Donna Feldman grew up in New Jersey with a nutrition-obsessed mother who put wheat germ in everything. She rebelled, but during a college all-nighter, she picked up a copy of a popular nutrition paperback, eventually earning a Master of Science in Nutrition at Cornell University. She now has a private practice in nutrition counseling in Boulder County. Contact her at health.examiner@mindspring.com.

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Online Diet Help

1 comment

July 11, 7:25 AM

by Donna Feldman, Denver Health Examiner

Now going for 25 cents (book image/Amazon)

A prominent obesity researcher spoke in Denver several years ago and noted that, in his experience, 2 months was the limit for sticking to any diet. After 2 months, dieters have had it. Even if they lost a little weight, the restrictions and inconvenience become too much trouble. Of course, there are exceptions to this general rule, but given the life expectancy of fad diets, I’d say he was right. Recently I was looking over the used book sale at my local library and there, for a mere 25 cents, was Fit For Life. Remember that one? It was the miracle diet that was going to save the world 15 years ago. Since then, the obesity epidemic has gotten worse, and now the book is going for 25 cents.

Atkins was going to save the world too, although with very different low carbohydrate food selection. The Stillman Diet from the 1960’s was the precursor to Atkins, promising easy low carb weight loss. That didn’t work, but food companies jumped on the Atkins bandwagon anyway, and low carb food displays were sprinkled throughout grocery stores. Where are they now?

Despite the poor track record, fad diets aren’t going away. How do you choose one that might actually have a chance of working for you? There aren’t any foolproof methods for choosing, but I did find an interesting possibility. DietTV.com is a website that asks a variety of questions about food preferences and goals, and recommends several diets based on the answers. I asked Toby Amidor, MS, RD, Director of Nutrition, some questions about DietTV’s selection tool. She said the tool is refined and updated over time, but is based on “the wisdom of crowds”, in that dieters rate the diets for effectiveness, and the questions are based on criteria that are important to dieters. Because there are so many variables in choosing a diet, the dieter gets a list of several possible matches, ranked in order of suitability. "Finding the right diet is a very personal decision that should be very informed. We want to scientifically narrow the options to those which reflect an individual’s preferences. Once they have that set of diet solutions, we want to help inform them on each choice. That is why we present consistent, impartial overviews and reviews of each diet from both members and experts. Our goal is to help our members find the best fit for their needs."

She continues: "We believe that weight loss is not as simple as eating less and exercising more. There are a variety of emotional, motivational, social and educational needs that need to be addressed for successful weight loss. ... We believe there is a personal solution that will be most effective for each individual. And rarely are those solutions the same. Our goal is to help our members learn healthy habits in order to lose weight and maintain weight loss for a lifetime."

I personally wouldn’t have chosen some of the diets that DietTV recommends. Ms. Amidor indicated that the list isn’t based on proven effectiveness so much as popularity or notoriety. But the selection tool is an interesting concept, and one that can easily be revised to reflect new information.

Eat Less, Exercise More: According to real life Success Stories from the National Weight Control Registry, long term weight loss depends on boring non-fad concepts: portion control, calorie counting and exercise.

Topics: diets , choosing a diet , fad diets

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