I sigh when I hear my friends discussing fad diets. It?s a touchy subject, as everyone has an opinion.
But what is the truth? It?s often difficult to discern.
Confusion prevails because of information overload. Diet advice is everywhere, from newspapers to women?s magazines to afternoon talk shows. Consumers are hit with new diet book after new diet book.
Yet most of the popular diet books are not based on scientific evidence but on the often unscientific and well-marketed opinions of the authors.
The media adds another twist to the information by focusing on some unimportant but flashy detail of the research or controversy surrounding this ?new? weight loss phenomenon. This approach will fuel more interest but not necessarily offer useful facts to the uninformed. Writers and publishers have their own interests to further the sale of their products or books.
All of this makes the facts pretty difficult to sift out of the vast amount of reading material available.
A good way to weed out ?fad? diets is to watch for statements like ?weight loss is effortless,? or, ?you will keep the weight off forever? and ?these foods are bad for you.? These promises often can?t be substantiated. Beware also of diets that recommend you eliminate an entire food group, are advertised late at night on television, or demonstrate results with ?before? and ?after? pictures.
The New York Times Magazine had an article called What if Fat Doesn?t Make You Fat? basically promoting the Atkin?s Diet. (July 7 2002) This is a prime example of how certain facts are often left out. The writer of the article appears to have cobbled together loose facts to make it sound as if high-carbohydrate intake is the problem—but that?s only half the story.
The writer interviewed many credible physicians who specialize in heart disease, cancer and obesity. They agreed the research shows saturated fat has adverse effects on cholesterol levels, promotes blood clots, raises insulin levels and damages blood vessels. Thus, their recommendations are to cut back on saturated fat.
Yet the writer writes ?saturated fats will elevate your bad cholesterol but they will also raise your good cholesterol. In other words, it?s a virtual wash.? He is stating if you raise both your good and bad cholesterol it balances out the bad cholesterol. So, by his logic, if we raise our HDL (good cholesterol) this will protect us, but there is no scientific evidence on this subject.