Ah yes, the New Year ... Once again we become obsessed with our weight. We are absolutely inundated with fact after fact relative to what we should weigh, how much weight we need to lose, and, most of all, how exactly we should lose it. Should we work out more? Eat less? Eat differently? Avoid carbohydrates? Avoid grains? It's no wonder many of us become confused, ashamed, and even obsessed about our bodies this time of year.

Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, SugarBusters, the list of what we should and shouldn't be paying attention to goes on and on ... After all, weight loss is a forty billion-dollar a year industry so there really isn't any mystery as to why all of these programs are promoting themselves as having the "magic formula."

But be careful before you get caught up in all the hype.

In reality, our body weight is in direct proportion to how many calories we eat and how many calories we exert. When we take in more calories than we expend, then we gain weight. When we take in fewer calories, we lose. It really is as simple as that.

Or is it?

Each pound of fat we gain or lose is equivalent to 3,500 calories. So it makes sense that if we lower our daily intake by 500 calories per day then in 7 days we will lose a pound. What, you say? I don't want to wait 7 days to lose a pound! I am fat, I am unhappy and I am committed ... well, at least I am committed when my tummy is full. When my tummy is empty, then I manage to come up with all sorts of justification as to why that cookie, or donut, or pizza or whatever really won't hurt my weight loss goals.

The excuses we tell ourselves vary. But the point is that for most of us, and for a variety of reasons, all of these fad diets simply don't work.

If you look up "diet" with the Google search engine, there are 78 pages or 780 entries, all trying to get your attention. Now that is exhausting. Each section is selling the same thing. How to lose weight without even trying, how to lose weight in your sleep, how to lose weight while still eating everything you wish but by simply taking a magic pill that makes all of the food be automatically excreted without being processed ... Now that is a nauseating thought.

Yet diets are like exercise. The more you love it the better you do. A change in diet is also something that needs to become a lifestyle change rather than a fly-by-night program that is often forgotten or given up on within about 3 weeks. Remember: It takes 3 days to stop physical food addiction, 3 weeks to stop psychological food addiction and 3 months to change your metabolism. So hanging in there is really worth it.

In the early 1990s low fat diets became the craze and with it our supermarkets were flooded with low fat items. Americans, however, simply got fatter during this craze. What we forgot was that just because it was low fat didn't mean it was also low calorie. Fat was simply replaced with sugar so there really wasn't a significant saving in calories. Keep in mind that it is the total caloric intake versus output that determines whether or not we gain or lose pounds.

Now, despite the wide array of diets - from Atkins to Sugarbusters; South Beach to Weight Watchers - the statistics have become downright scary. By 2001, one-third of all Americans were considered obese, and by 2004 this number has doubled. ¹

For the purposes of this article, I reviewed three of these diets that seem to be the most popular right now: Atkins, The South Beach Diet, and Weight Watchers. As mentioned previously, there is a myriad of approaches toward losing weight; however these three seem to be getting most, if not all, of the recent publicity.

The Atkins Diet

Dr. Robert Atkins started the Atkins diet regime during the 1970s. His premise is that we can eat as much fat as we like, but absolutely no carbohydrates. This means no milk, fruit, or starches. For breakfast, for instance, one could eat bacon and eggs swimming in butter, as long as he or she holds the toast. Although critics have slammed the Atkins program for contributing to heart disease and pulmonary issues, the people behind the Atkins diet continue to claim that their program does not help create heart disease. However, there are no current studies, which can either prove or disprove this claim.

Atkins is successful not only because it is the only diet where participants may eat many of the foods that are forbidden in other mainstream diets, as items like butter, meats, and fatty proteins are all encouraged with gusto. Many of you may know someone who had success with the Atkins Diet. This is because the consumption of these heavy proteins and fats puts our body in a continual state of ketosis (fat burning). The downside of ketosis is that it causes bad breath and places an unnecessary amount of strain on our kidneys.

Yet because many people have seen quick results with this mostly unhealthy diet, our culture is now experiencing a low-carbohydrate craze. The claim is that the lower the amount of carbohydrate in the product, the slower the burn in the system. This leads to a satisfaction in consumption with a smaller amount taken in. In theory you can eat as much as you want; in reality it's all about portion control. By eating meals of nothing but heavy proteins, you become fuller sooner, therefore probably pushing away from the table earlier than you would on a high-carbohydrate diet.

The South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is actually similar to Atkins for the first 14 days. These 14 days jump-start the program, which gets the body hooked on the consumption of protein and fat without the added carbohydrates. After the first two weeks, the carbohydrates are added back in a slow, deliberate manner. You can have some of the forbidden foods, just not all and definitely not all at once. The good news about the South Beach Diet, however, is that the program actually talks about making this a diet for life rather than just a diet for quick results.

Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers has been around for a very long time and probably for good reason. They take all of the foods we like - carbohydrates included - and simply assign a value to each of them. The values are then used to select individualized meal plans. If, for instance, you're hungry for a piece of chocolate cake, by all means have it. But you would then have to keep in mind, however, that those "points" assigned to the chocolate cake would have to be deducted somewhere else throughout the day's points tally.

Weight Watchers does not promote their program as simply a diet but rather a lifestyle change; their whole program is based around living in this world of ours, dealing with all of the choices for food, even while eating out, and being able to fit into any situation. And because of this well-rounded lifestyle approach, they literally have members who have been successful with maintaining their weight loss year after year, never again looking at New Year's as yet again another beginning.

Other Options

The current direction in body analysis is called the Body Mass Index. Unlike earlier versions, we can now look at a chart and determine where we are in our own quest for optimum health.

The long and the short of all of this is that all diets are a gimmick. And, any diet will work if you give it long enough. The big question is, however: How healthy is the approach for my body?

Talk to your personal physician and ask him/her this same question before embarking on any dietary change. But the key to good health is to change your attitude relative to food. Think about your choices not just for this meal or day but for the rest of your life. Are you eating enough to sustain your lifestyle and will your eating habits support your body as it ages?

Let this be the first of your New Year's resolution that includes a permanent change in your eating habits that promotes good dietary health rather than simply losing a few pounds.

Note

¹ Source: The PBS Frontline Television Special, "Diet Wars." For more information, visit the PBS Frontline: Diet Wars web site at www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet.

Please Remember: As always, it's essential that you check with your healthcare professional before making any changes in your daily health regimen.

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