Which diet advice is to be believed?

[TheDeadlyDonkey]

I've started reading John Briffa's Escape the Diet Trap. It makes for very interesting reading, but has made me question the usual run of the mill low fat type diet advice.
If Briffa is to be believed, low fat diets are unsustainable and can contribute to ongoing obesity issues and increasing the risk of diabetes.

I've also recently heard that if milk is to be drunk, full fat milk is better, as the majority of vitamins and minerals are in the fat.

I'm also hearing varying reports on cholesterol, and how it maybe isn't playing the dangerous role that many drs are telling us.

So, after DH's stroke (which wasn't in any way a lifestyle issue) he has been advised to be cautious and cut down on fat and use benecol spread and yoghurt drink (I have read that these aren't good for you, but can't remember where, could have been on here)

So when there is so much conflicting advice, who do you trust? What do you believe?

John Briffa's book is really convincing, quotes trials, uses scientific charts etc, and makes sense.
I myself have struggled with low fat diets, and failed more times than I care to admit.
I am in no way qualified to interpret scientific trial data (along with the majority of the population) and am growing more and more confused about the conflicting advice that is out there.

I'm not really sure what I'm expecting from this thread, but I'm interested to see what others think about this, and who you trust when it comes to diet advice?

I agree eat less move more worked for me. I lost 3stone last year post baby no 2 and its thr first time I've succeeded at losing weight and keeping it off so far because I didn't "go on a diet" but changed my outlook and eat smaller portions off all the things I like :)

I virtually never order a full meal when dining out with family. I just scavenge off of other people's plates, maybe a salad for me otherwise. Usually leave plenty food behind, nonetheless, And I eat A LOT.

I've read that the "Mediterrean diet" has been widely misunderstood; the Italians dont' actually eat that much pasta after all! They do eat lots of specialty veg dishes, though. The veg are in season, meals are taken slowly, And the portion sizes are reasonable.

amothersplace you are wrong.

I am eating more calories, generally more food & moving less. I am losing weight, I feel better than I have done in years and my last set of results from the doctors show a lot of improvements.

Please don't insist that eating less and moving more is THE answer - it is NOT for the vast majority of people with weight issues. Do some reading, watch some documentaries - educate yourself.

The advice is not that conflicting once you actually read the proper scientific papers and it has not changed dramatically over the past 20 years as people think.

The standard advice is 3 meals a day - with 3 elements: carbohydrate; protein and fat. The healthy plate model has been used to demonstrate how this works. 1/3 of the plate meat / protein; 1/3 carb; 1/3 veg.

If you do this 3 times a day, 7 days a week without drinking too much alcohol or bingeing on sweets AND include an hour a day of physical activity you will lose weight if you need too. The only thing to take into consideration is that not all people on a diet need to lose weight and some people have a naturally bigger build than others.

Why do I know this? Because I am a State Registered Nutritionist and I read the papers properly. I am fed up of seeing the latest "diet" forced upon a gullible public. Also, I have had people come to me asking for advice and when I have given it and they have stuck to my diet they have lost weight.

well said childof79.

Just started to make an effort to shift my baby weight and i go by Alan Carrs book, easy weigh (its helping me paticually as a motivation tool as i know ive developed an over eating habit) It again basically tells us Not to diet but to eat less and move a little more but importantly to eat the foods we were designed to eat, natuaral foods, and paticually staying away from low fat and processed foods. All those things we all really know all ready. I think everyone should have a copy of this one. I had got so fed up with my weight situation and failed attempts at getting back on track but somehow Alan just provides that talking to that i needed. Im feeling great and im loosing the excess pounds without feeling like im dieting.

Where are these proper papers you are referring to & where do you become qualified as a state registered nutritionist ? There is no such thing. The 'State' only employ dieticians qualified on approved courses.

I have to say that what you've written is rubbish...one size does not fit all & I'd be interested in your facts to back this up.

I also refute the move more eat less idea. My dh has been marathon training, his appetite has increased greatly. Much to his horror, because they generally taste vile, I suggested he have a high protein shake after his training & his constantly hungry state evaporated. His weight has remained the same.

Childof79
links to the papers please
and links to the evidence of your job existing

3 meals a day is post 1960's food marketing
cereal for breakfast was invented by Kellogg the groper

Eat less move more leading to weight loss is basic thermodynamics. It's just very hard to do in practice.

