Health Matters with Dr. David: The Don't Diet Diet
By: Health Matters with Dr. David
Updated: July 26, 2010
The vast majority of Americans think they need to lose weight, and Dr. David Lipschitz says there is really only one way to do it right.
As a society we are obsessed with weight loss, some estimates say the diet industry is worth 100-billion-dollars a year.
All that money is spent on foods and fads that don't work and in fact may be damaging our overall health.
The best diet, says Dr. David, is the don't diet diet.
"When we're looking at diet we think about restriction, restriction, restriction instead of let me look at all the things I can have," says Christy Cobb, a registered dietitian.
Cobb is right. We need to change our thinking. Most fad diets are seriously flawed because they usually eliminate entire food groups. A good example is the no fat diet craze.
"Everything you saw on the shelves was no fat cookies, no fat this and no fat that. Of course that's when we all got hooked on sugar, because they had to put sugar in it to supplement the fat that was not in there."
And our bodies need certain fats. No carb or low carb diets are just as bad.
"You get that quick weight loss but that results in your metabolism being slowed down. Your body is not working the way it should and so your metabolism suffers and you can't stay on that diet for the rest of your life," Cobb says.
Any kind of restriction is really working against our body's own chemistry.
"Your body is also going into a state of I have to hold on to every calorie I'm given because they are starving me and then when you do go back to your regular eating habits, you're just going to gain it all back and potentially more," says Cobb.
The good news is long term success is guaranteed if you adopt the don't diet diet. It emphasizes eating more, I said more of the foods that are good for you, fruits, vegetables, the right kinds of fats and starches in moderation. Become a label reader and know what to avoid.
"If you look at the first five ingredients you need to make certain that they're not sugar or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil or high fructose corn syrup or saturated fat. None of those need to be in the first five ingredients of a food," Cobb says.
It's an easy choice to make. Consume more of what's good for you and lose weight for a lifetime, or eat less of what's unhealthy and lose weight for a few months. And remember even if the latest diet pills and ploys seem tempting, history and science tell us they will ultimately fail.
"If they worked as well as they say they do, they wouldn't fizzle out, everyone would do it," says Cobb.
I hope you'll adopt the don't diet diet. Stay full of the right foods and forget about those quicky fads and their empty promises.
- Dr. David
As a society we are obsessed with weight loss, some estimates say the diet industry is worth 100-billion-dollars a year.
All that money is spent on foods and fads that don't work and in fact may be damaging our overall health.
The best diet, says Dr. David, is the don't diet diet.
"When we're looking at diet we think about restriction, restriction, restriction instead of let me look at all the things I can have," says Christy Cobb, a registered dietitian.
Cobb is right. We need to change our thinking. Most fad diets are seriously flawed because they usually eliminate entire food groups. A good example is the no fat diet craze.
"Everything you saw on the shelves was no fat cookies, no fat this and no fat that. Of course that's when we all got hooked on sugar, because they had to put sugar in it to supplement the fat that was not in there."
And our bodies need certain fats. No carb or low carb diets are just as bad.
"You get that quick weight loss but that results in your metabolism being slowed down. Your body is not working the way it should and so your metabolism suffers and you can't stay on that diet for the rest of your life," Cobb says.
Any kind of restriction is really working against our body's own chemistry.
"Your body is also going into a state of I have to hold on to every calorie I'm given because they are starving me and then when you do go back to your regular eating habits, you're just going to gain it all back and potentially more," says Cobb.
The good news is long term success is guaranteed if you adopt the don't diet diet. It emphasizes eating more, I said more of the foods that are good for you, fruits, vegetables, the right kinds of fats and starches in moderation. Become a label reader and know what to avoid.
"If you look at the first five ingredients you need to make certain that they're not sugar or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil or high fructose corn syrup or saturated fat. None of those need to be in the first five ingredients of a food," Cobb says.
It's an easy choice to make. Consume more of what's good for you and lose weight for a lifetime, or eat less of what's unhealthy and lose weight for a few months. And remember even if the latest diet pills and ploys seem tempting, history and science tell us they will ultimately fail.
"If they worked as well as they say they do, they wouldn't fizzle out, everyone would do it," says Cobb.
I hope you'll adopt the don't diet diet. Stay full of the right foods and forget about those quicky fads and their empty promises.
- Dr. David
