THE DIET GAME

I live in a city where everyone is obsessed with dieting. Some people go about it the right way but most people are looking for a quick fix, which may work initially but not in the long run. With global obesity on the rise the "Diet" industry is making millions from producing different diet plans, foods and supplements, all of which aren’t necessarily doing your body any good.

Let’s start with the different types of diets on the market:

Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, Cabbage Soup. Is there a top dog among these diets? Do they work? Which one is the healthiest option? In a recent study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, the best diet out there is any of them.......yet, none of them. Confused? 

The study assigned 811 participants, 62% women and 38% men, to one of four random diet groups, each of which had different carbohydrates, fats and protein ratios. The results? Regardless of which diet was assigned, pound for pound each participant lost an average of 13 lbs in six months and maintained a 9 lb weight loss at 2 years. How did that happen? What all the participants had in common was the addition of exercise and decrease in calorie intake by about 750 cals per day. In layman’s terms; the reason all of the diets worked, is because the participants ate less and added exercise. Finally we now have some proof that you don’t have to go on a fad diet to shed pounds, you just have to get smart.

So what should you do, as a consumer?

You have to educate yourself. In turn, you will start making smarter choices, that actually benefit your health. Remember, in most cases, the quick fix route does more harm than good. You see, when you crash diet and eat below, say 800 calories, your body thinks you’re starving and shuts down your metabolic rate to keep you alive. Your body needs constant refueling to maintain a high metabolism, thus enabling the body to burn any excess body fat. But keep in mind calories do count. The suggested healthy caloric consumption amount for women is about 1200 calories and for men about 1500-2000 calories depending on build, activity level, etc. I eat at least 6 times a day to keep my energy level at a constant level in order to get me through my active days, and believe me, if I miss a meal I get a bit narky. Even with all that eating, I’m not overweight because of what I’m eating and because I do exercise regularly. I don’t practice this to "diet," this is my lifestyle (see my Philosophy on "diets"). Portion control (a serving size of protein should be the size of your palm or a deck of cards) and being a good label reader are going to be your best assets in bringing healthy back.

LABEL READING

It’s true, I’m a bona fide label reader, so I’m armed with the secrets to crack the code. After all, knowledge is power and taking control is half the battle won.

Let’s start with packaging since it’s the first thing we see. Manufacturers try to use keywords to lure us into thinking their product is healthy such as wholesome, all-natural, multigrain, reduced fat, reduced calorie, fat free, lite, organic, etc. Just because something is fat free or organic doesn’t mean it won’t be loaded with hidden sugar or salt. This is where label reading is key.

Manufacturers have to list ingredients in descending order from most to least. That means the ingredients they used most will be at the top of the list and vice versa. Rule of thumb: fewer ingredients usually = healthier food, unless of course sugar is the first or second ingredient. Manufacturers are getting pretty sneaky about hiding sugars since we’re getting savvier with label reading.

If any of these ingredients are floating around the top, then it’s obvious the product is full of sugar. But the trend from manufacturers is to use lots of little sugars in smaller amounts so it buries them in the ingredient list in hopes you won’t notice them. Sneaky, sneaky! Basically if you see lots of different sugars anywhere on the label, you’ve got a high sugar product.

It’s also important to always look at serving sizes, as labels denote amounts per serving size.
You many see the words "enriched with" or "fortified" on the label. Enrichment is the addition of one or more nutrient(s) to a food whether or not it is normally contained in the food with the sole purpose of adding nutritional value to the food. Fortification is the addition of one or more nutrient(s) to a food for the purpose of preventing or correcting a demonstrated deficiency in one or more nutrients. For example refined grains such as white rice lose about 25% of their protein along with at least seventeen key nutrients from processing. Fortifying the rice adds in some of these lost nutrients, correcting some of the loss from refining and processing.

How are we doing? It’s not so hard once you have the facts, right?

Now that we’re professional label readers, let’s review some products that are chock-full of added sugars since sugar = calories. Keep in mind I’m not referring to the natural sugars you’ll find in an orange or in milk. I’m referring to added sugars and sweeteners. The statistics are astounding: An average person consumes 30 teaspoons of added sugar per day--30 tsp! That’s about 500 extra empty calories (the calorie equivalent of a hamburger and fries) not involving any sort of nutrients. This amounts to gaining 100 lbs per year! No wonder global obesity is on the rise. I’m hoping the following products helps you better understand why label reading is so important, especially as a parent.