On May 25, 12:33*pm, James Warren wrote:
The Battle of the Diets: Is Anyone Winning (At Losing?)

Here is a video that might be of some interest to members
of this group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREuZ...eature=related

The interesting thing is that low carb is never worse than
any other diet on weight loss or any measure of risk.

More studies of this kind might sway the medical establishment
and the ADA.

Great find. Best thing I've seen here in a while.
Some of my thoughts.... First, it's important to recognize
that the goal here was not to even try to have strict
adherence to any of the diets. It was oriented to see
what happens with those given a book, class room instruction, 8 weeks
of follow-up, etc, then left alone
to follow the diets for a year. More like what happens
in the real world and a perfectly valid approach.


Even at 8 weeks, while
still being guided, the Atkins group was clearly not doing
Atkins. Carbs accounted for 17% of their caloric intake
at 8 weeks. If we assume a diet of 2000 calories, that
would be 340 cals from carb, or 85g. If they were
doing Atkins by the book, they should be at no more
than 50g of carbs at 8 weeks. So, I'd say from the start
they were doing lower carb, but not specifically
adhering to Atkins.

And at 1 year, their carb intake was double that, so
they were taking in about 170g of carb. Obviously
lower carb than a typical diet, but again, not Atkins.
That's the other thing we already knew, which is that
regardless of diet, most people wind up going back
to their old ways. You can see it in the charts where
weight loss peaked right about at 8 weeks, then
started a slow climb back up for the rest of the year.
That was true for all the diets, though LC was better.
But I have to believe if it were continued for another
year or two the reversion rate would just continue to
increase toward 100%.

That is the really discouraging part. Despite the
health benefits that can be seen, most people just can't
change their ways. It's clear to me that the obesity
epidemic isn't going to be solved until we have some
miracle drug.