Fast track not the safest road to weight loss

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/vnews...8/408f981153ee2

By ELISSA HUNT / DN Staff Writer
April 28, 2004

Diets are metaphors of American society, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln registered dietician said Tuesday.

"Our society believes that bigger is better and bigger isn't really better for us," said Karen Miller of the University Health Center and Campus Recreation Center.

Miller and Kimberly Sallans, a graduate student in English and education psychology, presented "kNOw Diets: The Facts Behind Popular Fad Diets" to about 10 faculty members and dieticians in the Regency Room of the Nebraska Union.

Many diets have been around awhile and are being recycled, Miller said. For example, a low-carbohydrate diet similar to the Atkins diet was first presented in 1961.

The Atkins diet advocates eating very few carbohydrates. It also promotes reaching ketosis, which burns body fat. But this is also a condition that is seen in starvation, Miller warned.

"This happened to people in concentration camps," Miller said. "This is not a normal state that you want happening to you."

Still, the Atkins marketing campaign is huge, she said.

"Atkins makes brands of foods such as ice cream that are certainly not health foods," Miller said.

Another type of diet is the South Beach Diet. It claims to be a healthier version of the Atkins diet and after the first two weeks, it promotes eating a lot of whole grains and fruit, Miller said.

She said the major downfall of this diet is that it has a list of good foods and bad foods.

"Any diet that gives people the feeling that there are bad foods is not a good diet," Miller said.

Some other types of diets are "counting diets," such as Weight Watchers and the new Glucose Revolution.

She said the newest diet to just come out is known as "The Maker's Diet." This diet is supposedly based on the way Jesus ate.

All of these diets have psychological appeal, Miller said.

Many of them are quick-fix diets.

"People want things done quickly and then don't want them to come back so they could possibly feel the effects," said Sallans, who is the Students Helping Individuals Nurture Esteem (SHINE) coordinator.

Miller said people avoid exercise because it takes time. Also, many people are emotional eaters, she said.

"All of these things lead to asking, 'Who can we blame for these problems?'" Miller said.

Sallans said because so many of these diets fail, people turn to taking pills.

There are four different categories of these pills, or supplements: nutritional supplements, weight-gain supplements, weight-loss aids and erogenic aids, Sallans said.

The problem with nutritional supplements is if individuals are eating a healthy diet, they are getting all the vitamins they need so they can overdose, she said

"More is not better in most cases," Sallans said.

Many protein supplements are expensive. A person can spend up to $100 a week on protein supplements. Protein supplements also require the individual to work out or muscle mass will not be gained, Sallans said.

Many of the ingredients in weight-loss pills can be deadly or harmful to the body, she said. They do not need to be approved by the FDA because they are classified as cosmetics.

Some of the side effects include a faster heart rate, dizziness, coma, coronary spasms and death, Sallans said.

"I took some weight-loss supplements five years ago and had almost all the side effects except for coma and death," she said.

Some good ways to lose weight -- alternatives to dieting -- are being aware of what is in food, Miller said. Food journals are a good way to log eating habits.

"Stop eating when you are full," Miller said. "Be aware internally of when you are hungry and when you are not."

She said to pay attention to portion sizes, and most importantly, to exercise.

"Exercise is the biggest predictor of maintaining weight loss," Miller said.

Don't worry about eating, because that can bring mental, emotional and physical strain, she said.

"If you want a cookie, have a cookie," Miller said.

I agree with Ms. Hunt. Quick fix diets are bad. Thank goodness that following a LC lifestyle is not a "diet".

I would disagree though that LC'ers are on the same diet as concentration camp victims. I believe that comment was a little over the top.

These women will be the death of us yet! "If you want a cookie, have a cookie"? (While it's a fairly good mantra, what she doesn't seem to understand is that we don't want a cookie. We want six.) She seems to be trying to promote an anything-goes diet while saying we shouldn't eat any other way.



Uh-huh... so instead of dieting, we should diet. What's her point? No offense, but she really sounds like a waffle.

Another mistake : she classed Atkins as a "fad" diet, or a "quick fix". If this were true, then this board wouldn't be nearly so populated, as low-carbers would have stopped low-carbing as soon as they reached their ideal weight, and many would have given up when their weight loss didn't reach expectations.

Then again, she probably hasn't read the books, either.

Oh, yeah, stop eating when you are full. That's how I GOT to my former size, and how I GOT to my size now.

So there's obviously more to it than that.

It all started on Valentines Day when one of my co-workers brought in a valentine's cake his wife baked. "Hey, one little piece won't hurt," I said to myself. Well it's over 2 months later, and although I did not go on an all out binge, I am still cheating almost every day and have yet to go 3 days in a row without having a muffin, ice cream bar or something sweet. Best not to deceive oneself that this "one piece" won't hurt.

Regarding the concentration camp statement (pure bull). We may be in ketosis but unlike concentration camp inhabitants, we have a readily available supply of food that contains lots of nutrients but doesn't throw us out of ketosis and prevents us from starving to death.

And I am getting so sick of hearing that low-carb diets are "fad" diets. Where did these so-called "experts" get their education? Did they not hear or read about hunter-gatherer diets?

Exactly. Do you get the impression that people who write vacuous articles like this one haven't been through it? There is this smug, know-it-all stating of things that seem obvious on their face, but that are not so easily confirmed to anyone who's had his boots in the proverbial mud. The writer isn't particularly skilled, and certainly unqualified to publish work on the topic.