Seductive fad diets offer more hype than hope

SALT LAKE CITY — Fad diets are seductive, promising rapid weight loss and, often, little effort. But you're more apt to sustain weight loss over time if you take the pounds off more slowly and combine calorie reduction with exercise, dieticians say.

"My approach is not sexy or glamorous," says Kary Woodruff, a sports dietitian at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital. "There are no quick fixes, just small but sustainable lifestyle changes you can adopt to maintain a healthy weight for life."

All things food, from weight loss to healthy eating, are fair game during Saturday's Deseret News/Intermountain Healthcare Hotline. From 10 a.m. to noon, Woodruff and her colleague Theresa Dvorak, also a TOSH dietician, will answer phoned-in questions. The number to call is 801-236-6061 or 1-800-925-8177.

Woodruff recommends aiming to lose a half-pound to a pound a week. Faster weight loss usually means someone is losing water weight and muscle mass before they lose their fat, Woodruff says.

She cites as an example the current rage, the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) diet. It promises one to three pounds gone per day, but she says that clinical trials have failed to prove long-term weight loss. The diet combines use of hCG injections or drops with a strict 500-calorie diet. That's the part "that's probably causing weight loss," she says, "but it's not sustainable." And when people go off the diet, there's a good chance they'll regain the weight they lost "or gain even more because of a yo-yo effect." There may also be medical complications with losing weight that quickly, she says.

Both Dvorak and Woodruff recommend that would-be dieters find the small changes they can incorporate into a healthy diet for a lifetime, such as choosing high fiber, less processed bread or new types of whole grains like quinoa.

"There are so many fad diets that center on low-carbohydrate diets. Carbohydrates are great foods if you get them from good sources," Woodruff says, noting that those who eat lots of barley, rye, whole grains, fruits and vegetables seldom have trouble managing blood sugars, for instance.

Once you've turned a good change into a habit, add another, she counsels. Maybe switch out white rice for brown. Then look at the fats you eat, making sure you go for the healthier ones, not the transfats.