Which Diet is Best?

This article was written by Dr. Brengman, and first appeared on the website for Advanced Surgical Partners of Virginia.

As we reflect on our caloric holiday indulgences, we think about New Year’s Resolutions and how to best start the year on the right foot, diet wise. Looking through all the available diet plans out there – Atkins, Zone, Mediterranean, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, South Beach… it’s hard to know where to start.

Delicious Healthy Food

It turns out, based on an exhaustive meta-analysis (the aggregation of data from many studies) from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), that there is little difference in any of the diets currently available (48 of them were analyzed), and that the one that works is the one to which you will adhere.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, nearly 7,300 overweight and obese adults were part of the study, and although low-carb edged out low-fat diet options in the group overall, it was only a slight margin, and those who stuck with their plan the longest lost the most weight. Any diet that proposes dramatic and immediate change is very difficult to maintain, and can result in both relapse and even weight gain.

In the world of dieting, slow and steady has now proven to win the race.

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