The study, led by endocrinologist Dr Jeremy Krebs, has just been published in the international diabetes research journal Diabetologia.

It looked at whether 419 participants (aged 35-75) in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch had different rates of weight loss over two years when they were given two low fat diets; one involving high protein intake and the other high in carbohydrates.

"We decided to do this study as weight loss is very important in terms of control of blood sugar levels and many people with diabetes are seriously overweight. However there has been a lot of medical and public debate about the best way to achieve this, and which diets may be the most effective over the long term," says Dr Krebs.

Dr Krebs says there has been widespread publicity about low carb/high protein diets such as the 'Dr Atkins diet revolution' and 'The Zone' diet, with evidence of short term weight loss, but no difference to other diets over 12 months. He says the critical factor is to achieve weight loss over the long term, not just in six months or a year.

The two groups of moderately overweight people with diabetes (BMI above 27) were prescribed the specific diets supported by 18 group sessions with a dietitian, while also using food diaries to track their eating and weight loss progress.

The final results showed that there was no significant difference in weight reduction between the low fat/high protein and low fat/high carbohydrate diets after two years of the study. Both groups lost weight which was related to the total calorie intake going down with the low fat diets, indicating this was the driving factor in weight loss.

"We certainly did achieve a modest weight loss, of two to three kilos, in both groups, but essentially there was little difference between the two diets," says Krebs.

"This confirms that the solution to weight loss over the long term is reducing energy intake; that is the amount of calories someone eats on a daily basis."

Dr Krebs also says that outside the issue of total calorie intake the study suggests that flexibility in adopting the type of diet to follow is the best approach to reducing weight. This still needs to recognize that saturated fat is harmful and fibre is extremely important.

"Many people have real difficulty following one type of diet over the long term. It is just so hard. In our study 30% of the original participants dropped out because they couldn't maintain the diet they were prescribed."

"Even those who stuck to the diet, more or less, did not reach the level of protein or carb intake recommended by the study over the two year period, which shows how difficult it is for people to change from their habitual diet."

Dr Krebs says it is well known that increased diabetes rates and excess weight are huge health problems in New Zealand which are costing the health system hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

This study shows that substituting fat with high protein is no better than high carbohydrate in promoting weight loss. Allowing patients to choose which approach suits them best whilst focusing on reducing total energy intake may be the best solution.

"Often people drift back to their old eating habits and the behaviour of many participants in this study also illustrated this tendency. The real key to obesity in people with type 2 diabetes, and to better blood sugar control, is to focus on cutting calorie intake over the long term," he says.

The study was funded by the Health Research Council.

Provided by University of Otago

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Calories, not protein or carbs, are key to weight loss for people with diabetes

When Janet Holwell first joined Weight Watchers seven years ago, she lost 43 pounds in one year and considered the popular commercial weight-loss plan “miraculous.”

“I felt like I had found the magic key, the secret that eluded me all of these years,” said Ms. Holwell, who has maintained most of her weight loss by continuing to adhere to the program.

But the magic disappeared when Weight Watchers overhauled its weight-loss plan little over a year ago. Under the new system, called Points Plus, Ms. Holwell, has not been able to lose the five pounds she recently gained.

“It just doesn’t work for me,” said Ms. Holwell, 61, a research consultant who attends weekly Weight Watchers meetings in Middle Village and Glendale, Queens.

Millions of people around the world belong to Weight Watchers International, ranked best commercial diet plan by U.S. News & World Report last year, and even nonmembers look to it for guidance and recommendations. It is best known for its points system, which assigns specific values to different foods and permits each member a daily allotment. At its weekly group meetings, healthy eating and exercise are emphasized over rapid-fire results.

The latest iteration of the weight-loss plan, called Points Plus, was intended to steer people toward more healthy food choices, encouraging people to eat more fresh fruits by giving them zero points, as most vegetables already were. But many longtime members who were familiar with the earlier plan, like Ms. Holwell, have been grumbling about slow weight loss under the revised plan.

“I have been doing Points Plus for about a month and keep gaining and losing the same few pounds,” a commenter at one weight-loss Web site complained shortly after the new plan was introduced. Others chimed in to reassure her she was not alone.

In December, in a move that seemed to acknowledge the difficulty many dieters were having with the new system, Weight Watchers recommended that all members consider reducing their daily food intake, or points allotment, by 10 percent, not counting fruits and vegetables. (For those who’ve missed a few meetings, that means most women might cut their daily Points Plus allotment to 26 per day, down from 29.)

Although Weight Watchers officials say the change in points allotments was optional — that members could adjust their daily points up or down — and insist that it was not a response to members’ failure to lose weight, many longtime members unhappy with the newer plan say they feel vindicated. “I think they miscalculated,” Ms. Holwell said.

