Ten of the most well-known diets of recent years are analysed here in detail and each is given a score out of 100. Obviously, the higher the score, the better we consider the diet to be. The diets are listed as follows, from highest score down to lowest:- LOW FAT DIETS (80%)
- THE F-PLAN (75%)
- THE HIP AND THIGH DIET (70%)
- DIURETIC DIETS (67.5%)
- SUGAR BUSTERS (65%)
- FOOD COMBINING (57.5%)
- ATKINS DIET (50%)
- EAT RIGHT 4 YOUR TYPE (47.5%)
- THE ZONE (47.5%)
- CRASH DIETS (42.5%)
LOW FAT DIETS
Low fat diets aim to reduce the total amount of fat in the diet and usually concentrate on getting the saturated fat down as low as possible by avoiding fatty red meat, full fat dairy produce, and many commercially made foods and 'junk' foods, whilst foods containing the essential polyunsaturated fats (and/or the mono-unsaturated fats) are usually allowed in fairly small quantities.
Some low-fat diets are much lower in fat than others, and diets with a total fat content of less than 20% are Very Low Fat Diets. Here we look at the pros and cons of reduced-fat diets, moderately low in fat at between 20 - 30%. Surprisingly, there are few well known diet books which have dieting regimes that come into this category, although most Glycaemic Index diets do, and Patrick Holford's Fat Burner Diet does.
The Diet:
A low fat diet may have around 25% fat, and most have around 20 - 25% protein and about 50 - 55% carbohydrate. The premise is that as fat is the most energy-dense nutrient that you can eat, with 9 calories per gram, reducing the fat in the diet is an easy way to cut calories. Low fat diets first cut saturated fat out of the diet, leaving in more of the polyunsturated or mono-unsaturated fats. As the diet is also high in carbohydrate - and most low-fat diets recommend high consumption of 'complex' carbohydrates such as whole grains, potatoes and pulses, plus plenty of fruit and vegetables - it is said to satisfy hunger.
Typical calorie count for a day's eating: 1,500.
Promised weight loss: Most low fat diets offer steady weight loss of 1 - 2lbs
a week.
Typical day's eating:
Breakfast
Small bowl muesli with skimmed milk and chopped fresh fruit
Slice wholemeal toast with very low-fat spread and marmalade
Lunch
Tuna in brine with a large mixed salad dressed with a little olive oil French dressing;
Low fat fruit yogurt; handful of dried apricots
Evening Meal
Stir-fry of lean pork fillet with a selection of chopped vegetables, cooked in a small amount of groundnut oil, served with boiled egg thread noodles
Banana
Glass of wine
To drink: Tea, coffee, (with skimmed milk), water, fruit juice.
Short-term effectiveness: Because the diet is high in carbohydrates, immediate weight loss won't be so noticable as with a high-protein regime, as it doesn't have the same diuretic effect. But fat loss will begin straight away if the low-fat diet is also moderate in total calories.
Score: 3
Long-term effectiveness: The World Health Organisation has come to the conclusion that a moderately-reduced fat, high carbohydrate diet produces better results for long-term weight maintenance than basic calorie counting and the US
Department of Agriculture states that such diets produce weight loss even when
they are consumed 'ad libitum' (i.e. with unlimited carbs). Other studies conclude
that people are more likely to stick with diets which reduce calories moderately
(as most moderate low fat diets do) than those which reduce calories more drastically.
Score: 5
Ease of use: The moderate nature of most low-fat diets means that they may be easier to follow than others. Food used are generally familiar.
Score:4.
Cost: No special high-cost foods are needed and the complex carbohydrates such as grains, root vegetables are low in cost.
Score: 4
Palatability: People used to a high fat diet may find the reduction in fat in low fat diets hard to get used to at first, but moderately low fat diets of around 25% fat are more palatable.
Score: 3
Satiety: Diets high in carbohydrate tend to offer a high degree of satiety. Fruit and vegetable consumption is encouraged on most low fat diets. These will add to the bulk on the plate and have been shown to increase the length of time it takes to eat a meal, also adding to satiety value. Total calorie content is usually not too low, again ensuring satiety. However, not all low-fat high-carbohydrate diets make full use of carbohydrate foods which are low on the Glycaemic Index, which would be an additional satiety bonus.
Score: 4
Health factor: Most international heart associations and health authorities recommend a diet low in saturated fat and high in carbohydrates, as a good way to prevent heart disease and other health problems. A moderate amount of unsaturated
fat, present in most moderate low-fat diets, may be a positive health factor, and the US Department of Agriculture stated in 2001 that the moderate fat reduction diet is optimal for ensuring adequate nutrition levels in dieters.
Score: 5
Scientific basis: Low fat diets work to help people lose weight by reducing the total number of calories they consume, creating a calorie deficit which should produce slow to steady weight loss. However it is possible to consume a low fat diet and still eat too many calories in the form of carbohydrate foods and low-fat protein foods (or alcohol). So unless the total calorie content of the diet is moderated, a low-fat diet may not work.
Score: 4
Total Score: 32. Percentage rating: 80%.
Further information:
Surprisingly, few famous diets are simple low-fat, high carbohydrate ones. Patrick Holford's 30-Day Fat Burner Diet (Piatkus, January 1999 ISBN 0 74991920 5) fits the profile quite well. Otherwise, The Diet Bible book has a 25% fat, high carb plan in it).
