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For one, maintaining the new diet is difficult, especially if one has been used to gorging oneself with food in the past. Needless to say, most dieters eventually give up. And when they do, it's a foregone conclusion that they will regain all the weight they had lost - and some - in no time at all. It's a common problem among dieters. But now researchers may have found a solution. Their recommendation: Eat a big breakfast packed with carbohydrates (“carbs”) and protein, then for the rest of the day follow a low-carb, low-calorie diet. According to studies, a very low carbohydrate diet is not a good method to reduce weight. That’s because such a diet exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows metabolism. “As a result, after a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity,” says lead author Daniela Jakubowicz of the Hospital de Clinicas, Caracas, Venezuela. Jakubowicz says that only five percent of carbohydrate-restrictive diets are successful after two years because most of these diets don’t address addictive eating impulses. In the study conducted by Jakubowicz and her colleagues in collaboration with scientists from Virginia University In Richmond, it was found that a diet’s long-term effectiveness depended on its ability to increase a sense of fullness and reduce carb cravings. The researchers compared their new diet with a strict low-carb diet in 94 obese, physically inactive women. Both diets were low in fat and total calories but differed in the carbohydrate distribution. Forty-six of the women were on the very-low carb diet, which allowed them to eat 1,085 calories a day. The diet consisted of 17 grams of carbohydrates, 51 grams of protein and 78 grams of fat a day. The smallest meal was breakfast, at 290 calories. For breakfast the dieters were permitted only 7 grains of carbohydrates, such as bread, fruit, cereal and milk. Dieters could eat just 12 grams of protein, such as meat and eggs, in the morning. The second group of dieters were confined to a modified low-carb diet, or “big- breakfast diet,” which allowed them to eat 1,240 calories a day. Although lower in total fat (46 grams) than the other diet, the new diet had higher daily allotments of carbs (97 grams) and protein (93 grams). Dieters ate a 610-calorie big breakfast, consisting of 58 grams of carbs, 47 grams of protein and 22 fat grams. The diet schedule for lunch was 395 calories (34, 28 and 13 grams of carbs, protein and fat, respectively); dinner was 235 calories (5, 18 and 26 respectively). The first half of the eight-month study focused on weight loss, and the last four months on weight maintenance. After four months, the women on the strict low-carb diet dropped an average of about 28 pounds while the women on the big-breakfast diet lost nearly 23 pounds on average, which according to Jakubowicz was not significantly different. But after 8 months, the low-carb dieters regained an average of 18 pounds, while the big-breakfast group continued to lose weight, shedding another 16.5 pounds. Those on the new diet lost more than 21 percent of their body weight, compared with just 4.5 percent for the low-carb group. Furthermore, the study found that women who ate a big breakfast reported feeling less hungry, especially before lunch, and having fewer cravings for carbs than the other women did. Jakubowicz said the reason the big-breakfast diet works is because it controls appetite and cravings for sweets and starches. It also is healthier than an extremely low-carbohydrate diet because it allows people to eat more fruit, giving them enough fiber and vitamins. She said she has successfully used the diet in her patients for more than 15 years. The results of the study were presented at the Endocrine Society’s 90th annual meeting in San Francisco. |
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