Four diet myths, one good food habit
Focus less on magic formula of macronutrients and more on eating quality options — and on eating less
Here are four things about healthy eating that need clearing up. One diet works better than the others. False. Head-to-head studies of commercial diets don’t reveal a winner. Diets mostly work about the same. When they succeed, it’s because the dieter was able to stick to the plan. Put another way: it’s not the diet; it’s you. Diets are “food rules” that help you eat fewer calories when you face food decisions. They work for most people initially but only about one in six are able to keep the weight off. You can melt off pounds by tinkering with carbs, protein, fats etc. I think this just causes confusion and diverts us from the real issues. There’s no magic formula for weight loss. All macronutrients come in good and bad forms. Complex carbs such as fruit, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains are healthy — while in their simple form, free sugars and refined starches, are less healthy if you eat too much of them. Trans fats are bad, but saturated fats seem OK in moderation and certain fats, such as those found in avocados, olive oil, fish, nuts and seeds, seem to make us healthier.
Proteins can come in unhealthy packages (think salty ham steak) but most data show that eating healthy protein (white meat, nuts, beans, fish, etc.) helps manage your weight.
Focus less on a magic formula of macronutrients and more on eating the higher quality options — and on eating less overall. Carbs taste awesome, so we eat too many of them. If we restrict our carbs most of us lose weight, not because of the carbs, but rather because we stop overeating. Come on. There must be one diet that works. Yes. The “diet” with the strongest evidence does not have a celebrity book behind it, and is not about carbs or protein. In fact, it’s not a diet at all. It’s a way of life — one that’s not focused on weight loss but on healthy outcomes such as reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease and dementia, and promoting a longer life. The diet with the most robust evidence is the Mediterranean diet. Instead of food rules or absolutes, this is more about moderation: less meat, more veggies and fruit for dessert. In this way of life, people shop for single-ingredient food at the market or the outer aisles of a grocery store, not the processed foods for sale in the inner aisles. Trying really hard should pay off, right? Not for long. For permanent weight loss, we need to keep the changes easy. We need to move from mindless overeating toward mindless healthy eating. I call it “choice architecture.”
Very few people can overhaul their entire lifestyle and make that stick. But what if we just started by looking at our average week and made one small change. A friend recently switched from having a bagel or muffin for breakfast to oatmeal. As a result, he’s lost 15 pounds this year.
I’ve got a few other ideas for how we can turn mindful food choices into mindless eating behaviour, listed in the accompanying sidebar. But I’d really like to hear from you. On Thursday at noon, I’m hosting a live, hour-long web chat on the home page of thestar.com.
Please join me to share your ideas about what does and doesn’t work for you in the effort to eat well and manage your weight. Health providers and patients need to work together to turn around this crisis, and improve health. I look forward to hearing from you. Dr. Mike Evans is an associate professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Chair of Patient Engagement at the Centre for Child Nutrition and Health, University of Toronto. He is also a staff physician at St. Michael’s Hospital and Lead for Digital Preventive Medicine at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. Doctors’ Notes is a weekly column by members of the U of T Faculty of Medicine. Email doctorsnotes@thestar.ca.