Which Food Is Most Effective For Weight Control?

I remember the first time I heard about the book “It’s not your fault, you’re fat” by Gary Null. I admit, I smiled but then became rather sober. The reason? Although on one hand I know it’s true there are countless weight management programs touting their benefits, there is also a horrendous amount of confusion as to what actually works for weight control.

It’s Complicated

After all, isn’t that what you care about, that is, what gets results? Although I would hope to tell you it’s simple, do this, do that, and be done, that’s just not realistic. Each of your lives is highly complex I’m sure and it’s unlikely I would find two identical schedules by the minute. Add to the complication that weight management includes both physical and psychosocial factors. Don’t forget about modern pressures of society and lack of movement all contributing to reasons why 98% of diets fail.

Statistics Please…

According to the Centers of Disease Control U.S., 2/3 of the population is considered overweight and obese. Interestingly  1/3 of the population ages 20-74 in the overweight category, as a percentage, has not really changed since 1965! You heard me, no difference in percentage. What have alarmingly surged are obesity ages 20-74 and youth 12-19 in the overweight category.

Getting to the Science

It’s quite possible that some of the most compelling evidence for the former is rise in adulterated food. Adulterated, meaning food that been changed, modified GMO, or not intended for human consumption -see BigMac. That’s why countries that have incorporated this foodstuff have seen similar statistics to the U.S. with obesity and their youth. Why did Europe ever open its first McDonald’s…is this coincidence?

Those Europeans

Even so, Europeans tend to be light years ahead in some respects. The European Food & Safety Commission released a 2010 meta-analytic scientific report declaring that meal replacements are effective for weight loss and managing weight control post weight loss. Well this is good news for you and others who might be discouraged by a 2% post weight loss success rate.

What Next

Decreasing caloric intake while maintaining a high level of nutrient density should be a focus for your weight loss and maintenance goals. Meal replacements that substitute a meal or two for weight loss and are added as a healthy snack will provide numerous benefits to your weight loss goals.

What are your challenges in maintaining a healthy weight?

Sources:

EFSA Journal 2010

CDC U.S. Health Report 2009

No Comments yet »

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment