Rachael Ray promotes 400 Calorie per day diet- Does diet soda count?

Rachael Ray, a well known cook with her own show on the Food Network   is promoting Prevention Magazines new diet book 'The 400 Calorie Fix".  The diet is just another gimmick that offers absolutely nothing new nutrition wise.  It is a simplistic concept that most folks who have ever tried to lose weight already know about,  the fewer calories you eat the more weight you will lose. That said, if a book containing several pre-planned low calorie meals of around 400 calories help folks to lose excess weight  great.  It's doubtful, however, that 6 months from now anyone will be talking about this diet because Weight Watchers and other programs have offered similar advice for years.  The idea of eating smaller meals, more frequently, which is part of the 400 Calorie Fix diet concept, is sound advice and has been known about for years.

The above said, a more important piece of nutrition research is emerging regarding the consumption of diet sodas and how such consumption may actually cause you to gain weight.  Folks following the 400 calorie diet may think drinking diet sodas won't affect their weight loss since they have zero calories.  Think again. 

A new study in the Journal of Behavioral Neuroscience  seems to suggest that even though zero calorie sweeteners don't contribute to the calorie count of a meal the body may be 'tricked' by the sweet taste into thinking nutritive carbohydrates have been consumed triggering certain hormonal responses that result in a feeling of hunger an hour or so after consumption.  This results in feeling hungry within an hour or so after drinking a diet soda. If you have the discipline not to eat even when your hungry this won't be a problem, but if you are like most people, your likely to eat something above your 400 calorie/meal limit and therefore reduce the chances of losing weight.  If you are going to the trouble of following a 400 calorie fix diet plan it's probably best to cut down on the diet sodas!

For more info: Contact Gordon at bodyarchitectsf@aol.com for information on this or previous articles or call 415.307.0439 to schedule a complementary one hour workout.  Also please visit Gordon's website. Clients are encouraged to visit the Body Architect Yelp page and submit a recommendation for Gordon.

How to select a personal trainer