Diets raise some concern
Many people make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight. Whether through diets, exercise or both, these people have many options from which to choose.
However, according to Associate Professor of Kinesiology Matthew Beekley, although there are a lot of diets out there, the question is whether they are healthy.
“The two things that a good diet to help with weight loss needs are to reduce your calories and then to be nutritionally adequate,” Beekley said.
Graphic by Laura Fellows
Some popular diet programs include Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.
“Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig can work for folks if they follow the diet and stick with it,” Beekley said.
The U.S. News and World Report’s Best Diets 2012 ranked diets with the help of 22 experts in diet and nutrition.
Weight Watchers ranked No. 1 in “Best Commercial Diet Plans” with a 3.9 out of 5 stars. The Jenny Craig diet was ranked second in that same category with a 3.7 out of 5 stars.
Diet programs are not the only way people can attempt to lose weight. These days, there are many diet pills on the market.
However, Beekley said that most of these pills do not help people with weight loss.
“The only one [diet pill] that really has FDA approval now is Alli, and that hasn’t been a huge success. The amount of weight loss is not like we need it to be. There’s a bit more than diet and exercise, but it’s not a whole lot of weight,” he said. “And there are side effects. It’s a fat blocker, and fat comes out in our stool.”
According to Beekley, this can cause a condition called steatorrhea, which is an excess of fat in feces.
“The rest of the pills on the market frankly haven’t been showing [that] they work,” Beekley said. “There are a variety of reported reasons why they are supposed to work, but none of them do.”
Some diets, such as the Atkins diet, have caused controversy about whether they are healthy.
Following the Atkins diet, people cut out a majority of their carbohydrates, including those found in fruits and vegetables.
“One [diet] that is not healthy and certainly comes under fire a lot is the Atkins diet, because it’s so high in fat,” said Linda Rodebaugh, associate professor of nursing. “Yeah, you will lose weight on it, but you’re also clogging your arteries. And some people stay on it for long periods of time, and they clog their arteries and end up making their heart disease worse.”
According to Rodebaugh, one main reason people are attracted to some diets is the “quick fix” idea.
“They [dieters] are motivated by ‘let’s do this, and I want to see instant results,’” she said. “They don’t really want to necessarily work at it.”
Beekley said that the key to any diet is to ensure proper nutrition.
“The problem [with some diets] is that people will not be able to tell if the diet is nutritionally accurate. That’s the difficult part with fad diets,” he said. “As long as the diet causes you to reduce your calories, it can help you with weight loss. Whether it’s healthy for you can be a separate issue. So, for people who want to lose weight, it’s ultimately a combination of burning more calories—that is, doing exercise—and reducing your calorie intake somehow through your diet.”
