by “New year, new you.”
At least, that’s what we all hear every time the calendar turns back to January. When making those New Year’s resolutions, the most common promises we make to ourselves center around weight loss, the gym, and fitness.
While there’s nothing wrong with aiming for a healthier lifestyle in 2024, it’s easy to fall victim to a mindset that focuses more on how you look than how you feel. Fad diets, overly strict eating regimens, and intense exercise routines may appeal to us in the short term, but they can quickly lead to burnout, loss of interest, and even unhealthy habits.
In fact, a study published in the medical journal The BMJ in 2020 found that weight-loss diets are generally ineffective in the long term, with most of the weight lost by participants regained within a year.
The study followed 22,000 overweight or obese adults who followed 14 of the most popular diets, including the Atkins diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and the Mediterranean diet, for an average of six months.
At the initial six-month mark, some health parameters such as weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol had improved in most participants, but these positive effects virtually disappeared by 12 months (except for the Medditerarian diet, which showed persistent improvements). in cholesterol.)
It’s tempting to commit to the idea of a fast-acting diet to transform our bodies in the new year, but keeping a skeptical mind can help weed out short-term solutions and find something that ultimately works best for you.
Here’s a little more information on some of the most popular diets you’ll see flying around to start the year.
ketogenic
At a basic level, a ketogenic or “keto” diet focuses on a low carbohydrate intake along with a high fat and protein intake. Generally, people following this diet get between 70% and 80% of their daily calories from fat, about 20% from protein, and about 5% from carbohydrates.
The lack of carbohydrates forces the body into a state of ketosis, during which fat becomes the body’s primary fuel provider and is theoretically burned for energy.
While keto has been linked to weight loss, professionals have warned against the diet for those looking to improve their overall health. For starters, limiting carbohydrate intake so severely causes the body to break down not only fat but also muscle and tissue.
The strictness of the ketogenic diet can also easily lead to a diet lacking in other important sources of nutrition, such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
“I wouldn’t recommend the ketogenic diet to anyone,” Jeffrey Mechanick, medical director of the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Clinical Cardiovascular Health at Mount Sinai Heart, previously told USA TODAY.
“In theory, the ketogenic diet basically mimics starvation,” Mechanick said. “If you don’t eat carbohydrates but consume an excessive amount of fat and protein, you will continue to waste tissue. Tissue will continue to burn.”
Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet has received praise as one of the most successful diet plans out there.
It focuses on the heart-healthy foods most commonly consumed by people in the Mediterranean, such as plants, legumes, nuts, wheat, fruits and vegetables. Instead of focusing on restriction and elimination, the Mediterranean diet focuses on healthier alternatives, such as replacing butter with healthier olive oil and red meat with fish and poultry.
Because this diet focuses more on overall health than weight loss, it does not provide simple guidelines on portion sizes, how often to eat, and other directives that are often included in similar regimens. Because of this, people hoping this diet will work must commit to a complete long-term lifestyle change to see results.
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Fasting diets
Intermittent fasting has gained widespread popularity recently, attracting the attention of social media influencers, average people, and doctors alike.
As USA TODAY previously reported, intermittent fasting is a diet plan focused not on what you eat but when you eat it. It is based on set periods of fasting and eating in a designated time period.
Some of the benefits include reduced calorie intake and more flexibility with food types, leading to a less restricted mindset around food.
“Intermittent fasting may be worth considering for health and weight loss goals, but it’s not a magic bullet,” Mary Sabat, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of BodyDesigns, previously told USA TODAY.
“If practiced consistently and combined with a balanced diet and regular physical activity, it can contribute to some improvements in health. However, individual results may vary and it is important to address it as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. “.
paleo diet
Paleo is another low-carb diet that focuses primarily on protein, vegetables, and fruits. The name is derived from the Paleolithic era of history and is based on the premise that those who followed it should eat like the hunter-gatherers of 2.6 million years ago.
By eliminating grains, dairy, legumes, and refined and processed foods, dieters seek to emulate the “simpler” foods our ancestors ate and focus on “whole, unprocessed” foods such as vegetables, nuts, seeds and meat.
Nutrition consultant and registered dietitian Jen Messer previously told USA TODAY that “proponents of the paleo diet believe that eating this way can lead to weight loss, improved health and reduced risk of the most common chronic diseases of today,” although he said that “the scientific evidence does not support these health claims.”
While the paleo diet can help promote the inclusion of healthy foods containing potassium, antioxidants, and other important nutrients and discourage reliance on processed foods, it can also result in eating habits lacking in calcium and vitamin D.
This can lead to vitamin deficiencies, increased risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures, low blood sugar, kidney stones, constipation, heart disease, and eating disorders.
Atkins diet
Another low-carb diet option, Atkins, focuses on net carbs rather than total carbs consumed and now comes in two versions: Atkins 20 and Atkins 40.
As USA TODAY previously reported, the classic diet has four phases based on periodically increasing carbohydrate intake: The first phase requires 0 to 25 grams of carbohydrates per day and the final phase involves 80 to 100 grams of carbohydrates per day.
Unlike other low-carb diets, Atkins also considers fiber and sugars when calculating intake, subtracting the amount of carbohydrates you record having consumed based on the rest of the food content (if something you want to eat has 10 grams of carbs, but 3 grams of fiber and 1 gram of sugar, so your net carbs would be 6 grams).
Atkins also makes prepackaged foods available for purchase through its program, meaning you can pay to receive prepared meals that fit your diet instead of cooking them yourself.
Like other low-carb diets on this list, the Atkins diet can easily lead to nutritional and vitamin deficiencies due to the heavy restrictions placed on certain types of foods. It also risks causing eating disorders, worsening kidney problems, and having a low long-term success rate.
Dry January:What are the rules for dry January? What to know if you will give up alcohol in 2024.
WW, Noom and other diet apps
Apps are the most modern and perhaps one of the most popular solutions for dieting and losing weight. From the original Weight Watchers (now known simply as WW) to the new Noom, there are apps for weight loss, “getting fit,” “lifestyle changes,” and everything in between.
While we may see them as an easier means of integrating dietary awareness into our daily lives, apps can often mislead us as they are usually not run by qualified medical professionals.
“A lot of apps I’ve seen recommend as little as 1,200 calories per day, sometimes 1,500 calories,” Jessica DeGore, RD, a Pittsburgh-based registered dietitian, previously told USA TODAY’s Reviewed team. “We recommend 1,200 calories for young children, so I would never recommend that for an adult.”
Tracking calories and exercising can help with mindfulness and intentional eating, but it can also lead to eating disorders and unhealthy obsessions.
“Every time we put a negative label on something or put it on a shelf, we tend to want it more,” DeGore previously said. “And that makes us a little crazy and obsessed with food, which I wouldn’t consider healthy behaviors.”
