Health and Healing Newsletter Jan. - Feb. 2004 Volume 1 Number 2

Dietary Choices: Maze, Magic or Mastery?

Dieting
Happy New Year, and if you're like a very large number of Americans who made a New Year's resolution to lose weight, good luck on your diet. Unfortunately, it will probably take more than luck, because the simple fact is that to lose weight you must consume fewer calories than you burn. This means that exercise and activity is the key element to a weight loss plan and time is the other factor. It probably took years to put on the extra pounds, so it's unrealistic and unhealthy to try to take them off in weeks. And speaking of health, a better and more realistic goal is to resolve to make a healthier diet part of your healthier life, rather than shedding the pounds to fit into a smaller clothing size. Having said that, let's examine in very broad terms some of the current popular diets with a view toward adopting one for life.

Very Low Fat Diets such as the Ornish Diet-Originally designed to treat heart disease, this diet concentrates on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, and limited nonfat dairy while eliminating meat, poultry, fish, and foods with fat (almonds, avocados, seeds, oils, etc.) The aim is to lower cholesterol levels but the claim is that weight loss can also be attained when coupled with exercise because of the low caloric content of these foods. However, it is a difficult diet to follow and you run the risk of not getting necessary nutrients and essential fatty acids. Pritikin and McDougall are similar diets.

Mediterranean Diet---Strictly speaking, this is not a diet but a description of the eating habits people living in areas bordering the Mediterranean Sea and who exhibit lower incidence of heart disease and certain forms of cancer. Their diet is mainly based on the foods from a wide diversity of plant sources including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds. Processing is minimal. Olive oil is the principal source of fat, and dairy products, fish, poultry and meat are consumed sparingly. Evidence suggests that adherence to this lifestyle choice reduces not only the risk of developing heart disease but the complications after the onset of a cardiac occurrence.

Low Carbohydrate Diets such as Atkins---Enjoying great-renewed popularity, this diet has made news as recent studies have indicated it is not the danger detractors had claimed. Atkins reports that carbohydrates make you fat, and severely limiting them will cause the body to burn fat, mimicking a starvation state. On this diet you eat meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, butter, cream, cheese, oil and limited amounts of non-starchy vegetable, while avoiding starchy vegetables, fruit, grains, grain products, milk, and sugars. In the short term, this can result in rapid weight loss but it too is a difficult diet to maintain, and those that go off the diet find that the weight returns as easily as it was lost. Also, there has been insufficient study on the long-term effects. As in all extreme dietary lifestyle changes, you should consult with your doctor or nutritional counselor before starting.

Sugar Busters-This diet claims you gain weight because refined carbohydrates, such as processed sugars like corn syrup and table sugar, raise blood sugar/insulin levels. This creates an inability for our bodies to utilize fat as an energy source to be metabolized. On such diets, you may eat anything except sugars, white flour, carrots, corn and beets. There is a risk of high saturated fat intake since red meats and high fat dairy foods are not restricted. Similar diets include The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, Protein Power, The Schwarzbein Principle, and The Zone.

• Food Combining Diets--- The concept here is that not combining protein-rich foods with carbohydrate-rich foods (and further, not combining fruits with or after any other foods) will result in weight loss, blood sugar control, and management of digestive problems. Essentially this is a healthy approach to eating if you eat a wide range of wholesome, unprocessed foods. You simply avoid protein and carbohydrate together and fruit is only eaten alone. However, the caveat for weight loss is still rule #1-to lose weight you must take in fewer calories than you expend. Similar diets are The Hays Diet and The Beverly Hills Diet.
• Some conclusions-- You cannot change one dietary factor without influencing others. Over the past ten years, as Americans have decreased their fat intake, they have simultaneously increased their intake of fat-free foods and carbohydrates, especially from refined sugar, resulting in no reduction in total calorie intake. It is not our purpose here to recommend a particular diet (though the Mediterranean diet does offer a reasonable lifestyle choice)-this requires individual discussion between you and your doctor or your nutritionist. Rather, the purpose here is to show that there are numerous approaches to choosing a healthier way of living of which diet and exercise should be key components.
  

Ronald Stram, MD
The Center for Integrative Health and Healing

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Health and Healing Newsletter Nov. - Dec. 2003 Volume 1 Number 1