THE F-PLAN
This diet book by British author Audrey Eyton, originally published in l982, was the first high-fibre slimming diet, and is still the most famous of them all. The Complete F Plan Diet was published a few years later and is still available today.
The theory behind this diet is that a high intake of dietary fibre (now correctly called non-starch polysaccharides) quickly fills you up while you are eating - because you have to do a lot of chewing, you reach satiety point before you have eaten too many calories; it offers bulk without calories (because fibre largely passes through the system undigested); and it also keeps hunger pangs at bay between meals because high-fibre foods take longer to digest than their low-fibre, refined counterparts.
The Diet
The diet is low in fat, high in complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, baked potatoes and pulses, high in fruit, most vegetables are unlimited and you can have the odd glass of alcohol. Fibre content is about double the recommended daily amount of 18g.
Typical calorie count for a day's eating: 1,250
Promised weight loss: About 2lbs a week.
Typical day's eating:
Breakfast:
Special recipe 'fibre filler' cereal/nut/fruit mix with skimmed milk from allowance
Portion fresh fruit
Lunch
Nutty coleslaw
Fresh fruit
Evening meal
Baked potato, baked chicken (no skin); mixed salad
Fibre filler with skimmed milk
To drink: calorie-free drinks, tea, coffee with skimmed milk from allowance (half pint a day).
Short-term effectiveness: People unused to a high-carb, high-fibre diet may find themselves retaining more fluid than normal and this may counteract the early effect of the fat loss on the scales, but reasonble amounts of fat will be lost on a 1,250 calories a day diet.
Score: 3.
Long-term effectiveness: If the diet is continued, weight loss should continue steadily.
Score: 4.
Ease of use: Straightforward diet with not too many rules but some weighing and measuring, plus totting up of your daily calorie and fiber intake is called for. Meals are fairly simple to prepare.
Score: 4.
Cost: Fairly inexpensive.
Score: 4.
Palatability: Some tasty recipes and some not so tasty. Plenty of variety. The breakfast fibre filler is a bit dry and lacking in flavour.
Score: 3.
Famous side-effects of flatulence and stomach bloating may occur.
Score: 3.
Satiety: For the calorie content, the diet is certainly filling and should keep you satisfied from one meal to the next.
Score: 4.
Health factor: The diet is generally one of the healthiest to be found, even today. Although there is evidence that high intakes of wheat bran (found in the fibre filler breakast) can inhibit the absorption of minerals such as iron and calcium, a high fibre diet is linked with less risk of some cancers - new research suggests there is 40% less risk of bowel cancer with high fibre consumption (from all sources, not just wheat).
The F Plan may be low in essential fats from fish and plant oils depending on food choices made. Plenty of water or other low-calorie liquid should be taken on a high-fibre diet.
Score: 4
Scientific basis: Most of the rationale for eating a high fibre diet while slimming is correct. However it is interesting to note that not all high-fibre foods are low on the Glycaemic Index - the index that measures how quickly or slowly foods are absorbed into the bloodstream. For example, baked potatoes, parsnips, wholemeal bread and dates (all feature a lot in the F-Plan) are high on the index and quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. Wholemeal bread has approximately the same G.I. index as white bread. The diet works like any slimming diet - by reducing the total number of calories that are eaten.
Score: 4.
Total score: 30. Percentage rating: 75%
Further information:
The Complete F-Plan Diet by Audrey Eyton (Penguin, January 1987) ISBN 0140100245.
THE HIP AND THIGH DIET
First published in l988, Rosemary Conley's Hip and Thigh Diet was embraced by the UKs women slimmers staying at No 1 in the bestsellers for years - and its expanded, updated form, The Complete Hip and Thigh Diet, has sold over 2 million copies. The title cleverly acknowledges that the majority of women are pear-shaped and sets out to beat the problem via diet and exercise.
The Diet:
The hip and thigh diet is a fairly straightforward low fat, low calorie regime with no particular magic except that it cuts the fat down very low. There is no calorie or fat gram counting as such to be done but the dieter picks meals from lists of breakfasts, lunches, main meals and extras and much of the content of these has to be weighed although every day you can have a jacket potato or portion or rice or pasta as big as you like to satisfy your appetite.
There is a fairly long list of forbidden foods including all butters and low-fat spreads, all dairy except skimmed milk, low fat yogurt, low fat cottage cheese and low fat fromage frais (though some of the recipes include small amounts of cheese and egg), all oils and lards, and all nuts and seeds (except tiny amounts for vegetarians), as well as the more obvious things like fried foods, pastry, cakes, chocolate, cakes biscuits, and crisps - and more.
Meals include lean meat, poultry and white fish (but virtually no oily fish), pulses with unlimited vegetables and fair amounts of basic carbohydrates such as bread, vegetarian proteins, potatoes, rice and pasta. Between meal snacks are limited to low-cal salad vegetables, or you can eat your main meal starter and dessert as snacks during the day if you like.
Although the amount of fat in the diet each day will vary according to the menus chosen, I estimate you will be getting about 15 - 20% of your daily calories from fat, which puts this diet at the top end of the 'very low fat diets' category. Small amounts of alcohol are allowed and various low-calorie drinks, juices, tea and coffee are allowed. There is a daily 250ml skimmed milk allowance.
