Weight Loss Diets & Healthy Eating

By Elson Haas, MD

Since our body is a result of our life, we can often make positive physical changes when we alter our diet. The key is to make appropriate changes in your behavior and food choices, and then you will be much more likely to achieve the results you visualize for yourself. Specific diets for weight loss and/or weight maintenance include:

The Fish-Poultry-Green Vegetable Diet: This is a fairly healthy weight-loss diet that could be used safely for a couple months. Several pounds a week can be lost fairly easily with this diet even with only moderate activity. It includes seafood – fresh ocean fish, tuna, shrimp, and trout; organic poultry; and green vegetables, both raw and cooked – all to be eaten [in moderation].

One piece of fresh fruit and one or two cooked eggs daily are also suggested. This provides a pretty good balance, though it is fairly low in fiber. Some bran and/or psyllium can be used to support bowel function. Salad dressing should be limited to one or two tablespoons of vegetable oil daily, such as olive, with some fresh lemon juice or vinegar. If no oils are used, an essential fatty acid supplement should be added. Herbal teas and/or spring or filtered water are the main fluids, 8 to 10 glasses daily. A general multivitamin-mineral should also be taken daily for health insurance.

The Whole Grain/Legume, Vegetarian Diet: Many people will fare better on the Complex Carbohydrate Program, a more vegetarian-focused diet. This is not exclusively starches and sugar foods--it includes some fruit, lots of green and other vegetables, and protein foods--but the key foods are the whole grains and legumes, along with some pasta, potatoes, and starchy vegetables, such as carrots and squashes. These high-fiber complex carbohydrates when eaten at the beginning of a meal will provide bulk and thus decrease the appetite and give a feeling of fullness. They are also relatively low-calorie foods because they are low in fat, another advantage, but only if they do not have sauces, gravies, butter, or oil added to them.

The complex carbohydrates also provide a consistent energy production and can stabilize the ups and downs that some people experience. Vegetables can be consumed as desired, at least several cups daily. They are also low in calories. A couple of pieces of fruit daily are suggested. Dairy foods, red meats, and any fried, fatty, or refined foods are all avoided, as are sweets.

One meal, early in the day, can include a concentrated protein, such as fish, poultry, eggs, or, for strict vegetarians, some tofu, nuts, seeds, or beans. This diet can be a good weight-loss plan for overweight vegetarians, especially if they avoid excessive grains and sweets. Soups and salads are helpful. Water intake is 8 to 10 glasses daily, A multivitamin product can be used, along with extra B12.

This diet is primarily used to handle the problems of high blood pressure and high cholesterol from a meat and fat-focused diet. Drs. John McDougall and Dean Ornish have made this diet popular.

The Allergy-Rotation (False Fat) Diet is becoming more popular for weight loss as well as for general health, especially when there are food allergies present. This is the basis of my book, The False Fat Diet. If you suspect food allergies, you could be helped by testing or by the guidance from a nutritionally-oriented physician. The False Fat Diet tells you how to do this on your own. If you seem to be addicted to any foods, that is, you crave them and eat them every day (or at every meal), those foods should be completely removed from the diet for at least several weeks before testing them. However, avoiding them even for only four days will allow your body to be sensitive enough to their true effects. If you can be aware of your diet such that you can know which foods are doing what, then you can know which foods to eliminate. But remember, some foods cause delayed sensitivities, and these can be the most difficult to identify.

This diet does, however, require limiting restaurant eating. Just planning foods and meals and preparing food ahead of time creates better eating habits and limits munching and spontaneous treats.

The Ideal Diet is discussed thoroughly in my books, Staying Healthy with Nutrition, and A Cookbook for All Seasons. It is very good for weight reduction and maintenance for most people--a well-balanced diet that incorporates aspects of all the previous diets. It is a rotation diet, good for food allergies; has a high fiber content from the whole grains and vegetables; is low in fat; and contains good-quality protein. To reduce calories more, the morning nut snack can be replaced with another fruit.

So the plan would look like:

• Early morning – one or two pieces of fruit
• Breakfast – starch, such as a cereal grain or potatoes
• Mid-morning snack – fruit (or nuts or seeds)
• Lunch – protein and green and other vegetables
• Mid-afternoon snack – vegetable or fruit
• Dinner – starch or protein with vegetable
• Evening snack, if needed – vegetable

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