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Group Fitness Flow Chart

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A Comparison Of Today’s Most Popular Diets

Are you still dieting?  If so, which diet have you selected and why?  This article compares some of today’s most popular diets and gives you pros and cons.

Fruit, no fruit.  Carbs, no carbs.  Ahhh..its enough to make any of us crazy!

There are numerous diet plans out there, all touting to be the best.   Some are better than others but how do you decipher this information?  Lists that rank and discuss pros and cons of the most common commercial diets are available and always subject to the authors’ biases.  Beyond all the marketing of slender figures there are some less sexy, black and white documents found in the databases of PubMed that have looked at this clinical question objectively.

Background 101: How to dissect a commercial diet for weight loss.

1. By the ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrate.  Let’s call this Macronutrient proportions.
2. By the amount of caloric restriction.
3. By its impact on health risk factors.

In order to dissect a diet plan you need to assess it for these 3 main characteristics.  First, understanding the recommended proportions of macronutrients, is it low carb, low fat/high carb or some other perfect mix.  Secondly, understand the caloric restriction expected.  What was this number based upon; will exercise be encouraged or discouraged?  Thirdly, what are the beneficial or detrimental side effects this diet will so generously provide.  Is weight loss the bottom-line or are things like life expectancy worth taking a look at too.

Macronutrient Proportion Diets

• Low carb diet: The low-carbohydrate, non–restricted-calorie diet was based on the Atkin’s Diet
• High carb/low fat diet: The low-fat, restricted-calorie diet was based on the American Heart Association guidelines.
• Mediterranean diet: The moderate-fat, restricted-calorie, Mediterranean diet is rich in vegetables and low in red meat, with poultry and fish replacing beef and lamb.

The major difference in most diets are the way in which they may emphasize or de-emphasizes certain macronutrient groups.  To analyze the diet you want to embark on you must understand their rational, if any, for they’re magical weight loss secret.

When these 3 diets were put head to head in a controlled study setting here were the results.  The fastest amount of weight loss occurred in the first six months of this 2-year trial for all diet types.  At six months the low-carb diet (Atkin’s) showed the most significant weight loss.  At the end of the trial, 2 years later, the Mediterranean diet and the Atkin’s diet demonstrated equal average weight loss of 4.4kg and 4.5kg respectively.  These results highlighting that despite Atkin’s initial greater weight loss at 6 months these were not sustained and greater regain was found within the 2 years.  The low fat-diet demonstrated inferior weight loss throughout the 2-year period with an average 2.9kg of weight loss (Trichopoulou et al., 2007).

Another well-designed 2-year study echoed similar results:

“Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize (Sacks et al., 2009).”

Bottom line:  Short-term Atkin’s does appear to have greater weight loss success that is quickly overshadowed by a faster regain in the following months.  In the long-term, the Mediterranean and the Atkin’s diet seem equivocal as far as weight loss is concerned.

Caloric Restriction Diets

• Very low cal diet: <800 kcal/day ie. HCG Diet, fasting, liquid diets
• Low cal diet: 800-1350 kcal/day ie. Dr Bernstein, weight watcher’s

Do you want the quickest way to weight loss?  You may have found it. At less than 800 calories a day you might as well call it a prolonged fast.  At the end of 6 months the very low calorie diet lost 16.1 % of their body weight in comparison to 9.7% for the low calorie diet groups (Tsai and Wadden, 2006).

Yes, there it is.  If you are looking for a quick short-term solution this may be your best bet.  If you are looking for long-term success, not so much.  The individuals in the very low calorie diet were the quickest to regain the weight and no difference in weight was seen between the low cal diet and the very low cal diet at 1 year.

At the end of the day it appears compliance and caloric restriction are greater determinants to long-term weight loss than macronutrient composition of the diet.

Unimpressed with the study results so far?  I know the results are far from exciting and definitely less interesting than the models plastered in the diet advertisements.  My next article will discuss numéro trois, selecting a diet based on its impact on health risk factors among other things.

What has your experience been on commercial diet?  Care to share some pros and cons?

**What has worked best for me (and trust me, I have tried the whole gamut) has been following the principles of the Eat Clean Diet and my coach’s program which takes into account macronutrient proportions and divides them into 5-6 meals consumed throughout the day.  I opt for whole, natural foods and enjoy foods from all food groups (I am an ovo-pescatarian) and do not count calories only portion sizes.

(source: myyogaonline.com)

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iamnotover asked: Hi there, I love your blog! Being a naturally tall and thin girl, myself, it's good to see other people who live healthily and enjoy good, healthy food :) I have IBS too and I'd be really interested to hear about your experiences with it. What did you find helped the most for you?

