Ornish diet-Last refuge for obese people?

Dieting is an accepted way of achieving reduction in body weight though even to day no one is sure which diet will work on different individuals. There are many dietary schemes available to day from commercial companies, none of them being absolutely fool proof to get desired results. Atkins diet took an early lead in cornering major business from the weight reduction enthusiasts while many others followed it subsequently. Basically the principle of weight reduction is restriction of intake of food, mainly calories coming from daily foods and one really does not need any expertise to adopt a life style with diets balanced in calories, protein and other nutrients. There are well accepted dietary recommendations globally established and all one has to do is follow them with strict eating discipline. Unfortunately too much food and too less of an exercise by many people lead them to a situation where the calories, especially the fat calories are not burned enough due to sedentary life style, causing fat deposits all over the body. Whether it is a low carbohydrate diet or a low fat diet, human body must receive enough nutrients like proteins and micronutrients for sound health. One of the popular diets which seems to be gaining acceptance among obese people is the Ornish diet based mostly on fruits and vegetables excluding fat and carbohydrate to a great extent. Here is a commentary on this seemingly different approach to weight reduction. 

"Dean Ornish, MD, president and founder of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif., was considered revolutionary in the early '90s when he suggested that a basically vegetarian diet can reverse symptoms of heart disease. Plus, Ornish and his research team argued, a vegetarian diet coupled with exercise can reduce stress and help people lose weight. Since that time, Ornish's diet has caught on, winning such high-profile fans as former President Bill Clinton. Far from being a diet fad, many doctors and nutritionists now recommend this popular diet to people who need to lose weight and who may have heart conditions. The diet's popularity partially stems from the fact it's evidence-based. One study showed that after five years, participants had lost an average of 24 pounds on the Ornish Diet, and most had managed to keep the weight off. "Few other major diet systems have managed to match this feat," says Susan Weiner, RD, MS, CDE, CDN, a nutritionist who practices in New York. However, the Ornish Diet has a major drawback: It may be difficult for some people to follow, especially over the long-term. The popular diet is essentially a vegan diet, Weiner says, and people may find it hard to avoid all meats, chicken, fish, and egg yolks. Also, she says, the diet is extremely low in fats of all types, and it's often fat that adds flavor to foods and makes people feel satiated."

Though Ornish diet has proved to be effective in losing weight very significantly and it is based on scientific principles, adhering to it may pose practical problems, especially in the long run. After all man does not live for the sake of living alone and there are many pleasures in life he does not want to miss. Eating good food in terms of taste, aroma, texture is an important aspect of good living and ruthless exclusion of fat from the daily diet as demanded by Ornish diet may be too much to be asked for. Use of fat is linked to flavor, taste and texture in the food and to day's food industry thrives because of the attraction of consumers to high fat food products. Shunning the same may be difficult for most people and therefore it is doubtful whether people will readily accept Ornish diet unless they are desperate, as in the case of high risk obese people. Many nutritionists advocate regular consumption of 'balanced" diet from early child hood which can ensure maintenance of normal body weight and BMI, avoiding dietary intervention at later stages of life for dealing with life style diseases that may emerge due to undisciplined eating and lack of exercise.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

PORTION CONTROL DIET-YET ANOTHER PLAN FOR WEIGHT REDUCTION!

Controlling body weight is a pressing problem these days when thousands of mouth watering food products are available in the market, most of them being rich in sugar and fat. As these foods are addictive in nature, once hooked on to them there is no way to escape unless one has will power and dedication to control the type and quantum of food consumed. The fact that weight increase is mostly determined by the amount of calories ingested through carbohydrates and fats, makes it all the more imperative to regulate calorie intake just to meet the every day needs. There are many diet plans like Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet etc being touted as effective for controlling body weight but there is no consensus that they work for every body and they are without any side effects. Here comes a new eating regime based plan that advocates controlling the portion of food consumed each day to avoid excess consumption. Here are some details of the "Plan"