Typical calorie count for a day's eating: 1,200
Promised weight loss: Not specific, but the many case histories in the book show losses on average of about 1 - 3 lbs a week.
Typical day's eating:
Breakfast
2 Weetabix with skimmed milk from allowance and l tsp brown sugar.
Snack
Raw carrot and celery
Lunch
Mixed fresh fruit and chicken breast salad dressed with yogurt and wine vinegar dressing
Evening Meal
Melon
Small lean grilled rump garlic steak with large jacket potato, boiled mushrooms and unlimited vegetables
Glass of red wine
Rice pudding made with skimmed milk and artificial sweetener
To drink: Tea with skimmed milk, mineral water, diet cola.
Short-term effectiveness: The reduction in calories via what would be for most people the quite drastic reduction in fat intake will undoubtedly lead to good weight loss in the early weeks for most people.
Score 4
Long term effectiveness: If the diet is continued weight loss will carry on, probably slowing down. The exercise programme is a bonus which will help maintain weight loss - few diet books have a proper exercise section.
Score: 4.
Ease of use: Fairly ordinary easy to find ingredients used. There are a lot of recipes but most are simple. Some people may find cooking without fat strange at first but the instructions are clear. The banned list of foods makes complying with the diet fairly straightforward but eating out may be a problem and convenience 'ready' meals don't figure at all. The maintenance plan allows extra choice of foods.
Score: 3.Cost: You can choose meals from any price bracket - many low cost meals can be found. No compulsory expensive ingredients.
Score: 5.
Palatability: Some of the recipes make good use of herbs and other flavorings to try to disguise the lack of fat, while others are less palatable - e.g. the fish pie containing only potatoes, cod and seasoning! Plenty of fruit and vegetables. It might be a good idea to use Conley's cookery books alongside the diet to enliven proceedings.
Score 3.
Satiety: People who have followed the diet report finding it easy to stick to without having the urge to binge, however it is not as high in carbohydrates as some low-fat diets and is quite low in calories overall.
Score: 3.
Health factor: Most health professionals agree that a low-fat diet is one of the healthiest to follow; however some would say this plan is a little low in the omega-3 fats from oily fish and seeds, and in the omega-6s found in plant oils. The diet otherwise is balanced if you make wise and varied meal choices from the lists from day to day (though you could pick an unbalanced diet if you chose to as there is little guidance). Conley recommends a multivitamin pill a day.
Score: 3.
Scientific basis: Based on low-fat, low-calorie eating, the premise of which is tried and tested. However the implication that the diet has any particular special effects on slimming the hips and thighs as opposed to any other part of the body is false. Fat is as likely to go from the bust, stomach, arms, etc. as it is from the hips and thighs.
Score: 3.
Total score: 28. Percentage rating: 70%.
Further Information:
Rosemary Conley's Complete Hip and Thigh Diet (Arrow, 1993) ISBN 0099110113.
DIURETIC DIETS
If you are retaining a lot of fluid (or think you may be) at other times, you should see your doctor for advice as it could be caused by a medical condition.
There are various diuretic diet books. The best-selling and most well-known one at the moment is The Waterfall Diet by Linda Lazarides.
The Diet:
Linda states that it isn't a low-calorie diet, but for the first two months all the following are banned: Sugar, honey, syrup and all foods containing them; bread and all wheat products, dairy produce, eggs, yeast, red meat of all types, salt and all highly salted foods including ham, bacon, smoked fish, hard cheeses, bought pies, quiches; commercial soft drinks; fatty foods including burgers, sausages, chocolate, crisps, butter, margarine, fried food, cream, cheese, mayonnaise, pastry, sauces, dips and fatty desserts; white flour; alcohol, and foods containing artificial additives - all the foods that Lazarides says may be causing your fluid retention.
Avoid that lot and you are almost certain to be reducing your calorie intake significantly even if you eat your fill of the non-banned foods, which include soya milk and yogurt, fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts, oats, brown rice, pulses, lean organic poultry and fish. To drink you can have water, home made juices, herb teas, and other low-caffeine drinks.
Approximate calorie content - 1,000 calories a day.
Weight loss promised: up to 14 pounds in a week.
Typical day's eating (first 2 months)
Breakfast
Soya yogurt with apple compote and nuts
Fruit juice
Lunch
Salad of cooked brown rice, chopped vegetables and tofu or sardine chunks in French dressing
Herb tea
Evening
Mixed vegetable and lentil soup using salt-free stock; home made oatcakes.
Snacks: Fresh fruit, nuts.
The diet goes on to phase 2 which sets out to find which if any foods you are allergic to (as Lazarides says that allergies may cause fluid retention). Phase 3 is a long-term eating plan with only a few banned foods.
Short-term effectiveness: Avoiding all foods which may encourage fluid retention - particularly refined carbohydrates and salt - will cause the body to lose several pounds of fluid - the amount will vary from person to person. Some body fat will also be lost.
Score: 4.
Long-term effectiveness: The diet is likely to continue to produce weight loss and there is a long term strategy explained, but for many people I fear it will be hard to stick to this diet for life.
Score: 3.
Ease of use: For most people who have been eating a typical Western diet, this diet would be particularly hard to adapt to; major changes need to be made, but some recipes and meal suggestions are given.
