The Fat on Dieting in the New Year
This may sound like good news to anyone who has ever dieted, but it was startling news to dieting researchers. The National Institutes of Health reported last month that their large dieting study had to be ended two years prematurely because it found no differences in cardiovascular health between participants in a strict diet and exercise program and those in a control group. The scientific community had been waiting for the results of this study for a long time, because this was no ordinary trial. This was the “Look AHEAD” (Action for HEAlth in Diabetes) trial led by eminent researcher Rena Wing. With its rigorous design and strict low-calorie diet, it had accomplished what other trials of this magnitude had not: Participants in it had been successful at their garcinia cambogia extract diets for four years.
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Despite ongoing research indicating that dieting not only doesn’t produce lasting weight loss but may also lead to weight gain, especially in teens, many of us fall under the spell and argue in favor of dieting, saying that it is healthy and good, even something to be admired and rewarded, a virtue worth pursuing. The multi-billion dollar diet industry seduces us into believing that cycles of dieting are the best way to achieve the “right” body for each one of us. According to psychologist Deb Burgard, who has been at the forefront of the “Health At Every Size” movement, “They never admit that dieting triggers disordered eating in vulnerable people,” or that it increases physical cravings and emotional deprivation thereby setting up an increased likelihood for binge eating, which eventually increases weight. “The problem,” says Burgard, “is people just believe dieting is good, like a religion, and you are the atheist in the room when you question it.
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