Eating to lose weight and eating for health are not necessarily the same.

state registered nurse is the old name for registered nurse. Think it is pre-80s.

Eat less move more. Those who say eating more helped them lose weight, I am sure that is true if you mean replacing a small portion of rich food with a large playe of lean protein, vegetables and wholegrain.

I have dogs and horses, they can get fat too ( in winter) and with animals it is simple to address: feed them leaner food, smaller portions, and exercise them more.

No hocus pocus or complicated or formulas, neither do dogs get fat from merely " looking at a glass of water".

If we could get pigs fatter by letting them starve for a bit, so their bodies would then " hold on" to anything they eat, heck, I am sure farmers would!

Whilst hormones and medicine has effects on weight , and again this is the same with animals, basically you get fat from eating too much of the wrong things.

child's advice is consistent with how many of us eat too - but it is what is on that plate that matters. If it is junk processed food rather than natural protein then it's not going to help. I eat three meal a day and no snacks. YOu can call it healthy eating, paleo, primal or whatever but it is basically food without ingredients.
Perhaps that should be our answer - eat real food, food without ingredients (other than say if it's an egg the ingredient is egg, if it's fish the ingredient fish not fish coated in a load of complex batter full of junk and additives etc etc).

Also for some people who cannot resist sugar eating ab it less does not work. it's like giving a heroin addict a bit of their drug once a week "in moderation". You may need to stop eating the sweets and chocolate entirely just like an alcoholic giving up drink and no doctor (or nurse) will tell you that's wrong. They will all agree that you can live a very healthy happy life without the cakes and biscuits.

Xenia what's wrong with ingredients? The ingredients I use to create tasty meals are natural, not nasty artificial junk....I'm intrigued as to why you think recipes with ingredients are bad?

avon sorry for not getting back straight away; spahgetti squash looks like a white butternut squash and after you cook it (best baked whole) when you cut it the flesh is just like spag,!

BBB while I agree that there are many (too many) faddy diets. The Hay diet which is not mixing carbs and proteins at the same meal and eating fruit on an empty stomach is a very old and tried and trusted way of eating (the late Sir John Mill's wife saved his life in his 20s with it and he lived till his 90s!) I am very healthy at 62 (no colds, or arthritis or IBS problems apart from a few varicose veins which i can keep under control) so i must be doing something right .

I don't know if I said this upthread but I totally agree that weight loss diets and eating for health are not nec. the same thing although they can be of course.

To the SRN nutritionist why are most people unhealthy if your ideas are so good? The reason why people would lose weight on it would be the hour's exercise a day that would work for everyone!!!! There are young people who keel over and die when they run every day, how come?

*chandon IME dogs and cats get fat (and ill) from eating those wheat biscuits; its cruel to put them on diets just give them what they'd eat naturally meat and a few veg. (ducks to avoid flames ).

www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/find-a-registered-dietitian-or-nutritionist.aspx?categoryid=51&subcategoryid=168

i saw a state registered dietician/nutritionist last year in hospital to help treat my IBS- she was great, turned out problem was simple, i was eating too much fibre.

Xenia, in my experience psychology plays a massive part in why we overeat. I thought i was 'addicted' to sugar, to extent i even went to 2 meetings in order to kick the habit. Then i went on holiday, stayed in a hotel- so no constant access to food as at home, lo and behold i ate my trigger foods- I had a slice of cake or an icecream once a day with a lovely cup of coffee, baguettes (several lunches consisted of a baguette sandwich). I did not however snack the way i do at home, i came back weighing the same- despite eating 3 proper meals a day of whatever i wanted and i did not binge. The reason i didn't binge was i was busy, i wasn't going to run into a supermarket thinking 'oh no i've eaten a slice of cake what a pig i am , i must now stuff my face with more'. I didnt even notice the crash that must have occurred some time after eating high GI foods. I also allowed myself to feel hungry between meals- this is crucial! In order to eat well at mealtimes you have to be fairly hungry. Am I addicted to sugar or white flour ? no. However it is sensible for me to keep trigger foods to a minimum at home, mainly because those triggers are foods that lead to a sharp rise then drop in blood sugar, the resulting drop isn't pleasant to deal with but can be dealt with by keeping busy. I am talking here of my experience, not anyone else's.

Eat real food, not too much and plenty of plants. Mindful eating really helps.