Score: 1.
Cost: If you shop wisely, choosing fruit and vegetables in season and the cheaper items like pulses and tofu, it needn't be too expensive. Also you will not be buying all those added-value foods like cakes, nor alcohol.
Score: 4.
Palatability: Again, for the Western palate, this will be a shock. But if it is persisted with, the palate should change and the fresh flavours of this basically natural diet should begin to win.
Score: 3.
Satiety: There is no portion control, so you can eat all you want of the allowed foods, which should keep you feeling full as there is plenty of fibre and foods low on the Glycaemic Index.
Score: 5
Health factor: The diet has the potential to be quite a healthy one though items such as wholemeal bread are banned at first as are lean red meat, wholewheat pasta, eggs and cheese - all staples in most people's diets, and all good foods as part of a balanced diet. This may cause nutritional imbalances over time unless you're very careful and I don't think Lazarides gives enough guidance/menus for a balanced diet. There are plenty of fruit and veg and the diet is very low in saturated fat but the tone of the diet is slightly predisposing to encourage faddy eating.
Score: 3.
Scientific basis: You will lose fluid on this diet, at least at first, because of the low carbohydrate and salt content - and if you have mild intolerances to one or more of the foods you are required to give up, then that may reduce bloating. You will almost certainly also lose fat as it really is hard to eat a lot of calories. The promised weight loss of up to 14lbs in a week seems excessive.
Score: 4.
Total score: 27. Percentage rating: 67.5%
Further information:
The Waterfall Diet by Linda Lazarides (Piatkus September 2000 ISBN 0 74992155 2)
SUGAR BUSTERS
Originally published in 1995, Sugar Busters was re-issued in 1998 and became a worldwide hit. The authors believe that by avoiding all extrinsic sugar and foods high on the Glycaemic Index you will lose weight and be healthier, because you will increase insulin sensitivity. They seem to believe that insulin resistance causes obesity and that sugar is toxic.
The Diet
The diet is similar in many ways to The Zone (which also avoids high G.I. foods) but with a little more fat and a little less carbohydrate (Sugar Busters contains an estimated 30% protein, 40% fat and 30% carbohydrate).
You are allowed red meat and dairy produce as well as poultry and fish, olive oil, nuts and a selection of vegetables and fruits. Carbs such as sweet potatoes, wholemeal/grain breads, wholewheat pasta, brown rice and oats are allowed in small
amounts, but you aren't allowed potatoes or refined carbohydrates such as white
bread, pasta or rice, or carrots, and pulses don't figure at all. And of course, no refined sugar products.
Typical calorie count for a day's eating: 1,200 approx, depending upon portion sizes.
Promised weight loss: Not specified but the main 'case history' in the book lost 3.5lbs a week over a 5 month period.
Typical day's diet:
Breakfast:
Orange juice; hot oat cereal with skimmed milk; coffee.
Lunch:
Turkey on wholemeal bread with light mayonnaise and salad items
Snack
l apple
Evening Meal:
Grilled pork tenderloin slices
Brown rice
Sliced onions
Green beans
12 whole fresh nuts
To drink: Low-cal diet drinks, water, tea, coffee.
Short-term effectiveness: Weight loss should soon be apparent if the 14-day diet is followed to the letter, although portion sizes are not specified so it may be easy to eat extra calories if you feel like cheating.
Score: 3
Long-term effectiveness: Weight loss may continue if the diet is followed, although few guidelines are given on portion sizes and calorie reduction will be based on avoiding the disallowed foods.
Score: 3.
Ease of use: Quite easy to follow and few out-of-the ordinary foods are used. Score: 4.
Cost: Moderate to high.
Score: 3.
Palatability: Good as there is plenty of variety and the fat content helps too. Some quite nice recipes offered.
Score: 4.
Satiety: Should be fairly good as high G.I. foods are used and there is plenty of protein - but quantities of starchy carbs are quite small.
Score: 4.
Health factor: Despite the authors' plea to choose lean meat and moderate your intake of high fat dairy produce, the diet is still too high in fat to meet current health recommendations, and too low in carbohydrate and dietary fibre. It is also high in protein, which could be a health problem for some, especially over the long term (see high protein diets for explanation). Ignoring pulses seems pointless as they are low G.I. and sugar-free, and banning foods like potatoes and carrots is also of little health or slimming benefit. There is also little evidence that small amounts of extrinsic sugar in an overall balanced diet are bad for health.
Score: 3.
Scientific basis: A British study into the effects of sugar in weight-reducing diets published in 2001 in the International Journal of Obesity came to the conclusion that the practice of avoiding sugar in such diets is of questionable value - their participants lost similar amounts of weight on both sugar-free and 10% sugar diets. Other studies have shown that compliance (sticking to the diet) is higher if some sugar is allowed.
The premise that insulin causes weight gain is completely false - you need to create an energy surplus by overeating/ under exercising for weight gain. What type of food those calories consists of is of little importance. Low G.I. foods though, do help to curb appetite and regulate blood sugars and are a helpful addition to a low-calorie diet. If you lose weight following Sugar Busters it will be because you have reduced the overall calorie content of your diet.
Score: 2.
Total score: 26. Percentage rating: 65%
Further information:
Sugar Busters! by Sam S. Andrews, Luis A Balart, Morrison C Bethea and H Leighton
Steward (Vermilion, January l998) ISBN 0091816874.
