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Is this the world’s most effective (and easiest) diet? By Jessica Salter
You drop 300 calories a day, there’s no complicated planning, and you can still eat what you like. So why aren’t we all doing it? Jessica Salter reports. Photography by Sun Lee. Food styling by Rob Morris
Imagine this: someone offers you a magic pill that could help you shift more than a stone in weight and sleep better, boost your mood and, best of all, reduce your risk of heart disease. All with no side effects. And it’s free. Would you take it? Silly question, really.
Amazingly, that wonder drug is, in fact, a simple tweak that you could start today. It’s not a rigid diet plan, nor does it involve mind-numbing calorie maths. A team of scientists in the US has found that otherwise eating normally, while cutting out 300 calories a day – which is only the equivalent of a Pret croissant or a takeaway gingerbread latte from Costa – can produce startling health benefits.
The research, which was published in medical journal The Lancet, followed more than 200 participants, aged between 21 and 50 (all either healthy, lean or slightly overweight, but not obese), for two years as they cut on average 300 calories from their daily calorie intake – and sustained an average 16lb weight loss. (During those two years, a control group continued with their normal food consumption, and saw no health benefits.)
‘These people were amazingly successful,’ says Professor Susan B Roberts, coauthor of the research and director at the Energy Metabolism Laboratory, Tufts University, Massachusetts. ‘They lost 10 per cent [of their] weight and only had to cut 300 calories a day to maintain that loss. They were not hungry, their mood did not become negative… I think the really important thing here is that it wasn’t that hard
and did have important health benefits.’
Apart from reducing their calories, there were no other dietary rules. Participants could choose what they wanted to eat, but naturally went for foods with significantly less fat and slightly fewer carbohydrates than they had before, ending up with diets that were around 35 per cent fat, 15 per cent protein, 50 per cent carbohydrate. ‘We saw more vitamin K, vitamin A and magnesium, which are hallmarks of healthy diets [featuring] things like vegetables, nuts and legumes,’ Roberts adds.
This one small change produced a complex biological response. Aidan Goggins, a pharmacist, medical nutritionist and coauthor of The Health Delusion, wasn’t involved with the US research but has studied the results of his clients, who are undergoing similar diets. ‘Biologically, calorie restriction activates a cellular protein called AMPK, which modulates metabolism by increasing insulin sensitivity and turning on fat burning, so we become much more metabolically efficient.’ In other words, it makes our body burn more calories even when it’s resting.
But if these dramatic changes are possible with such a simple tweak, why aren’t we all doing it? ‘That’s the crux of the issue,’ Goggins says. ‘[In] the West, we
‘These people were amazingly successful and it wasn’t that hard’
‘Portion sizes influence us. When presented with more food, more is eaten’
are overwhelmed by nutrient-poor and calorifically dense foods, and ample pitfalls of hidden calories that we barely register we are consuming.’
Indeed, our diets are getting fattier and more processed, with our portion sizes bigger than ever before. A 1993 government publication shows that a typical supermarket shepherd’s pie for one weighed 210g; today the portion is 450g, more than twice the size. ‘We know that portion sizes influence how much we eat,’ says Tracy Parker, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation. ‘When [we are] presented with more food, more is eaten.’
And it’s not just meal portions – even things like bagels and biscuits have increased in size by 23 per cent and 17 per cent respectively in 20 years, according to British Heart Foundation research.
Which shows why we need to keep an eye on what we put on our plates. But for anyone who can’t be bothered to weigh everything they eat, there are some easy hacks. Goggins advises increasing your fruit and particularly vegetable intake, which those on the study
naturally found themselves doing.
He also suggests copying the diet of people from the Okinawa Islands in the East China Sea, who have the longest life expectancy and highest prevalence rate of centenarians in the world. The oldest residents also have lower rates of cancer, diabetes and dementia than other ageing populations. Their secret? To stop eating when they are 80 per cent full (rather than fit to burst). They generally eat 1,200 calories per day and despite the popularity of low-carb, protein-rich diets in the West, theirs is the reverse, comprising largely carbs, in particular sweet potato.
Other simple hacks to reduce calories include avoiding eating out and watching out for liquid calories – from creamy, sweet morning lattes to the after-work glass of rosé. Meanwhile Parker suggests reining in portion sizes by using your hands to measure quantities. For example, a baked potato should be the size of your fist, meat and fish should be half the size of your hand, oven chips about two small handfuls, and muesli about three handfuls. And if you’re cooking spaghetti, take a bunch about the diameter of a £1 coin.
Ultimately, despite the challenges, Goggins believes this is a diet that we could all adopt for a healthier – and trimmer – 2020. ‘It takes discipline,’ he says. ‘But it is achievable.’