Helloo! Ah we’re quite similar, then (: I enjoy seeing it as well! When it started to get worse, I started to keep a food journal and write down the time that I ate, what I ate, and at first I wrote down how I felt afterwards. Keeping that just helped me to realize what foods effected me the most. Now this was mostly before starting my healthy lifestyle so when I think back on it, it was basically just unhealthy and processed foods. And dairy, since I’m lactose intolerant. I noticed that drinking a smoothie every day helped keep things regulated and moving, and exercise! I used to take a 10-20 minute walk about 10 minutes after dinner. Doing yoga and core exercises helped keep things moving as well, and it helped keep a lot of the bloating down. Avoiding as much processed foods as I can, and refined carbs, also helps. The biggest problem I have with it all is mostly bloating, when I’m eating well. When I eat things I shouldn’t, I get a bit of digestion problems and abnormal bowel movements. Even if you’re not lactose intolerant, avoiding dairy (and meat) helps digestion a lotttt as well. 

Basically, eating as many whole foods as I can, mostly avoiding processed and junk foods, and regular exercise helps keep it all good. IBS is a difficult thing to live with, but it gets easier. When I think about how I deal with it, it’s not as hard as it would seem. Well, if you have your cravings under control haha. (:

makemyselfstronger asked: Hey girl! I'm wondering if vegan cheese is better/healthier for you?

Hey! I would like to say yes, but I haven’t done a lot of research of this on my own. I think it’s a very controversial topic. I don’t see dairy to be the healthiest option. If it’s soy cheese, I don’t think it’s fermented, and it’s better to have fermented soy such as tofu and tempeh so I wouldn’t go with soy. Also, some soy cheese have casein in them so they aren’t vegan. I consider Daiya to be healthier than dairy cheese, though I know people would disagree with me. Gah, why is this so controversial and complicated. I think it’s healthier. If anyone has any further information on this, I’m sure we would both appreciate it!

Half of my lunch from about 2 weeks ago. Tofurkey sandwich on whole grain with soy cheese, mustard, spinach and tomato. 

Late breakfast from today. Van’s gf/vegan whole grain waffles, white chocolate and dark chocolate peanut butter, organic maple blue agave syrup, and regular almond milk. Also a smoothie of almond milk, a banana, fresh spinach, frozen strawberries, frozen mango, and probiotics powder.

Anonymous asked: i also work long hours and i know how it feels coming out of that double shift aching from head to toe. WHILE you're at work don't rest in your joints, activate your core to help support the rest of your body. make sure your pelvis is balanced by pulling in (sorry) part between your vag and your anus. WEAR SUPPORTIVE SHOES. knee pain: stretch out hips and hamstrings, strengthen lower back and legs. neck: neck rolls, shoulder openers, GENTLE twists, press between thumb and forefinger reflex point

Thank youuuu. Hope they see this!

iplayedwith-fire asked: I work at a fast food restaurant which means I'm standing 7-8 hours a day and my neck, back, and knees have been hurting from it. Can you recommend any yoga moves or sequences that might help for that specifically? Thank you! ((:

Again, I do apologize for taking so long to respond to this. I’ve been so lazy with my internet as of late. So I really hope these help! I work in fast food, also. Though I work about half those hours.. and I still complain about having to work, haha. While you’re working, try to keep good posture. That could help as well (: 

Poses for back pain:

• Seated spinal twist
• Downward facing dog
• Cat and cow pose
• Triangle pose
• Fish pose
• Cobra pose
• Camel pose (one of my favorites for back pain)
• More yoga poses for back pain

I also have a few posts on my blog for back pain yoga. 

For the neck/shoulders:

One of my favorite things to do when my neck and shoulders feel tense is rotating them. Sit up nice and straight, criss cross or whatever is most comfortable and start with either one, neck or shoulders. Obviously for the neck you just tilt your head down or to the side and relax it as much as possible, and just roll your head around, going back and forth. For shoulders, there’s a few ways you could do that. You could do one at a time like in this video. But I like to do them both at the same time. Bring your shoulders up and pull them back, as you do that, bring your shoulder blades together and open your chest. You can either go backwards from here, or complete the circle and open your shoulder blades as you rotate it to the front.

For the knees:

I’m not entirely sure what part of your knees are hurting, but I think maybe the stand spread leg forward fold might help. Here are some more yoga poses for strong knees.

Anonymous asked: Progress blog? :)

Oops. Late replies since I’ve not been on! Here. I’ve been thinking about taking that page down though, or just making a note at the top since I’ve not made any muscle progress and I’m sure I’m actually lost a bit. I don’t pay attention though so I don’t know. I’ve just been focusing on other things. I still get exercise. Not as much. Mostly I just go hiking and sometimes jump rope or something. I’m a bit disappointed that all my hard work is kind of wasted, but I’m also very content with where I am at right now in general. I’d rather focus on my eating than my muscle growth, for now. I do hope you all understand. Every time I’m asked for my progress page, I get a bit sad because I feel like it’s either lying to you since I’ve not been doing much, and/or that I’m disappointing you all. Which is why I think about taking it down. I don’t know. I know this is a personal journey, as it is for us all, but I know I’ve been an inspiration to some of you and I feel like a huge let down. 

Sorry for the mini-vent. I just wanted to make those things a bit clear since they bother me.

healthyisalwaysbetter-deactivat asked: omg since when are you following me? this made my day haha :D love you

I’ve been following you for a long while! I think you might not have noticed because it says “deidreelliott’ instead of ‘yogi-health’ in your followers since this is secondary. (: This all made me smile so hard when I read it. Love you too <3