SALT LAKE CITY — Fad diets are seductive, promising rapid weight loss and, often, little effort. But you're more apt to sustain weight loss over time if you take the pounds off more slowly and combine calorie reduction with exercise, dieticians say.
"My approach is not sexy or glamorous," says Kary Woodruff, a sports dietitian at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital. "There are no quick fixes, just small but sustainable lifestyle changes you can adopt to maintain a healthy weight for life."
All things food, from weight loss to healthy eating, are fair game during Saturday's Deseret News/Intermountain Healthcare Hotline. From 10 a.m. to noon, Woodruff and her colleague Theresa Dvorak, also a TOSH dietician, will answer phoned-in questions. The number to call is 801-236-6061 or 1-800-925-8177.
Woodruff recommends aiming to lose a half-pound to a pound a week. Faster weight loss usually means someone is losing water weight and muscle mass before they lose their fat, Woodruff says.
She cites as an example the current rage, the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) diet. It promises one to three pounds gone per day, but she says that clinical trials have failed to prove long-term weight loss. The diet combines use of hCG injections or drops with a strict 500-calorie diet. That's the part "that's probably causing weight loss," she says, "but it's not sustainable." And when people go off the diet, there's a good chance they'll regain the weight they lost "or gain even more because of a yo-yo effect." There may also be medical complications with losing weight that quickly, she says.
Both Dvorak and Woodruff recommend that would-be dieters find the small changes they can incorporate into a healthy diet for a lifetime, such as choosing high fiber, less processed bread or new types of whole grains like quinoa.
"There are so many fad diets that center on low-carbohydrate diets. Carbohydrates are great foods if you get them from good sources," Woodruff says, noting that those who eat lots of barley, rye, whole grains, fruits and vegetables seldom have trouble managing blood sugars, for instance.
Once you've turned a good change into a habit, add another, she counsels. Maybe switch out white rice for brown. Then look at the fats you eat, making sure you go for the healthier ones, not the transfats.
That same incremental approach makes exercise doable over the long haul. A couch potato will give up pretty quickly if ordered to exercise for an hour five times a week. But that person can go for a walk twice a week while building up some stamina, then can add more walks or other activities. "Increase slowly in a way that becomes part of the daily routine, not something that has to be thought about."
We live in an "obesegenic society," Woodruff says, with food readily available and cheap. But the further you get from processed foods, the fewer the cravings for sugar and fast foods. "With more balanced diets, you don't tend to crave as much." Being aware helps cut down mindless eating and over-consumption. Food should not be assigned values of "good" or "bad." Food is neutral.
"In addition to looking at developing a healthy weight, I would also challenge people to develop a healthy relationship with food," says Woodruff.
People don't all lose weight with the same ease and they don't all respond to a particular diet the same, she says. But there are different approaches. "There's not anyone who just can't lose weight."
Diet questions answered
Kary Woodruff and Theresa Dvorak, both registered dietitians at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital, will answer question about diets and healthy eating Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon for the Deseret News/Intermountain Healthcare Hotline. The number is 1-800-925-8177 or 801-236-6061 on the Wasatch Front.
e-mail: lois@desnews.com