Atkins. Ornish. Weight Watchers. South Beach. The Zone.
As a physician, I’m often asked which diet works best.
Carbs or protein? Liquid only? A “cleanse” diet? Mediterranean? Grapefruit only?
Many people want to know whether any of them even work at all.
Scientific research has been focusing more and more on weight loss, as a record number of Americans – more than one-third of adults – can now be considered clinically obese. Evidence shows that you can lose weight on some of the popular diet programs.
Which ones?
It may not matter as much as you think.
In one respected comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers and Zone diets, researchers found that dieters had lost, on average, 6.4 pounds over the course of a year. But how well dieters did depended not so much on the specific diet or types of foods they ate, but on whether they were actually able to stick with the diet plan.
The dropout rate for each of the diets was very high, with half of those on the Atkins and Ornish diets giving up before the 12-month mark, and one-third of those on the Weight Watchers or Zone diets quitting by then.
“The good news about this study is that we have demonstrated that all these diets work,” said lead researcher Dr. Michael L. Dansinger in an interview with Medscape. “That means that physicians can work with patients to select the diet that is best suited to the patient. For example, if you have a patient who likes meat, it is unlikely that he or she will comply with the Ornish diet.”
A recent study had similar findings. Overweight adults who reduced their intake of calories lost an average of 7 percent of their initial body weight within a year. It didn’t matter whether their diet was higher in protein or higher in carbs, the study determined. “Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize,” the researchers concluded.
So it’s being consistent and eating less that matters, rather than the details of what you eat.
Making an effort to lose extra pounds and keep them off for good can pay big dividends. Obesity has been linked to high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, gallbladder disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke, and even increases your risk of developing certain cancers.
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