"In the case of Lifesize — a portion-control diet system meant to be easy to follow thanks to plastic measuring devices for food groups like carbohydrates, meats and dairy — Mr. Kates brought dieting and nutrition expertise. After studying biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, he spent years running fitness clubs and advising clients, including celebrities, on their diets. Mr. Berkowitz, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, brought salesmanship. As a filmmaker who often had to scrape together budgets, he knew how to hustle for start-up capital and make a good pitch. Not that either man knew they would ever be partners based on that first meeting. Mr. Kates said that to lose weight, it didn't matter what you ate, — in fact, he insisted that Mr. Berkowitz not limit himself to grilled chicken and vegetables — but it was how much you ate. Mr. Berkowitz remained unconvinced, but took note of the portion sizes that Mr. Kates showed him with his hands. The next day, Mr. Berkowitz began to wonder if Mr. Kates might actually be right. "So I run out and I get clay," Mr. Berkowitz said. "According to his measurements, my wife and I make bowls." They took the bowls to Color Me Mine, a pottery studio, and fired them up. "I put a big 'M' under one bowl for meat. A big 'C' for carbs, and 'D' for dairy, because that's how they're divided. I started eating that way. My energy was up and the weight started falling off." He ultimately lost 46 pounds".

It is difficult to imagine that such a plan will work with people who consider eating what they want in quantities desired by them as a fundamental right that is sacrosanct! Recall the furor that is going on in New York when authorities there wanted to ban sale of large sized sugary beverages beyond the size 16 oz. The new diet plan suffers from the drawback that its success will depend largely on the self control on foods eaten by an individual and unless such control is evident, it will not work. Added to this it may pose logistical problems in segregating foods into carbohydrate rich, fat rich etc because levels of these nutrients vary enormously from product to product and country to country. Besides the volume based portion size may pose difficulties in deciding about the quantity to be consumed. Ultimately no "scheme" can succeed without the cooperation of those desirous of shedding their body weight sincerely.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

ANOTHER "MIRACLE" FRUIT WITH FABULOUS CLAIMS!

Weight watching and cholesterol reduction are two of the most discussed health issues world over and the multi billion dollar food supplement industry strives on them. While Statin drugs have created a gigantic industry offering hope for millions of people suffering from hypercholestremic symptoms, there are hundreds of other edible food supplements not going through the medicinal route claiming super performance for improving health. One such supplement, if one may call it so, has hit the headline recently with a claim that it is a "bullet' for weight reduction and no one is really sure whether it is really effective at all. African mango, also commonly known as bush mango is spawning a new line of products which is claimed to reduce weight as well as cholesterol dramatically. Here is a report on its emergence as a miracle fruit for those afflicted by obesity and high blood cholesterol levels.

"A short search for African mango tablets reveals hundreds of sales sites in the U.S. and beyond brashly extolling the virtues of the supplement, which costs around $40 per bottle. But is there any truth behind its miraculous claims? Two studies by Judith L Ngondi and colleagues at the University of Yaounde in Cameroon, published in the Journal of Lipids in Health, support the hype, their data apparently showing the seeds to cause significant weight loss and improve blood flat levels. In a 2005 study, the team studied 28 volunteers, comparing weight loss over four weeks between a group who were given a placebo and a group who were given African mango supplements. Taken before meals, three times a day, the study reported that those who took the African mango supplement lost 5.3% of their body weight, while the control group only lost 1.3%. According to Dr IV van Heerden at Health24.com: 'Considerable reductions in total blood cholesterol (39.2 per cent), triglycerides (44.9 per cent) and "bad" LDL cholesterol (45.6 per cent), were obtained in the treatment group. At the same time, "good" HDL cholesterol levels in the group receiving African mango, increased by 46.9 per cent.' A repeated experiment in 2009 used a more highly developed extract from the African mango seed, IGOB131, and studied its effects on 102 individuals over 10 weeks. Dr can Heerden said: 'The treatment group lost more weight, had improved blood fat and glucose values, lower blood pressure, and other markers of the metabolic syndrome (e.g. lower leptin levels)."

