Diets Don’t work

Get Smarter Than the Scientists

Secrets even the scientists don’t know.

Did you see that newspaper article that reviewed a research project done at Stanford University that was set up to determine which diet was the most effective?  The diets included the famous Atkins diet, the Zone diet, Dr. Dean Ornish’s diet, and the US government’s national guidelines plan.

The women in the study were to stay on their respective eating plans for one whole year. Unfortunately they tended to go off their plans before the year was over. (So what’s new? That happens on most “diets”.)

This controversy is so old! 25 years ago when I first got into nutrition the controversy was going on as to whether Atkins or Pritikin was the best eating plan. Dr. Atkins diet has always been high-protein high-fat and low carbohydrate. Whereas the Pritikin diet was just the opposite with low protein, very low-fat and high carbohydrate. Apparently Dr. Ornish’s diet has replaced the Pritikin diet with some modifications. Have you stewed over the decision about which way to eat? So did I until…

I found out the truth.

And now you can know the truth too.

But 25 years later the scientists and researchers still haven’t figured out which diet is really the best! That’s because none of them work the best for everyone.

The headline in that newspaper article was touting the fact that people on the Atkins diet lost the most weight, up to 13 pounds in the first six months. However, by the end of the 12 month period they had already gained back 3 of the pounds. On the Ornish diet, which is high carb, low-fat, the average weight loss was about 5 pounds in the year. And those on the national guidelines plan lost about 6 pounds. The women on the Zone diet lost only 3.5 pounds average in 12 months.

Are you impressed by the amount of weight lost on any of these diets?

I had to chuckle when I read this article. Here they are still trying to prove which diet is the best. Do they still not understand the basic physiology of each person’s body? Every individual body is unique. Each one of us is biologically individual. Therefore lumping all these individuals into a group and trying to find a diet that works best for everyone of them is a ridiculous concept in my opinion.

Finding out how you need to eat to feel good and energetic and to achieve a healthy body weight is really very simple. But even the scientists and the doctors don’t know about this simple principle.

You can get in on the secret that settles the question for you about how you should eat. Because feeling good and achieving a healthy body weight is not about diets. If you’ve been reading my newsletter for any time you know that diets don’t work. They yo-yo your weight up and down and make it harder for you to lose weight because you lose muscle mass on low-calorie diets. Since the muscles burn most of the calories, if you lose muscle mass you will nosedive into slow metabolism.

So what can you do?

Find out what your metabolic profile is. You’re eating plan should match the way your body handles food. That’s determined by your genetics and how the energy systems in your body work. These energy systems are very much controlled by your glands and your nervous system. Everyone’s glands and nervous system are set a little bit differently.

Determining your metabolic profile might sound a little complicated. But it’s really very easy. You can get a pretty good idea of what your metabolic profile is by taking a simple little quiz.

Your eating plan needs to match your metabolic profile. When you know your metabolic profile then you’ll know whether your body responds best to a higher protein eating plan or a higher carbohydrate eating plan with optimal fat intake.

Then you’ll know how to eat in a way that will serve your body well and will help you achieve or maintain a healthy body weight.

May you be blessed with optimal health,

Dr. Jo