.” She also singled out D. A. S. H. (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension ) and the Mediterranean diet because they are eating plans for life.
She prefers plans that aren’t restrictive, although she acknowledges that “some people really like a rigid ‘ tell me what to do ’” approach.
She stresses that small changes make a real difference in nutrition.
“Try a few small things and forgo the big dramatic changes,” she says. “Figure on two or three things you can do every day — replace soda with water; park a little farther [from a destination ] and maybe cut back on dessert in the evening. These are things you can easily do for the rest of your life.”
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