Module 4 Fad Diets Flashcards
What is the challenge of weight loss?
Long-term maintenance of weight lost
* Weight regain is typical, regardless of the weight loss strategy that is used.
What factors contribute to weight regain?
- The obesogenic environment
- Physiological responses to weight loss
- Learned behaviours
- unrealistic goals
- confusion about what works
The Obesogenic Environment
We are making it easy to have struggles with weight, we are setting ourselves up for this type of envrionment
* Most people are no more than a km away from food especially the food sources that are convenient and high in fat, sugar, salt etc.
* The exercise component of our lives has gone down significantly with all the things we have to do things for us
Physiological Responses to Weight Loss
How do learned behaviours affect maintenance of weight loss?
Learned behaviours related to food selection (type and amount)
and physical activity draw people back following a substantial weight loss if there is no long-term maintenance strategy or supports.
* Cooking habits
* Dining out
* Sleep deprivation
* Cravings for CHO
* Sedentary behaviours
* Patterns of association/socialization
* Culture
* Food as psychological coping mechanism
What is important for maintenance of weight loss?
PEOPLE NEED SUPPORT
a plan that promotes results such as rapid and/or significant weight loss without robust scientific evidence to support its claims.
fad diets
What do popular fad diets often include?
- plans that are very restrictive (E.g. low energy, low volume, or both) or an unusual/”magical” combinations of foods.
- may promote eating certain foods at certain times of the day.
- often consist of expensive and unnecessary food products, ingredients and/or supplements.
Characteristics of Fad Diets
- Promise a magic bullet to lose weight without having to change your lifestyle in any way. These include diet pills, lotions, wearables such as sweat suits
- Promise rapid weight loss of more than 1kg (2lbs) of body fat a week.
- Suggest that there are magical fat-burning effects of foods such as the grapefruit diet or hidden ingredients in foods (E.g. caffeine/coffee, alleged fat-burning substances such as green tea extract or raspberry ketones)
- Promote the avoidance or restriction of a whole groups of nutritious foods.
- Suggest substituting everyday foods or food groups for expensive doses of supplements, expensive ingredients, or special products.
- Promote eating mainly one type of food (mono diet) (E.g. The Cabbage Soup Diet, the Chocolate Diet).
- Recommend eating foods only in particular combinations based on your genetic type or blood group (E.g. Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type Diet)
- Suggest that overweight is caused by a food allergy or a yeast infection
- Recommend ‘detoxing’ or avoiding foods in certain combinations.
- Offer no supporting evidence apart from personal success stories or testimonials
- Focus only on appearance-based goals rather than on health benefits with rigid rules
- Identify the problem, suggest the solution and then sell the product(s) that are purported to be necessary to fix things.
- Have recommendations based on a single study or a misinterpretation of science (E.g. TEF)
- Are based on a ‘secret’ that doctors are yet to discover or ‘don’t want you to know’
Risks of Fad Diets
- Produce an initial weight loss that is based on the loss of lean muscle and fluid loss instead of body fat (↓BMR)
- Often these diets cannot be followed long term as people become fed up with the rigid rules and limits.
- Internal cues around hunger and fullness ignored which can lead to , cycles of weight loss followed by weight regain.
- Disruptions to a person’s psychological relationship with food, leading to feelings of failure rather than the development of the skills and confidence to manage diet and weight in a healthy manner.
Current fad diets
- ketogenic diets (KD)
- Intermittent fasting (IF)
- Paleo diet
very high-fat, moderate protein, low CHO eating patterns that are inconsistent from general, healthful eating recommendations.
ketogenic diets
What is restrictied on KD?
CHO from all sources is severely restricted.
* many nutrient-rich foods are sources of CHO, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, milk and yogurt.
What provides energy on the KD?
ketones vs. glucose
Results of KD
Has been shown to effectively lead to short-term weight loss, reduction in hyperinsulinemia, and improvement in insulin sensitivity. Initial weight loss is based on the loss of LBM, glycogen and fluid rather than body fat though and can result in sever hypoglycemia.