A Look at Today's Popular Diet Plans

Keeping a healthy weight should be simple since there's only one rule to follow: eat more and you gain more; eat less and you lose weight. But many people forget this rule and rely solely on some magical diet that will supposedly help them lose weight. Unfortunately, the market is full of fad diets and the promoters of these bogs diet plans benefit from the fact that Americans spend an estimated $42 billion annually on weight loss foods, products, and services.

It's difficult to define what a fad diet is but you can easily spot one since it usually promises quick results with a short time commitment. Long-term weight loss requires permanent changes in behavior, diet, and activity - a difficult challenge for most people.

One of the more popular fad diets is the Atkins diet - a high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate plan that has been around for years and has undergone many revisions. The previous plan allow unrestricted amounts of meat, cheese, and eggs while severely restricting carbohydrates like sugar, bread, pasta, milk, fruits, and vegetables.

The plan is grounded on the idea that eating carbohydrates stimulates insulin production. This is a hormone secreted from the pancreas that leads to increased weight gain and hunger. By following the Atkins diet, people will reduce their appetite and their bodies will use the stored fat for energy, thus causing weight loss.

While short-term studies have shown improvements in blood cholesterol and blood sugar and increased weight loss in the first three to six months of use, the weight loss that results from the Atkins diet is not sustained at one year. Improvements that were observed were caused by weight loss and not the actual diet.

In contrast, there's growing evidence that the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Researchers divided dieters into two groups: one group was placed on a 1,200-calorie diet plan low in fat (20 percent fat) while the other was on a 1,200-calorie diet with more liberal Mediterranean-style amounts of fat (35 percent fat). Of the two, the Mediterranean group kept weight off better and felt more satisfied.

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