FOOD COMBINING
This wasn't devised as a weight loss diet, but people who follow the system do inevitably lose weight at least to begin with because the system is self-limiting in calories as there are so many rules and restrictions. Many people love eating the Hay way, but many more have tried it and had to give up. Those who do stick with it often report feeling energised with niggling ailments improved. Dr William Hay invented food combining (The Hay system) early last century. He believed that disease is caused by accumulation of toxins and acid waste and that we can all have good health if we avoid eating foods that fight. To do this we should not mix protein and carbohydrate foods at the same meal, because starches are broken down by alkaline saliva and proteins require gastric acid. As well as this major rule, there are also banned foods and other rules about how and
when to eat.
A potted guide:
- Fruit should always be eaten alone.
- Vegetables can be eaten alone, or with any other allowed food.
- Allowed carbohydrates (breads, grains, pasta, pulses, potatoes) can be eaten with fat and or vegetables but not with protein foods. And limit yourself to one carbohydrate food at a meal.
- Protein foods (meat, fish, poultry, dairy produce, tofu) can be eaten with vegetables but not with fat or carbohydrate. And limit yourself to one protein
food at a meal.- 70% of your daily intake should be of high water content foods (i.e., fruits
and vegetables).- Eat only wholefoods; avoid refined starches (white bread, white rice, white
pasta etc), sugars and artificial additives.
Typical calorie count for a day's eating: 1,000 - 1,500.
Promised weight loss: Nothing promised, but weight loss almost inevitable if you are overweight.
Typical day's eating
Breakfast:
Bowl of fresh fruit salad; glass of fruit juice.
Lunch
Salad sandwich on wholemeal bread with mayonnaise
Evening Meal
Grilled steak with selection of vegetables (no butter)
To drink: Water, herb tea.
Short-term effectiveness: As a weight loss diet, should be very effective.
Score: 4.
Long-term effectiveness: If the diet is continued, weight loss should continue if you are overweight and many people use the system as a way of maintaining weight loss.
Score: 4.
Ease of use: Quite hard to learn all the rules to begin with, but once they are grasped the system is fairly easy to use, as there is no weighing or measuring of food and because the rules are so hard and fast, there is little temptation to stray. However, the diet is unsociable and eating out can be a problem.
Score: 3.
Cost: Mid range.
Score: 3.
Palatability: Few people coming froma typical Western diet would find the food combining system very palatable - no more ham sandwiches, no more baked potato with cheese, no more eggs on toast, no more roast potatoes with your roast beef.
Score: 2.
Satiety: Not high. When carbohydrates such as a baked potato (high on the Glycaemic Index) are eaten without protein they are not likely to keep you
feeling full for long.
Score: 3.
Health factor: Surprisingly, if you choose from a wide range of the foods that are allowed on the diet, it does contain all the food groups necessary for health, although some experts feel it may be too low in calcium and iron for some. The faddy aspect of the diet may encourage, or mask, eating disorders in some.
Score: 3.
Scientific basis: There is no scientific evidence to support the 'don't mix protein and carbohydrate' theory. The body is perfectly capable of digesting proteins alongside carbohydrates and, indeed, very many foods contain both protein and carbohydrate themselves (e.g. pulses, potatoes). In other words, the whole rationale for the Hay system is nonsense but nevertheless it manages to be a reasonably healthy calorie-controlled diet.
Score: 1
Total score: 23. Percentage rating 57.5%
Further Information:
- Food Combining for Health by Doris Grant and Jean Joice (HarperCollins, reissued January l993) ISBN 0722525060. The best-known, comprehensive Hay system book - over a million copies sold.
- The Complete Book of Food Combining by Kathryn Marsden (Piatkus, September 2001) ISBN 0749922176. Recipes, menus and sections for specific health problems.
ATKINS DIET
To give it its complete name, Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution (Dr Robert C. Atkins,Vermilion, £6.99) is the most famous high-protein diet of all. The original Dr Atkins Diet Revolution was first published thirty years ago, based on the same high-protein, low-carbohydrate, high-fat principles and this updated version was published in l992.
The Atkins diet goes against the healthy eating advice given by the World Health Organisation, the American Dietetic Association, and the USA and UK Departments of Health, which is that we should eat a diet high in carbohydrates, moderate in protein, and moderate in fat. Dr Atkins' diet contains 55- 65% fat (compared with the healthy maximum of around 30%), less than 20% carbohydrate (compared with the healthy level of around 50 - 55%), and about 25% protein, (as opposed to 15 - 20% in a normal healthy diet).
Atkins claims that a high-fat, high-protein, low-carb diet automatically ensures that fat is burnt, and, he claims, avoiding carbohydrate means that insulin production is decreased, and insulin resistance (see Q00) and therefore obesity, is avoided.
Both of these claims are not strictly true. Firstly, you can get overweight on a high-fat diet, as dietary fat converts to body fat when too many calories for your needs are eaten, whatever kind of food or drink the calories are from. Secondly, insulin resistance doesn't actually cause weight gain, it is simply an associated symptom of obesity in many people. Being obese is more a cause of insulin resistance, than vice versa.
