Health and Fitness Blog
A source for exercise, health and nutrition advice, and information on exercise programs, building muscle and more...
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- Study: Atkins low carb diet deemed effective
This globeandmail.com article by Leslie Beck summarizes recent studies that show the Atkins diet is quite effective in helping dieters lose weight. The article describes the Atkins diet thusly:
“What is it: Followers drastically cut carbohydrates by shunning breads, cereals, pasta, rice, fruit and milk and emphasizing protein-rich foods such as cheese, meat, poultry and fish.
Author: Dr. Robert Atkins first published his diet approach in 1972 in a book called Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution.”
In the study, the average weight loss over 12 months was 10.3 pounds, compared to 3.5 pounds for the “Zone” diet and 4.8 pounds for the “Ornish” diet.
“Based on a comparison of four weight-loss diets, the low-carbohydrate diet was deemed most effective at helping overweight women shed pounds.’
Somewhat surprisingly to many people, even the though the Atkins diet is the antithesis of a “low fat” diet, the study “demonstrated the low-carb diet was not only the most successful at promoting weight loss, it also did not raise blood pressure or significantly boost cholesterol. Other recent studies comparing weight-loss diets also reported that triglycerides, HDL cholesterol and blood pressure were not significantly different or were more favourable among low-carbohydrate-diet followers.”
This is certainly counter intuitive given the “red meat” reputation of the Atkins diet.
1. Losing weight is more important to your overall health than trying to maintain a healthful “low fat” regimen which doesn’t reduce your weight.
2. The Atkins diet is quite effective. However, it is almost impossible to stay on this diet long term and many participants gain back the weight they lost as soon as they stop the diet. The Atkins diet is not a sustainable source of weight loss
3. Some of the weight loss in the Atkins diet is illusory as carbs make your body retain water at a greater rate than do proteins. Hence, some of the weight loss is “water loss” which immediately reverses when you start eating carbs again.
4. The best way to lose weight is to reduce overall calories and eat a wide variety of foods. Avoid “refined carbs” but not other carbs.
Wed, 07 Mar 2007 11:31:00 -0600 - True or false: Exercise not necessary for weight loss.
A new study, the results of which are described here at tvnz.co.nz is being hailed as a result that “debunks the widely held belief that diet plus exercise is the most effective way to lose weight.”
The study results as quoted in the article state: "For weight loss to occur, an individual needs to maintain a difference between the number of calories they consume everyday and the number of calories they burn through metabolism and physical activity," Dr Leanne Redman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explained in a press release and that researchers report that dieting alone is just as effective as dieting plus exercise. ‘What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise.’"
Well of course this is not really new information. A calorie not eaten is the same as a calorie burned. Exercise can help you lose by burning more calories, but of course, you can also lose without exercise by eating less. At getfitsource, we always emphasize that the key to losing weight is eating less, not exercise. Eating less always trumps exercise for losing weight per se, because it is extremely difficult to burn the number of calories needed to lose lots of weight, whereas it is relatively straightforward not to consume them in the first place. Of course, exercise confers other extremely important benefits as well, which fortunately, the article does point out: “regular exercise can improve aerobic fitness and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.” Not exactly a minor piece of information and one that is totally ignored by the headline news: “exercise not necessary to lose weight.”
Although it says it somewhat differently, the article also repeats the well known fact that one can’t “spot reduce.” In other words, one can’t target one part of the body for greater fat reduction than another. This is also a well known principle in weight loss.
Don’t let studies like these shake your faith in the benefits of exercise. But don’t expect exercise to be a panacea for weight loss. You have to eat less to lose weight.
Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:30:00 -0600 - The Kansas City infoZine: Beverages the culprit in obesity surge
This article from The Kansas City infoZine suggests that calories from beverages may be a large causal factor on the nation’s growing obesity problem.
Here are some facts and opinions from the article:
During the last 30 years calorie consumption has increased by 150-300 calories per day with half of that increase coming from beverages.
Average soft drink portions have increased from 13 ounces to 20 ounces.
Studies indicate that when people consume more calories from beverages they do not compensate by consuming fewer calories from their meals, hence the increase in calories from the beverages is a net increase in calorie consumption leading to permanent weight gain.
Even after consuming more calories from sweetened beverages with their meals, study participants did not report any increase in satiety.
Beverages don’t provide an increase satiety commensurate with their calorie component: they pass through our mouths quickly giving less time for the brain to realize we are eating and some people somehow rationalize that they don’t count; they do.
Our take at getfitsource.com is simple:
If you are still drinking colas or other “sugar water” you really aren’t serious about losing weight. Sweetened soft drinks should be the very first thing that you jettison from your diet if you want to lose. Drink only water and other unsweetened beverages if you are serious about losing weight. If you must drink orange juice or grapefruit juice, be sure to dilute it copiously with water before you consume. Sports drinks fall into the “sugar water” category. Although they contain fewer calories per ounce than sweetened colas, they should be avoided if you want to lose. A large sports drink can easily negate the (caloric consumption) benefits of a fairly strenuous workout.
Ditch sugar water from you diet today. All refined carbs are really a no-no if you want to lose weight.
Mon, 19 Feb 2007 08:50:00 -0600