Just because most foods with ingredients have a lot of additives, sugar, pretend sugar etc etc in them. you cannot go too wrong with a food without ingredients. Anyway everyone has to make their own choices and you may well be able to have a food with ingredients which is not processed which then would be fine. It is all pretty easy for me as the foods I like then to be fairly simple so I'm lucky. I never even liked tomato sauce (which is 40% sugar) as a child.

If you pick up a pack of something in a shop and it has lots of ingredients it is usually not good for you. If you pick up a steak or piece of fish or an apple the only ingredient is the food itself and that simplicity seems to be what is good for us.

Xenia steak (and i'm talking about the best organic grass fed steak) makes me ill. The saying (an ancient one) "one man's meat is another man's poison'' is absolutely true which is why the blood type makes soo much sense to me.

shower I totally agree about mindful eating and that too much fibre (esp. brown wheat fibre) is not good, I eat whole rye bread but whole wheat bread makes me ill as well.

I don't eat much steak myself but I do eat a lot of fish including sardines and tuna as well as grilled salmon. I think it is important people realise you can eat real wholefoods without spending a fortune. By no means do you need to eat steak to eat well.

Yes I eat fish but smetimes there's mercury in it and I hate the thought of overfishing and some fish farming is not ideal nothing's really straightforward is it?

I agree about people being brainwashed into think ing that proper fresh whole foods are expensive which is dreadful maybe they really mean it's time expensive.

Sorry ppeat I have to disagree. The Hay diet is just another example of somebody making money out of telling people to eat less and eat the right foods, the combining thing is rubbish - loads of foods are both carbs and protein, what are you supposed to do about them? If you restrict carbs or fat or sugar, you will weigh less - these best sellers can state the case in a dozen different ways but in the end, eating the right amount of natural foods will help you lose weight. There is no need for a gimmick, most of which have any basis in science. That is why I do PMcK - it doesn't tell you what to eat but addresses the root problem for a lot of people, their relationship with food.

I thought you were off it BB? The Hay diet is OLD it's been around for ages. You don't have to eat less on it the bean family are a mix as you say but they're okay without extra carbs. I tell you it makes a lot of difference to my health (and I eat for my health as you know) I don't follow P.M. for health (though it helps) If I really ate what I wanted I would be ill so I don't.

The main problem with PMK as we have discussed endlessly (sorry op we're on the paul Mckenna thread) is that it doesn't seem to stop people from being ill does it?

Though BB I don't follow any Way Of Eating or diet blindly I go by how my body reacts e.g. The Hay is way off with the amount of time between fruit eating and a meal because I notice how long it takes between eating fruit and feeling hungry (due to PMK) But the paleo is a bit Hay like.

Here is the link showing the difference between a dietitian and a nutritionist for those who are doubting the credentials. There are links also on this page to the current accepted wisdom.

www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/find-a-registered-dietitian-or-nutritionist.aspx?categoryid=51&subcategoryid=168

If you want to know more about nutrition generally you can go to British Nutrition Foundation website and also the Nutrition Society has monthly publications (they are hardcore nutrition).

Thank you, those of you who are sceptical for saying that I wasted 3 years of my life doing a degree in Nutritional Science before going to do a Msc for 2 years. Clearly I was wasting my time. Someone else has read two books and knows so much more than me. Would you tell your doctor he had wasted his time at medical school and that you know so much more because you read one book?

Seriously, people that make up these diets are all after only one thing - the money in your pocket. They have no qualifications and no scruples. Their diets will work for a while because you are cutting out foods and sometimes whole food groups.

However the difference with those who say eat whole foods or paleo or primal is there is not a penny to be made in that. There are no products, no bars, no potions - just normal food. As soon as someone suggests protein powders, paleo bars etc they are departing from eating normal healthy food.

I started new eating yesterday following my Mum's way of eating and cooking even though her's was probably caused by lack of money rather than any dieting fad.
No in between meals snacks and last night a much smaller portion of supper than usual.
Today, porridge made with water, vegetable soup for lunch and a big casserole in the oven for supper. I halved the amount of beef in it, 500g instead of a kilo and used one big swede five large carrots, one large parsnip, two heads of celery and two onions. It will be served with spring greens and possibly dumplings of which I will only have one. It will probably do us at least two, possibly three meals (four adults as DC's eat adult size portions at over 16) depending on whether I do an apple crumble with it tonight.
We will see if it makes any difference after a week.