Everyday Systems: nosdiet: message 835 of 3212

Note: This is an archived message from our old discussion software. Join the current discussion here.

    
Hi Melanie,

Thanks for posting this. I've read similar stuff in
other places, but this sums it up well and comes from
an authoritative source.

It confirms for me that most popular diets just aren't
focused on the long term. How to lose weight quickly
is not a problem worth solving. For many people, it's
part of the problem, because repeated yoyoing depletes
their will and accustoms them to failure (and
contributes to that "dead lumberjacks" phenomenon that
Dan so memorably described in a post to this group a
few months ago). Who cares if low carb is better than
low fat for the first six months, if they both leave
most people in the same miserable place at the end of
the year?

Big picture, it's not about one substance vs. another.
It's about changing your habits. I'm not saying that
science doesn't unearth interesting insights about
different foodstuffs now and then, but how *useful*
are these, from a weight management perspective? My
growling belly doesn't understand carbs and calories
and trans fatty acids. But it does understand plates
and times and days. 

The nosdiet is essentially a calorie restriction diet,
but with better psychology. You could also say it's
low or at least lower carb, because of the sugar rule.
You'll probably also eat disproportionately less fat,
especially the worst kind of fat, because guess whats
the ingredient #2 (besides sugar) in all those snack
foods that you won't be eating? But first and
foremost, it's a psychological diet, a framework for
building habits for long term weight management.

Now that I've talked up the diet a storm, let's hope
you actually lose some weight on it! Looking forward
to hearing great things from you,

Reinhard
--- purpleldy1 <purpleldy1@...> wrote:
> This was posted in one of the other groups I
> frequent, I thought it
> might remind all of us NoS is the best way to go. 
> Side note, I
> stepped on the scale today I am down another 2 lbs
> yeah!!!!!! Thats a
> total of 4 down another 96 lbs to go. According to
> all the healthy
> body calculators my healthy weight should be
> somewhere between
> 100.98-136.46 =)
> Nutrition Notes: Cutting calories key to weight loss
> By Karen Collins, R.D.
> American Institute for Cancer Research
> 
> "I just want a diet that works!"
> 
> That's the plea from people who feel overwhelmed by
> today's many diet
> options or frustrated that their diets seldom bring
> long-term results. 
> The
> diet that works for you, however, will be the one
> that removes or 
> reduces
> the foods you overeat in a way you can live with 
> permanently.
> 
> There are plenty of options to consider. New studies
> show that the 
> wildly
> popular low- carbohydrate diets do tend to produce
> slightly greater 
> weight
> loss than more conventional diets in the first six
> months. But after a 
> year,
> the low-carbohydrate diets hold no significant
> weight-loss advantage. 
> A
> closer look at the data from these studies also
> reveals that, even in 
> the
> short-term, low-carb diets produced good weight loss
> for some but not 
> for
> others.
> 
> Although authors of some low-carb diets develop 
> complex biological
> explanations to support them, these diets probably
> work better for some
> people because of changes in behavior. People
> following these diets 
> clearly
> know what foods to eat. They don't have to think
> about portion size or
> agonize over taking a little bit of some food. The
> result is that 
> these
> people tend to consume fewer calories. The high
> amount of protein 
> helps
> satisfy hunger, boosting people's ability to skip
> forbidden carbs.
> 
> Dieters most likely to benefit from a low-carb diet,
> at least in the 
> short
> term, are people whose excess calories come from too
> much pasta, 
> potatoes,
> bagels, soft drinks, juice or carbohydrate- based
> snacks. But these 
> foods
> are difficult to avoid forever. Feelings of
> deprivation may force 
> dieters to
> break down and binge on them. Even if this doesn't
> happen, low-carb 
> dieters
> will eventually have to learn portion control and
> healthy snack 
> choices, if
> they want more variety in their diet.
> 
> For a long time, low-fat diets were considered the
> optimal way to lose
> weight, since fat is the most concentrated source
> of calories. Many 
> studes
> have shown that when people reduce fat intake by
> choosing leaner 
> meats,
> dairy products and snacks, they tend to lose
> weight. But low-fat 
> dieters may
> forget that cutting calories is the heart of weight
> loss. If they 
> heavily
> consume fat- free sweets and grain goods, they
> achieve neither weight 
> loss
> nor good health. If a low-fat diet includes
> adequate protein at each 
> meal,
> as well as high-fiber whole grains, fruits and
> vegetables, it will 
> satisfy
> hunger. But eating fat-free salads or pasta alone
> spurs hunger every 
> few
> hours. Low-fat dieters need to eat balanced meals
> and snacks in 
> appropriate
> portions -- not just fewer fat grams -- for
> long-term success.
> 
> Diets that replace all or some meals and snacks
> with special diet 
> drinks or
> bars also attract many people. Several studies
> document their 
> short-term
> effectiveness. These meal replacements, with about
> 200-250 calories, 
> are
> substantially lower in calories than full meals.
> They are quick and
> convenient for people who eat on the run or who
> forget o prepare 
> fruits and
> vegetables. Because these diet drinks and bars have
> such low-calorie
> content, however, wise snack choices are essential
> for this diet to 
> succeed.
> Another possible pitfall is that eating too lightly
> during the day may 
> cause
> overeating at night.
> 
> Any diet can work in the short term if it targets
> what you've been
> overeating. But the drop in overall calorie
> consumption is the real 
> reason
> you lose weight. Keep in mind that none of these
> diets helps people 
> who
> overeat in response to stress or emotions. These
> eating habits need 
> new
> approaches to handling life's challenges.
> 
> Nutrition Notes is provided as a public service by
> the American 
> Institute
> for Cancer Research.
> 
> 
> 
> 

> 
> 
>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>