Health Update

by Tyrone M. Reyes, M.D.

The titles of the newer diet best-sellers vary, but their promises are strikingly similar. Eat “lots and lots of great food in smart ways,” says The Abs Diet. “Lose weight by enjoying satisfying amounts of the best food on the planet,” promises The Sonoma Diet. And The Best Life Diet lets you “live happily on the diet while still meeting your weight-loss goals.”

Living happily on a diet plan seems to fly in the face of most people’s experience. In a 2006 Pew Research Center survey, more than 90 percent of 2,250 adults said losing weight was “hard” or “very hard.” So the latest popular diets focus on how to shed calories and pounds in a way that keeps you from feeling hungry. In contrast with earlier diets, which tended to severely restrict major nutrient categories — carbohydrates in the case of the Atkins Diet, fat in the case of Ornish, Pritikin, and many other diets — this latest generation of diets recognizes that fat and carbs represent more than expendable calories. They fill you up, add flavor and variety, and impart important health benefits, if you choose wisely. (more…)