Cutting our sugar is more beneficial than going on a diet or exercise, a new book claims. Source: Supplied

POPULAR diet plans and exercise don't make us thinner - they just make us poorer, hungrier and often fatter, a new book says.

Big Fat Lies, by Australian writer David Gillespie, offers a devastating critique of the commercial diets followed by millions of Australians, including Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.

He also offers a successful weight loss solution that doesnt cost a cent.

After assessing decades of medical research, Gillespie concludes that many people end up putting on weight when following popular diet plans.

Or they end up losing just a couple of kilos despite years of deprivation, expense and calorie-counting, he finds.

Join us for a live chat with David Gillespie from 12pm below

Some techniques, such as shake meal replacements, do help people lose weight, but are very hard to stick to, he says.

However, Gillespie - a former lawyer turned home-grown food expert - does suggest a way forward for those who need to lose weight.

Gillespie also argues that exercise alone wont help people lose weight, as working out makes us hungrier and burns through relatively few calories

Read the original:
Feeling fat? Forget about diet

Want to prevent cancer? ... eat better and exercise more, study says.

A QUARTER of cancers could be prevented by 2025 through diet and exercise, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in the cost of treatment, a report in the Medical Journal of Australia has found.

Taking data on projected illness, and coupling it with published findings on the association between food, nutrition and physical activity in the prevention of cancer, the journal study found the incidence of cancer in Australia would rise to 170,000 in the next 13 years, an increase of 60 per cent since 2007. Intervention to improve health and environmental factors could reduce that by 43,000 or 25 per cent, it said in a report to be published today.

Contributing factors in the nation's poor health include an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, the prevalence of overweight and obese adults, climbing rates of harmful alcohol consumption, and an unbalanced diet.

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Pip Youl, one of the authors and the head of research at Cancer Council Queensland, said that fewer than 10 per cent of Australians ate the recommended five serves of vegetables a day and only 6 per cent ate two or more serves of fruit a day.

''Ways to encourage better eating are things like improving the number of whole-grain cereals and bread, choosing foods that are low in salt, choosing a low-fat diet, particularly diets that are low in saturated fats.

''One of the key things is teaching children to eat healthily. So getting them interested in cooking and eating healthy foods, and that will give them a really good start in life.''

Poor health had become an economic and geographic issue. The study suggested that ''inequities in cancer outcomes varied with remoteness or area disadvantage'' and that ''increasingly the poor are becoming obese faster than the rich''.

With healthy food costing more than high-sugar, fat-soaked, nutritionally poor alternatives, Australians on lower incomes are more likely to make unhealthy food choices. Programs needed to be designed to accommodate different needs in different regions, Ms Youl said.

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Better diet, exercise can cut cancer by one quarter

Healthy diets and exercise could dramatically cut cancer rates by 2025, according to a new study.

A QUARTER of cancers could be prevented by 2025 through diet and exercise alone, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in the cost of treatment, the Medical Journal of Australia has found.

Taking data on projected illness, and coupling it with published findings on the association between food, nutrition and physical activity in the prevention of cancer, the journal's study found that the incidence of cancer in Australia will rise to 170,000 in the next 13 years, an increase of 60 per cent since 2007.

Intervention to improve health and environmental factors could reduce that by 43,000, or 25 per cent, it says in a report to be published today.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Contributing factors in the nation's poor health include an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, the increasing prevalence of overweight and obese adults, climbing rates of harmful alcohol consumption, and an unbalanced diet.

Pip Youl, one of the report's authors and head of research at Cancer Council Queensland, said that less than 10 per cent of Australians ate the recommended five serves of vegetables a day and only 6 per cent ate two or more serves of fruit a day.

''Ways to encourage better eating are things like improving the number of wholegrain cereals and bread, choosing foods that are low in salt, choosing a low-fat diet, particularly diets that are low in saturated fats,'' she said. ''One of the key things is teaching children to eat healthily. So, getting them interested in cooking and eating healthy foods will give them a really good start in life and enjoying a healthy life.''

Poor health has become an economic and geographic issue, the study suggesting that ''inequities in cancer outcomes vary with remoteness or area disadvantage'' and that ''increasingly the poor are becoming obese faster than the rich''.

With the cost of healthy food higher than that of high-sugar, fat-soaked, nutritionally poor alternatives, Australians on lower incomes are less likely to make healthy food choices.

Read more:
Diet or die: lifestyle changes could hit cancer

Healthy diets and exercise could dramatically cut cancer rates by 2025, according to a new study.

A QUARTER of cancers could be prevented by 2025 through diet and exercise alone, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in the cost of treatment, the Medical Journal of Australia has found.

Taking data on projected illness, and coupling it with published findings on the association between food, nutrition and physical activity in the prevention of cancer, the journal's study found that the incidence of cancer in Australia will rise to 170,000 in the next 13 years, an increase of 60 per cent since 2007.

Intervention to improve health and environmental factors could reduce that by 43,000, or 25 per cent, it says in a report to be published today.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Contributing factors in the nation's poor health include an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, the increasing prevalence of overweight and obese adults, climbing rates of harmful alcohol consumption, and an unbalanced diet.

Pip Youl, one of the report's authors and head of research at Cancer Council Queensland, said that less than 10 per cent of Australians ate the recommended five serves of vegetables a day and only 6 per cent ate two or more serves of fruit a day.

''Ways to encourage better eating are things like improving the number of wholegrain cereals and bread, choosing foods that are low in salt, choosing a low-fat diet, particularly diets that are low in saturated fats,'' she said. ''One of the key things is teaching children to eat healthily. So, getting them interested in cooking and eating healthy foods will give them a really good start in life and enjoying a healthy life.''

Poor health has become an economic and geographic issue, the study suggesting that ''inequities in cancer outcomes vary with remoteness or area disadvantage'' and that ''increasingly the poor are becoming obese faster than the rich''.

With the cost of healthy food higher than that of high-sugar, fat-soaked, nutritionally poor alternatives, Australians on lower incomes are less likely to make healthy food choices.

Read more:
Diet or die: many cancers preventable