Beware the new year weightloss pedlars
By Dr Garry Egger
January is the key player of the resolution season. So beware the resolution pedlars.
The weight loss market is rife with them. And the removal of advertising restrictions, as well as the ongoing rise in obesity (there are now 66% of men and 54% of women classed as overweight or obese) has guaranteed them a comfortable living. It’s a living that’s now also unencumbered by simple notions of truth and honesty in advertising.
But let me not be too harsh. After all, I am one who lives off the fat of the land – albeit, I hope, in an ethical manner. But it’s precisely for this reason that I feel obliged to point out some of the deceptions in my chosen field which, by imputation, tar us all with the one brush.
I’ve done this in several of my books (GutBusters, Professor Trim’s; Trim for Life etc). But the fact that none of these have been titled ‘The stuff yourself stupid with whatever you like while you lie around the house and still look like Elle McPherson diet’ means they will probably all be relegated to the remainder shelves quicker than you can down a pan fried ‘Mars Bar’.
So over the next few weeks I will provide my summary of traps for the wary player to start the second decade of the new millennium – a digest of digestion for proper long term weight loss!
Here are the first two
1. Avoid diets like the plague
Several long-term studies in obesity have now shown convincingly that diets – restricting food intake, or counting calories – don’t work. They can’t be sustained and they cause physiological adjustments in the body (i.e. reductions in metabolism), which guarantee that weight will be regained at some point – with interest!
Any restriction of food intake below the level required for metabolism plus an allowance used for energy requirements during the day (usually about 1.2- 2.00 times metabolism) can cause these adjustments. Even for a very light woman this would rule out a food intake below about 1200kcals/day.
A de-emphasis on any form of ‘diet’ in favour of an altered ‘ad lib’ pattern of eating, particularly by reducing fat in the diet and increasing fibre (fruit, vegetables, breads and cereals) is now favoured by most experts in the field.
2. Don’t fast – there’s long enough to do this when you’re dead
The average over-indulged Christmas punter will of course be tempted to starve him or herself into submission to pay penance for the weeks prior. If you’re tempted this way, you’re doing yourself a big disservice. Fasting is an even quicker way to cause physiological adjustment as the body goes into survival mode. In doing so it makes sure that you’ll never again be so afflicted by denial by granting you an extra slab of flab in case it happens again.
Contrary to popular opinion, fasting also doesn’t ‘cleanse’ the system or ‘eliminate fat producing toxins’. According to the American College of Sports Medicine it results in ‘ a reduction of blood glucose concentrations, excretion of high levels of potassium, nitrogen, sodium, calcium, magnesium and phosphate; reduction in blood volume and body fluids and reduction of the iron binding capacity of blood serum’. It’s enough to turn you off it till death.
Check out this blog soon for the other 6 tips.
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Spot on, common sense is the key. Eat real/living food, drink water and eat on regular bases. Incorporating manageable activities also on regular bases thus you will feel great.
Most importantly – this is sustainable.
Some food for thought
I agree with Garry that diets aren’t the answer but considering our fascination with dieting (despite the evidence) sometimes you wonder is it better to join ‘em vs. fight ‘em? How do you convince a troubled soul that the latest artichoke and fish sauce diet won’t work despite the latest celeb losing 45 pounds and increasing their cup size at the same time?
The more I read on the inflammatory process and the hypothesis that there are certain foods we have evolved to eat and those that we haven’t with those that we haven’t possibly invoking an immune response, makes me think about other evolutionary hang ups that we may have.
If we cast our mind back to the old days when food wasn’t so plentiful (and where our dietary evolution is still at), I wonder how regular our energy intake was – were we able to maintain a stable amount of calories per day, per week etc or did it fluctuate with the good times and bad.
If it did fluctuate could dieting be just another evolutionary hang up gone wrong. No longer do we have bad times, and the good time aren’t good, they’re awesome in terms of energy. Could dieting be a conscious effort to reproduce the good “old” days?
Life is never stable – there’s always up’s and downs. Is there an opportunity to capitalise on our fascination with dieting, look at those that are able to successfully manage their weight in an obesogenic environment (to quote the editor himself) and moderate the good times. Then when the good times turn into a full blown street party invoke a moderated “bad” time to balance the ledger?
I thoroughly agree with Dr Egger in avoiding diets like the plague or perhaps even like H1N1!
The term diet for most people means they will be going on something and eventually will come off it.
I prefer to use the words ‘healthy eating pattern’ as opposed to diet. This way you are laying down the habits for weight maintenance as opposed to weight loss.
In many ways the ‘weight loss’ industry needs an overhaul to become a weight maintenance industry, but that will be counterproductive to business I guess.
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