There’s a minefield of misinformation when it comes to diets and losing weight. Let’s help you navigate your way with the science behind weight loss.
What’s the best diet, according to science?
When it comes down to it, the science of dieting is simple: eat less calories than you burn. You can do it with a low-fat diet (like the raw food diet), or a low-carb diet (like the Atkins or paleo diet). But the problem with diets is not so much losing weight, but finding a way that your weight doesn’t rocket up again the minute you stop.
The best diet according to all the science and research is one that is effective, sustainable, safe and fits in with your lifestyle.
Verdict: Try a supervised diet program to help you make lifestyle changes you can sustain and that will help you safely shed excess weight.
Do crash diets work?
The guidance is that “crash diets make you feel very unwell and unable to function properly… crash diets can lead to long-term poor health”. The thing is, maintaining a healthy nutritional balance while restricting yourself massively can be a problem.
You might lose weight rapidly, but you’ll pile it back on equally fast when you return to a realistic eating pattern. Don’t starve yourself! Feeling full is key to successful weight loss efforts. Your brain responds to hormones and nutrients that are released from your gut into your blood. Eating a diet high in protein will help you feel fuller for longer, which helps your weight loss efforts as protein takes longer for your body to breakdown.
Verdict: Crash diets aren’t nutritionally balanced and will make you feel awful.
Do intermittent fasting diets work?
Intermittent fasting diets like the 5:2 diet are very popular. This is where you eat what you want some days a week and then eat very little on other days. There’s no research to say it’s dangerous, and over the course of the week you will reduce the calories you’re consuming, but there are other ways to do it that might be more sustainable for you and lead to overall healthier, balanced eating.
Verdict: Intermittent fasting is no more effective than other calorie-restricted diets, but take care to make sure you’re getting all the nutrients your body needs.
Can you be fat and fit?
This interesting question has been all the rage for the past few decades.
A recent study in the UK of 3.5 million GP records by the University of Birmingham found that ‘healthy’ obese people, who had normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, were still at higher risk of serious disease than healthy people of normal weight. The obese people had 49% increased risk of coronary heart disease, 7% increased risk of stroke, and 96% increased risk of heart failure.
Verdict: Obese people with healthy blood pressure and cholesterol still have an increased risk of heart problems and strokes.
