Debunking the myths about dieting

This is a two part series into the myth behind dieting. Most of us have dieted at some point in our lives. Beauty, success and desirability are all associated with losing weight. Society deems that being thin is attractive. Yet around 60 per cent of us are overweight and the diet industry is a billion dollar business with glossy magazines adverts and TV commercials fronted by sexy celebrities. It makes a load of money with very little results.

It is easily accepted in our culture to self police ourselves by counting calories and worrying how much fat we consume. There are more nutritionists and dietitians than ever but we are just getting fatter!

I wrote an article a few months ago detailing how diets simply don’t work but have you ever thought about the origin of dieting? After researching how diets came about the results are fascinating and all is revealed over this two-part series.

Professor Traci Mann of the University of Minnesota looked at over 100 clinical studies of diets stretching back 30 years. It’s the most comprehensive study of commercial weight loss that’s ever been taken. The results from all these studies were that none of the dieters lost any significant amount of weight and kept if off. 

The average weight loss was 1kg over two and half years! This is because the weight slowly came back on and two-thirds of the dieters actually gained weight. Professor Mann’s conclusion was that diets do not work.

The first diet study on record took place over 60 years ago in 1944 by Ansel Keys. He wanted to look into the effect malnutrition would have on worn-torn Europe during World War Two. Some 36 men were put on a controlled diet of 1,500 calories a day (which is quite common for people dieting these days) and given a programme of mental and physical exercises over a six month period.

These men lost a lot of weight but also experienced psychological effects. They started losing their interpersonal skills, one man bit another volunteer, many tried to escape to eat the grass from outside the compound and a man was so deranged he chopped off three of his fingers with an axe. 

All these men rapidly gained weight once they were back on a normal diet but they also put on more weight than they had before the study. This is the problem with diets. They work for a while then the weight always go back on once the diet is finished.