Thirdly, Atkins claims that eating a low-carbohydrate diet causes ketosis, which in turn reduces appetite, and this, at least, is true. However ketosis (the production of ketone bodies that replace glucose as a source of energy in the blood when carbohydrate intake is very low) is not a desirable state for the body to be in and can be dangerous. Lastly, the diet claims to boost the metabolic rate, which indeed it may do - eating a high protein diet increases the metabolic rate through dietary induced thermogenesis.
Two other diets which fit into a similar mould are Protein Power and the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet, which aren't rated separately but would receive similar scores to the Atkins diet.
The diet:
There is a 14-day induction diet on which you can eat all meat, fish, poultry, eggs and most cheeses, cream, butter, vegetable oils, mayonnaise, plus small quantities of various salads and vegetables up to 20g of carb a day, while you must avoid all fruit, bread, pasta, grains, starchy vegetables, milk and yogurt, as well as some other items.
After the 14 days you are maybe allowed a little more carbohydrate (from 15 - 60g a day) for the ongoing diet, depending upon your own level of what Atkins terms metabolic resistance to weight loss, but amounts are still tiny - Atkins describes grapefruits and apples as high carbohydrate foods and calls all fruit 'risky'. A weight maintenance diet allows small amounts of certain grains and perhaps a piece of fruit or a potato now and then, nuts and seeds.
Typical calorie count for a day's eating: 1,400 - 1,500
Weight loss promise: Average of 4 - 12lbs in first 14 days.
Typical day's eating on the induction plan:
Breakfast: Ham, fried egg, decaffeinated coffee, water.
Lunch: Salad of half a medium avocado, one small tomato and chicken with olive oil dressing, water.
Evening: Prawn cocktail with a little Iceberg lettuce and mayonnaise dressing, steak, 6 slices cucumber and half a small onion salad with sour cream, soda water.
Short-term effectiveness: Because of the drastic reduction in carbohydrate, which causes fluid loss from the body, and calories, which causes fat loss, weight loss may be rapid.
Score: 5
Long-term effectiveness: If the diet is strictly adhered to, weight loss will continue and may be rapid, tailing off as ideal weight is neared.
Score: 5
Ease of use: The major part of the diet is easy as you don't have to weigh or measure foods that don't contain carbohydrate (e.g. meat, oils, eggs), but for the small amounts of carbohydrate allowed in the diet it is best to count the grams (chart provided in the book) to make sure you don't go over your limit - this can be fiddly. Eating out may be a problem, and overall the diet requires a high level of dedication.
Score: 2
Cost: Animal protein foods can be expensive as can many of the salad items and allowed vegetables. Many low cost foods, such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta are all but banned.
Score: 1.
Palatability: Of little use to vegetarians and is far from ideal for anyone who enjoys fruit, vegetables, and carbohydrate foods, has a sweet tooth or enjoys a glass of wine or indeed, unrestricted access to a wide variety of healthy foods. Has been described as boring. Could be painless for committed carnivores and vegetable-haters.
Score: 2.
Satiety: A very low carbohydrate diet produces ketosis which gives a feeling of fullness, but psychological hunger may be a problem as food choices are so restricted.
Score: 3.
Health factor: Hard to find any health professionals who endorse a high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet, with the levels of total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol so out of kilter with current recommendations. At such a low carbohydrate intake fibre content is very low indeed and there may be shortfall in the vitamins, minerals and plant chemicals found in these foods. The United States Department of Agriculture, in its recent review of popular diets, found that high-fat low-carb diets are low in vitamins E, A, thiamin, B6, folate, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and potassium. May produce higher than average lean tissue loss and may cause feelings of weakness or faintness. Ketosis may produce nausea, bad breath and a nasty taste in the mouth. Diets high in protein can accelerate calcium loss from the body and may increase risk of osteoporosis. Low carbohydrate diets are contra-indicated for sports people and other very active people. Nutrition Australia has described the diet as unsuitable for use in either the short or long term, and the USA Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine, in its 2001 review of diets, gave the Atkins diet no stars - an 'unsafe' rating, describing high protein diets as 'dangerous over the long run'.
Score: 0
Scientific basis: However much insulin there is in the blood, you won't store food as fat unless you create a positive energy balance (i.e., eat more than you need). The USDA reports that diets such as the Atkins Diet work because when carbohydrates are so restricted, the calories from ingested fat and protein are 'self limiting', thus overall calorie intake is decreased. In other words, there is little scientific magic to the diet - it is a calorie-restricted diet by another name. There may also be an increase in metabolic rate due to raised dietary induced thermogenesis, and fluid loss.
Score: 2.
Total score: 20. Percentage rating: 50%.
Further information:
- Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution (Robert C Atkins, 3rd revised edition,Vermilion
p/b, £6.99, January l999) ISBN 0091867835 - Atkins Nutritionals 001 516 563 9280.
EAT RIGHT 4 YOUR TYPE
This book by Peter D'Adamo has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and is based on the idea that you should eat according to your blood group type. If you do, he claims, you will lose weight, fight allergy, ward off infections and increase your energy levels. It could also help you fight the major diseases and the deterioration of old age, D'Adamo claims. This is apparently because your blood type reflects your body chemistry and how you absorb and deal with nutrients.
