Healthy Magazine Holidays Issue 2018

Currently, Varady is in the middle of a three-year study comparing people on regular
calorie restriction diets versus people on ADF diets.
“Preliminary data show that people using ADF have actually lost more weight than
people who are using plain calorie restriction,” she said.
Furthermore, the ADF diet, just like a regular calorie restriction diet, has positive
cardiovascular effects. In fact, in Varady’s preliminary results, both groups had
similar lowered blood cholesterol levels despite their different approaches.
This is the first study directly comparing the two types of diets in humans,
according to Varady, who said that ADF diet probably works because intermittent
deprivation is easier than long-term deprivation of calories.
Diets of daily calorie restriction, though generally effective, are essentially diets of
denial. The prospect of continually denying ourselves calories isn’t a happy one,
but many practitioners say they are glad to have complete control of appetite, and
boast excellent health. Some scientists even think that calorie restriction may
extend lifespan, a theory that is heavily debated.
For many people, however, maintaining a diet where one gummy worm counts as a
“treat” is laughable, because it would be so difficult. Cutting a quarter of our calories
every day is admittedly a tall order.
Starting and staying with diets is a national challenge. One Gallup poll found that
well over 50 percent of Americans would like to lose weight, but only 27 percent are
seriously trying. For people who do diet, Louisiana State University Biomedical researcher
Catherine Champagne, PhD, told webmd.com that most people last about six months,
though the level of strictness matters.
For those who
consider ADF diet
too intense, there is
the 5:2 plan, where a
person eats normally
five days of the week,
and eats 25 percent
of normal calories for
two days per week.
This approach needs
more study before
it can be considered
effective.
“When diet plans differ immensely from previous eating patterns, restrict favorite foods
or entire food groups, dieting usually lasts for a much shorter time," she says.
If cutting 500 calories every day falls into
the category of differing “immensely”
from your diet, it might be hard to
keep up. This is why and ADF diet is so
attractive, because it allows “normal”
days.
Granted, those days of only 500-600
calories are tough. It isn’t much food, but
there’s always tomorrow, when you can
eat what you want.
The ADF diet sounds like a fad diet and
some weight-loss experts worry about
fasting as a weight-loss tool.
Fasting, by itself, isn’t an especially good
weight-loss plan, according to many
nutrition professionals. Fasting for a
day or two is generally fine unless you
already have an unhealthy diet, liver
problems, kidney problems, immune
system problems or are on medication,
New Jersey weight loss author Joel
Fuhrman, MD, told webmd.com. He also
said that fasting slows down metabolic
rate, which goes contrary to weight loss.
Extended fasts with “cleanses” can be
especially dangerous, and have little
evidence of improving health.
Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD, director of
the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center’s Weight Loss Management Center
told webmd.com that she worries people
focused on fasting are distracted from
“the real message of how to lose weight,”
which involves eating and sleeping better
along with more exercise.
Fasting can be taken to the extreme, which
is unhealthy. Fasting every other day is a
more balanced approach, but still should
be done under expert supervision. Healthy
eating will never go out the window, and
the ADF diet isn’t an exception.
If people are worried that calorie restriction
will result in less muscle mass, they may
be right. For this reason, people over
65 shouldn’t drop their calorie levels,
according to Varady. For obese people,
however, calorie restriction will probably do
no harm.
“It’s amazing how strong obese people are,”
Varady said. “They’ve been carrying around
all this weight that others aren’t.”
As obese people limit calories, they may
lose some muscle mass, along with fat. But
when we lose a pound of weight, it is about
75 percent fat and only 25 percent muscle,
Varady said. Furthermore, the obese will no
longer need all the muscle mass they did
before, because they aren’t carrying around
as much weight.
Remember that women should never drop
their calories consistently below 1200 per
day, and men should never go below 1500
per day for extended amounts of time.
Eating fewer calories than this can deprive
a person of important nutrients, affecting
important systems in the body, even leading
to malnutrition if continued for long periods
of time. An ADF diet can help prevent these
bad habits, since on their “off” days, people
get their full calorie needs.
During a fast day, one might assume that
dieters plan to gorge on food the following
day, thus canceling any positive effects
from eating fewer calories. But it turns
out that this doesn’t happen, according to
Varady’s studies, which showed people ate
between 100-125 percent of their normal
calories on non-fast days. She thinks
shrunken stomachs from fast days may
help.
The Alternate Day Fasting approach to
dieting may erase the need for constant
deprivation, making weight loss easier and
less painful. So go ahead, have two gummy
worms today, just don’t eat any tomorrow.
Bio:
Dr. Varady, the world’s leading researcher
on using alternate-day fasting for weight
loss and weight maintenance, wrote a book
that will be published this year, for those
interested in learning more.
Called The Every Other Day Diet, the book
outlines the science-proven techniques for
weight loss that Dr. Varady has developed,
along with strategies, tips and tools that
you’ll need for the Every-Other-Day Diet.
The book also includes 80 quick and
delicious recipes for Diet Day.
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THE HEALTHY HOLIDAY ISSUE 2018 71