Though there is much hype about this fruit, still there does not appear to be adequate evidence either on its efficacy or safety. Of course as a traditional food supplement consumed by folks in Cameroon there can be some leeway in assessing its safety. But it is necessary that large scale clinical trials are carried out to confirm its credentials as an anti-obesity food supplement. Scientific assessment should also bring out, if it is really effective as claimed, regarding the mechanism of its functioning in the body. "Scavenging" the cholesterol from the body is a property associated with almost all dietary fibers and in what way the fiber from this fruit functions differently needs to be elucidated. Also not clear is the role of many other components in the fruit in bringing out the beneficial functions, if at all there is any.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

A "WEIRD" DIET PLAN-WHY DO PEOPLE PLAY WITH THERIR LIVES?

Is it not a tragedy that most people do not understand the basis of weight gain or weight loss or even if they understand, tend to ignore them without realizing the potential harm brought about by indisciplined eating practices.? Any one who knows a little arithmetic can understand that if one takes more foods or calories than that is required by the body, excess has to be deposited some where in some form, mainly as fat deposits in different parts of the body. It is just like managing one's finances with surplus going into term deposits while such deposits are some times mobilized for managing at times of inadequate income. Unfortunately ignoring this fundamental fact, people resort to crazy means to shed their unwanted body weight including practices considered life threatening. Here is an instance of such a practice "popular" in some parts of the US involving hormonal injections and starvation diets.

"Ms. Brown, 35, is not taking hCG to help her bear a child. She believes that by combining the hormone injections with a 500-calorie-a-day diet, she will achieve a kind of weight-loss nirvana: losing fat in all the right places without feeling tired or hungry. "I had a friend who did it before her wedding," Ms. Brown said. "She looks great." Women like Ms. Brown are streaming into doctors' offices and weight-loss clinics all over the country, paying upward of $1,000 a month for a consultation, a supply of the hormone and the syringes needed to deliver it. More than 50 years after a doctor at a Roman clinic began promoting hCG as a dieting aid, it is as popular as ever, even though there is scant evidence that it makes any difference. The regimen combines daily injections with a near-starvation diet, and patients, mostly women, are often enticed by promises that they can lose about a pound a day without feeling hungry. Perhaps even more seductively, they are frequently told that the hCG will prompt their bodies to carry away and metabolize fat that has been stored where they least want it — in their upper arms, bellies and thighs. In response to inquiries stirred up by the diet's popularity, the Food and Drug Administration warned in January that "homeopathic" forms of hCG, like lozenges and sprays, sold over the Internet and in some health food stores, are fraudulent and illegal if they claim weight-loss powers".

"The injectable, prescription form of hCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, is approved as a treatment for infertility and other uses, and it is legal for doctors to prescribe it "off-label" for weight loss. But the F.D.A. has also reiterated a warning, first issued in the mid-1970s, that is required on hCG packaging: It has not been shown to increase weight loss, to cause a more "attractive" distribution of fat or to "decrease hunger and discomfort" from low-calorie diets. The F.D.A. recently received a report of a patient on the hCG diet who had a pulmonary embolism, said Christopher Kelly, a spokesman for the agency. He said the hormone carried risks of blood clots, depression, headaches and breast tenderness or enlargement. Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor at Harvard medical school who researches weight-loss supplements, said that aside from the issue of side effects, the use of hCG as a diet tool was "manipulating people to give them the sense that they're receiving something that's powerful and potent and effective, and in fact they're receiving something that's nothing better than a placebo."

It is a mystery as to how such dishonest physicians who indulge in this type of unscientific and unethical practices, bordering on fraud, are allowed to get away amassing fortunes in the process. Though hormonal injection as a means of weight loss is not supported by any shred of scientific evidence, the merry go-around goes on unhindered with practically no restraint by the food safety agencies and drug authorities. More alarming is the reported side effects such hormone injections can cause including blood clotting and the consequent risk to life. It is time that an agency like the WHO comes out unequivocally against such questionable medical practices.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com