The diet:
In precis, blood type O should eat a high meat and fish, low carbohydrate, low dairy diet avoiding various foods including lentils, brazil nuts, avocadoes and oranges; blood type A should eat a high-plant, low dairy, high fish diet avoiding red meat. Types B should eat most meat except chicken and bacon, some fish and most dairy foods and plenty of fruit and vegetables, while the rare type AB combines the diets of both A and B type. Exercise varies according to your type, too - for instance, only type O should engage in vigorous exercise, while type A should only do light activity such as golf and yoga.
Typical calorie count for a day's eating for group O: Approx 1,200 -
1,500.
Promised weight loss: Not specific.
Typical day's eating for Blood Group O:
Breakfast:
Slice 100% rye bread, plums, walnuts, pineapple juice.
Lunch:
Mackerel fillet, spinach, red pepper and onion salad with olive oil; fresh figs; dandelion tea.
Evening:
Lamb chops with garlic; broccoli, parsnips.
Rosehip tea, apple.
(Comments refer to Blood Type 0 diet)
Short-term effectiveness: This high protein low carbohydrate diet will result in initial fluid loss and fat loss in most people. Score: 4.
Long term effectiveness: Small amount of fat loss should continue if the regime is stuck to.
Score: 3.
Ease of use: Complicated diet with lots of things you must eat and can't eat which are not at first easy to follow.
Score: 1.
Cost: Will vary according to which foods you choose, although the high meat element may make it more expensive than average.
Score: 3.
Palatability: Large range of foods on the banned list include most dairy products, various cereals, most breads, most grains and pasta, many vegetables, potatoes and fruits, coffee and tea. Have to enjoy meat and fish.
Score: 2.
Satiety: Average to good.
Score: 4.
Health factor: As so many foods are banned you have to be careful to get a varied balanced diet to provide a complete range of nutrients. Faddy eating can encourage an unhealthy attitude to food. Fairly low carbohydrate/high fat content goes against current nutritional thinking. The exercise advice is unbalanced.
Score: 1.
Scientific basis: The idea that you should eat according to your blood type is the author's idea and not based on any scientific research. In any case, the A, B, O blood grouping classification is just one system of blood grouping. The ability to break down and digest food is not related to your blood type, and neither is optimum eating for weight loss. As the diet is largely based on natural foods, and all blood types are encouraged to cut highly processed foods down or out, it may reduce calories naturally. Most people have blood in group O, and the O group diet is basically a high-protein, low-carbohydrate one which would be self-limiting in calorie content. D'Adamo also gives specific low calorie diets for weight loss which will work whatever blood type you are.
Score: 1.
Total score: 19. Percentage rating: 47.5%
Further information:
- Eat Right 4 Your Type by Peter D'Adamo (Century, reissued February 2001) ISBN
071267716X.
THE ZONE
The original Zone diet - Enter The Zone - was written by US biochemist Barry Sears in l996, and since then several Zone diet books have altogether sold in their millions throughout the world. 'The Zone' is a place where you go, apparently, if you eat a diet that contains precisely 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat. Sears claims that eating this way will not only produce optimum fat burning and weight loss but will fight heart disease, cancer and more, by correctly balancing insulin and glucagon and the hormone-like compounds called eicosanoids.
The diet:
You work out how many grams of protein you need a day from the tables and then eat this much protein divided into 'blocks' of 7g each. Sears says you should eat no more and no less than this amount to stay in the Zone. The favoured protein foods are very low fat poultry, fish, dairy and vegetarian proteins. With each protein block you have to eat a carbohydrate block of 9g to keep in the Zone. The favoured carb foods are most fruits and vegetables and some pulses. The only favoured starch within this carb group is oatmeal - 'unfavourable' carbs are potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, some pulses, corn, sugar, and many more, as well as high Glycaemic Index fruits and vegetables like carrots and bananas. With each protein and carb block you have a fat block equivalent to less than 2g. Olive oil and other mono-unsaturated fats are the favoured oil; saturates are unfavourable.
Typical calorie count for a day's eating: For an average sedentary woman needing 56g of protein a day (according to the Zone calculations) the calorie count would be approximately 536. For a mildly overweight active woman doing daily aerobic training, who would need, according to Zone calculations, 86g of protein a day, the calorie cound would be approximately 800.
Promised weight loss: One pound a week is mentioned.
Short-term effectiveness: You would be almost bound to lose more than the pound a week mentioned in the book for the first few weeks - much of this loss would be fluid.
Score: 4.
Long-term effectiveness: The diet would be unadvisable for most people to follow for more than a short time as it is too low in calories. People who have followed it using the instructions in the book have reported feeling very hungry, dizzy and disheartened - the opposite of what the Zone says you will feel.
Score: 1.
Ease of use: A lot to remember; most people would need to be near the book at every meal. Even though you don't have to count calories, you do have to count blocks. And you have to weigh and measure to make sure your blocks contain the right amount of protein, carb or fat.
Score: 2.
Cost: Medium cost.
Score: 3.
Palatability: You can make quite normal meals as 30% fat is allowed but many people may not like the restriction on potatoes, rice, pasta and bread. Some quite nice recipes are given.
Score: 4.
Satiety: For many people the amount of food allowed is far too small - portion sizes will be little and the calorie count is ultra low. As the diet doesn't produce a state of ketosis, which can kill appetite, many people will be hungry on this regime.
Score: 1.
