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Both low-fat and low-carb diets work equally well to help people lose weight over two years, new research has shown reports the Guardian this week. In addition, the low-carb diet may also boost levels of ‘good’ cholesterol, although it’s not clear how much difference this would make to your overall 
health.
What do we know already?
The quest to find a diet that helps people lose weight goes back decades. In recent years, there’s been much discussion about the merits of low-fat diets, compared with low-carbohydrate diets.
Research shows the low-carb diet works well for short-term weight loss, but there isn’t enough evidence to show how well the two types of diet work in the long-term, and what the effects are on people’s health, for example their cholesterol levels.
In addition, it’s been recognised that weight loss programmes are better if they include some support to help people make changes to their eating and exercise habits. This is often called behavioural therapy, because it works through changing people’s behaviour. Group support also seems to help.
A new study has compared people who followed a weight-loss programme over two years, all of whom had behavioural therapy. Half the people followed a low-carb diet (where they could eat as much as they liked, but were only allowed small amounts of carbohydrate – just 20 grams a day at the start of the study), and half followed a low-fat diet (where they were limited to between 1,200 and 1,800 calories a day, only one-third of which could be from fat).
The researchers measured people’s weight after two years, and also other factors such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, bone strength, and body fat percentage.
What does the new study say?
People on both diets did equally well in losing weight. After two years, they had lost on average 7 kilograms (just over a stone), or the equivalent of 7 percent of their body weight. This amount of weight loss is enough to have positive effects on the health of overweight people.
There were few differences in the other health measures. The group who’d had the low-carb diet had much better levels of ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol than people on the low-fat diet.
How reliable are the findings?
This was a well-run study, looking at 307 people with a body mass index of 30 to 40 (classed as obese). Quite a lot of people (77) dropped out of the study, which makes the final weight loss results slightly less reliable.
However, people were equally likely to have dropped out of either diet group. So, the results comparing the effects of the diets are likely to be reasonably reliable.
Where does the study come from?
The researchers were from the University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado; Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The study was published in the medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine. It was funded by the US National Institutes of Health.
What does this mean for me?
If you need to lose weight, this study shows that low-carb and low-fat diets are likely to work equally well. You may find it easier to lose weight as part of a supervised weight-loss programme that can help you break bad habits and make healthy changes to your diet and lifestyle.
It isn’t clear how important the difference in ‘good’ cholesterol is, because the study didn’t measure long-term results, such as whether people went on to get heart disease. However, higher levels of HDL cholesterol are usually linked to better heart health.
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I gave a short talk at my Business Group this morning talking about how Business Coaching can help people focus on what makes their business great. I referred to Louis Oosthuizen’s red dot approach, that helped him focus on the right thing at the right time, and win the Open Championship at St Andrew’s this weekend. This story from The Sun explains more . . .
LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN was given the combination to crack open the St Andrews links by the shrink who introduced him to the ‘red spot’ theory.
The South African – nicknamed Shrek – won The Open by seven shots on Sunday.
But renowned sports psychologist Karl Morris says Oosthuizen’s thought process was “a mess” a week before the tournament.
Morris revealed: “His brain was scrambled.
“He was like a safecracker who knows all the right numbers but doesn’t know what order to put them in to open the door and get at the cash.
“I walked nine holes with him in the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond last week, and sat him down for an hour or so afterwards.
“It was clear that mentally, he was a mess.
“So it was a case of getting him to think clearly, learn when to concentrate fully on the task at hand and when to switch off.
“The key to it all was the red spot we marked on his glove, which Louis referred to a couple of times after he had won The Open.
“That was designed to act as his trigger, in the same way that the referee’s whistle concentrates a player’s mind in football.
“The idea is that Louis would look at that spot as the beginning of his pre-shot routine and use it as his whistle.
“I watched him closely at St Andrews and it was noticeable how well he put that into practice.
“He looked totally focused before every shot but a lot of people remarked on how relaxed he looked for the rest of the time.
“It is impossible to keep your concentration at peak level for five hours, especially under the pressure that comes with leading a Major championship.”
Morris has worked with several other stars from Oosthuizen’s managment company, ISM, including Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke plus ex-England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.
But Oosthuizen, 27, is the firm’s first Major winner – Ernie Els claimed his three titles before linking up with them. But with Rory McIlroy also on boarde, no one could have predicted Oosthuizen would be the man to break the duck.
ISM boss Chubby Chandler joked: “With Ernie’s terrific Open record and his fondness for St Andrews, it’s fair to say at best Louis would probably have been our No 2 South African hope, let alone among the whole stable.”
Oosthuizen texted Chandler yesterday, moments after pinching himself to make sure he was not dreaming.
He explained: “I was in bed with my wife, and in between us was my seven-month-old daughter Jana and the Claret Jug!
“I sent Chub by a jokey text saying ‘How did this get here?’ I meant the Claret Jug, not my daughter.”
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Self BeliefThursday, February 4th, 2010
Self Belief
You’ve made the interview. So now it’s just a matter of showing you’re the best person for the job, isn’t it? But what about that little voice in your head repeating “I’ll screw this up. I know I will.”
Even if it that happened before it doesn’t mean it will again. However if you go on telling yourself that it might you can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Generally we like to be right so we consciously and unconsciously find ways to prove we are – even if that goes against our better interests. Your negative thoughts can become a disappointing reality.
You can watch these prophecies in the playground where overwrought parents shout “You’ll fall! You’ll trip and hurt yourself!” and squeal as their kids unsurprisingly do. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Mum and Dad shouted “Keep running! You’ll always stay on your feet!” because this is what our most successful sports stars do to give themselves an edge.
All top performers know that self belief is probably the most crucial factor in success. After all once you get to a certain level the bodies are roughly the same, the exercise routines similar and nutrition standardised. What separates the winners from the rest is what they are thinking. That is the difference that makes the difference.
Sir Steve Redgrave says “it is the iron in the mind, not the supplements, that wins medals”. At the 2000 Olympics he knew after only 250 metres that his GB team was going to win gold, his fifth straight gold.
When you’re next facing a daunting challenge; an exam, project deadline or interview, run through the event in your mind and imagine it going wonderfully well. Really see the event unfold the way you want it to. Prepare yourself for success and believe in yourself.
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re probably right” – Henry Ford
Tags: Belief
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health.
