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| Posted: 23 Jun 2011 12:08 PM PDT This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Health Buzz: Worst Foods for Your Waistline Posted: 23 Jun 2011 09:30 AM PDT Study: Potato Chips, Sugary Beverages May Make You Fat Small diet changes, like chowing down on an extra daily serving of potato chips or having one additional sugary soda, can lead to long-term weight gain, according to a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Harvard researchers tracked nearly 121,000 people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s for 20 years, checking in on their weight, diet, and lifestyle habits every four years. They found stark differences in how various foods and drinks affect whether people get fatter over time. Potato chips were the worst offenders, leading to more weight gain per serving than any other food. People who ate an extra serving more than usual per day gained about 1.7 pounds more over four years than those who didn't indulge in any extra chips. And downing just one additional sugar-sweetened beverage a day added an extra pound over four years. Other fattening choices were red meats, processed meats, and alcohol. On a lighter note, researchers also pinpointed the friendliest foods for waistlines: yogurt, fruit and veggies, whole grains, and nuts. The findings suggest that, regardless of calories, some foods lead to weight gain because of their chemical makeup or how our bodies process them. "The conventional wisdom is simply, 'Eat everything in moderation and just reduce total calories' without paying attention to what those calories are made of," study author Dariush Mozaffarian of the Harvard School of Public Health told The Washington Post. "All foods are not equal, and just eating in moderation is not enough." Best Diets Methodology: How U.S. News Rated Them Diets come and go, teasing and tempting with visions of that new, hot, slimmed-down body sculpted in a flash from the old, formerly pudgy and mirror-averse You. Eat what you want! Pounds melt away! The reality, as legions of frustrated dieters can affirm, is that dieting is hard and that most diets don't work. Some, in fact, could put your health at risk. Getting at the facts about diets and dieting has long been grueling enough to burn off a pound or two by itself. Now, though, Best Diets cuts through the clutter of claims and half-truths to deliver the facts about 20 diets, including many, such as Weight Watchers, that are household names and others, such as the DASH diet, that should be. A U.S. News team spent six months researching the diets, mining medical journals, government reports, and other sources. An in-depth profile was then drawn up for every diet that explains how it works, whether its claims add up or fall short, and what risks it might pose, along with insights into living on the diet, not just reading about it. A carefully selected panel of 22 recognized experts in diet and nutrition and specialists in diabetes and heart disease reviewed the U.S. News profiles. Then the experts rated each diet from 1 to 5 in seven categories: short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, how easy it is to follow, its nutritional completeness, its safety, its ability to prevent or manage diabetes, and its ability to prevent or manage heart disease. U.S. News also asked the panelists to comment on which aspects of each diet that they particularly liked or disliked and to weigh in on what they think people considering the diet should know. [Read more: Best Diets Methodology: How We Rated Them.] How to Stay on a Diet to Lose or Maintain Weight A diet is only as good as your ability to stick to it. Research has found that most plans will help you lose weight, regardless of type—low-fat or low-carb, for example. What counts is whether you can stay on it long-term. And with restaurant meals, dinners with friends, and hot fudge sundaes to tempt you, adherence is an understandable challenge. Here are five tricks for making your diet stick: 1. Gather the troops. You need support, be it from a friend, a group like Overeaters Anonymous, or even an online community. Research suggests those who go it alone are most likely to fall off the wagon. That's why some diet plans have a formal support component—Weight Watchers connects dieters via weekly meetings, while Jenny Craig members are assigned counselors for advice and encouragement. If you're not comfortable talking about your weight face-to-face, log online. By signing up for the free program PeerTrainer, for example, dieters can interact and track each others' weight-loss progress, pose questions, and swap diet and exercise tips. "It's important to have people who will pick you up when times are tough and cheer you on when you have successes," says registered dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet. Plus, she adds: "Healthy habits are contagious." [Read more: How to Stay on a Diet to Lose or Maintain Weight.] This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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