Health factor: Although the overall balance of major nutrients isn't too bad compared with some other fad diets such as high-fat, high-protein Atkins, or very low fat Pritikin, and although most of the foods that you are allowed to eat are the ones we tend to think of as 'healthy', there just isn't enough to eat for most people. Avoiding a wide range of complex carbs, such as bread and potatoes, seems unnecessary, however. The health benefits cited would be apparent if any successful weight-reducing plan were followed. It has been shown that a diet higher in calories (a minimum of 1,200 is recommended by the World Health Organsation) is better tolerated and more successful long-term than very low-calorie regimes unless done under medical supervision.
Score: 2.
Scientific basis: There is nothing special about the 40-30-30 food balance that will make you lose weight. Entering 'the Zone' entails a drastic reduction in calories for most people and this is what will cause the weight loss. Much of the 'science' in the book is a distortion of the facts as nutritional scientists know them. Eicosanoids don't cause disease and carbohydrates and insulin don't make you fat - unless you eat more calories than you need.
Score: 2.
Total score: 19. Percentage rating: 47.5%.
Further information:
- Enter The Zone by Barry Sears and Bill Lawren (Regan Books, p/b November l996)
ISBN 00609871162; - The Zone Diet (anglicized version) (Harper Collins January l999)
ISBN 0722536925. - The Soy Zone (vegetarian version) (Regan Books, May 2000) ISBN
0060393106.
CRASH DIETS
Description: Sometimes called 'fad' diets, these diets are very low in calories (normally well under 1,000 calories a day) and are usually based on a restricted selection of foods - for example, fruit or eggs or cheese or juices, or combinations of two or three of these. The name derives from the fact that the weight is supposed to come 'crashing' off. Such diets are usually followed for a short period of time and most are 'set' diets - stating exactly what and when you should eat each day and at each meal. Very popular in the 70's and 80's but appear to be having a revival for the new century.
Sample two-week diet - The Apple Juice Diet (taken from the Encyclopedia of Slimming Diets by Marina Andrews, Arlington), described as a spring cleaning diet with a weight loss of up to 10 lbs.
Day One:
Breakfast: Boiled egg, crispbread, apple juice.
Mid-morning: Apple juice
Lunch: Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, apple juice, black coffee.
Mid-afternoon: Apple juice or lemon tea.
Evening: Mug of Bovril, boiled egg, crispbread, tomato.
Typical day's calorie intake: 6 - 800
Promised weight loss: Some promise up to a stone in a fortnight.
(Further 13 days repeated similarly with a few minor variations and one liquids-only day.)
(Ratings and comments below apply to crash diets in general and not specifically to the one above.)
Short-term effectiveness: As calorie count is very low on crash diets - e.g. the one above is about 650 per day - weight loss is inevitable. Most crash diets are low in carbohydrates and initial weight loss will be quite drastic as much of the loss is fluid.
Score: 3.
Long-term effectiveness: Weight loss will continue but slow down.
Compliance- how well you stick to the diet - with such a restricted diet would be low in the long-term, but in the medium term, one interesting study conducted by the world-famous obesity expert Professor John Garrow and colleagues found that 15 obese patients lost on average a stone and a half (9.4kg) on a 16-week milk-only diet of approximately 800 calories a day. Professor Garrow reported that these weight loss results were significantly better than for the people in the trial following a conventional diet, and were comparable with treatment by obesity drugs.
He concluded, "We are not advocating milk only as a general long-term reducing diet ... because in the long term it will cease to be novel and compliance will fall. Probably the best strategy is to rotate diets..." Surprising - and very interesting - comments. However, these patients were monitored and the picture may be very different for someone dieting alone. Health organisations worldwide are unanimous in saying that long-term, crash diets don't work (because people don't stick to them and/or regain the weight afterwards).
Score: 1.
Ease of use: Most crash diets are easy and quick to prepare and take away the element of choice and dilemma. As Garrow found with his milk diet, patients found it 'novel and simple'. However, such diets may not fit in well with normal family and social eating.
Score: 3.
Cost: Depends on which diet is being followed but usually fairly low-cost as the amount of food that needs to be purchased is low.
Score: 3.
Palatability: Again, depends on choice but if the dieter picks foods he or she enjoys then the diet may be palatable.
Score: 3.
Satiety: Most of these diets are so low on calories and carbohydrate that at least for the first week they will cause hunger pangs and probably other symptoms of deprivation.
Score: 1.
Health factor: A small range of foods will almost inevitably give a small range of nutrients. For example the diet above is low on carbohydrate, fibre, some vitamins and minerals including calcium and C, essential fats and fluid. On a milk-only diet, Garrow reports that over 24 weeks the dieters didn't become deficient in iron or vitamins - again, surprising news - but did become constipated (a likely outcome on many crash diets). It is widely accepted that crash/fad diets frequently lead to weight regain, the yo-yo dieting syndrome, no re-assessment of long term eating habits and no long term weight control, all of which is good neither for physical nor mental health. However for people with life-threatening obesity, monitored crash diets have a place.
Score: 1.
Scientific basis: Crash diets work to produce weight loss by reducing calorie intake. However, many are promoted using bogus science or nutrition - e.g. that the enzymes in grapefruits burn up fat; that hard-boiled eggs take more energy to digest than is actually in them and so on, all of which can safely be ignored.
Score: 2.
Total score: 17. Percentage rating: 42.5%.
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