Many members said they were not given a choice. “One day we came in and they said there were changes, and suddenly I had 26 points,” said a member in New York City who asked that her name not be published to avoid alienating those in her group.

Company officials insist that the only reason Weight Watchers modified the plan was because they had become convinced members were getting more than adequate nourishment under the new plan and would not be harmed by eating less.

“We chose to be conservative when we introduced the plan, because we wanted to make sure that the things we stand for, nutritional health and well-being, weren’t going to be compromised,” said Karen Miller-Kovach, a registered dietitian who is chief scientific officer of Weight Watchers.

Still, she said the company had been following the progress of members who use online tracking tools and had found that dieters have been gaming the new system. “People were having to circumvent the system in order to lose weight at a healthy rate,” she said.

Judy Weinstein, a Manhattan opera director in her 50s, has attended Weight Watchers meetings regularly for nearly eight years and is very committed to the program. But while she found it enormously helpful when she first joined, losing 33 pounds, she has had less success with Points Plus.

So six months ago, she committed what was once the ultimate Weight Watchers no-no and cut her own points allotment. That Weight Watchers has now suggested this for all members, but as an option instead of providing clear guidance, disturbs her.

“That’s not really helpful,” Ms. Weinstein said. “People wouldn’t be here if they could do it on their own.”

Fruit has been a particular conundrum for dieters on the new plan. As fresh fruit “costs” zero points, dieters can have as much as they’d like, “within reason,” Ms. Miller-Kovach said. Many members dislike the vagueness of this recommendation, since they tend to overeat when left to their own devices. But people who are overweight did not become fat because they binged on fresh fruit, said Elizabeth Josefsberg, who leads meetings in New York City.

“You know how it is with a cookie — you want six cookies,” she said. “When you finish a banana, you don’t say, ‘Gosh, I want another banana.’ ”

Other experts are less sanguine. “No single dietitian I know would count fruit as a ‘free’ food if someone is on a diet and trying to lose weight. You have to account for it,” said Marjorie Nolan, a New York City dietitian who speaks on behalf of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She expressed surprise that even bananas (which used to cost two points under the previous Weight Watchers plan) are zero points.

“That just doesn’t make sense,” she said. “They’re a denser fruit.”

But Dr. Jeffrey Mechanick, vice president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, said there was no evidence that indulging in fruit impedes weight loss.

The reason fruit and most vegetables are zero points is that the formula actually “prepays” those points, Ms. Miller-Kovach said; the daily points allocation already includes an allowance for what the plan has determined is a typical daily consumption of fruits and vegetables. Ms. Miller-Kovach said she could not divulge the number of fruits and vegetables used in the calculation because the information is proprietary and not revealed even to participants.

But since average consumption of fruit is low in this country, usually not reaching the five to nine servings a day recommended by government health experts, the prepayment may underestimate the effect of more liberal fruit consumption on waistlines.

Results of randomized clinical trials of the new Points Plus program have not been published in peer-reviewed journals. But two brief reports have been presented at scientific meetings on obesity, and the authors found no difference in weight loss between the old and new points plans.

In one of those studies, participants lost an average of 8.2 pounds over 12 weeks and saw significant improvements in their total cholesterol and triglyceride measures. But only 111 overweight adults completed the 12-week trial, and only 55 people were following the new Points Plus program.

Weight Watchers officials said the number of participants was sufficient to provide statistical proof that the new diet system works.

The new Points Plus plan also was evaluated in an earlier unpublished trial, Ms. Miller-Kovach said. And Weight Watchers has been following more than 12,000 members in Germany since the introduction of the new Points Plus program there. So far no differences in weight loss have been found between users of the new and old programs, she said.

The transition to a new system seems to have been traumatic for many members. Ms. Holwell is optimistic that the plan will work again for her but wonders now if it will need further revision.

“The jury is still out on the 26 points,” she said.

Have an idea for a future consumer column? Send an e-mail to consumer@nytimes.com.

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In New Diet Math, Subtracting Is Hard

Let’s run through the rest of the alphabet to save as our daily reminder.

K—Ketosis is a condition in the body when carbohydrates are severely restricted from the diet. When the body uses more fats for energy than carbohydrates, the liver produces substances called ketone bodies. In extreme cases, this normal state of ketosis can deteriorate into ketoacidosis.

This happens when the body becomes too acidic due to a loss of alkaline reserve. Dieticians do not propagate a zero-carbohydrate diet for weight loss simply because there are risks involved. What seems to work effectively and safely is calorie restriction.

L—Love yourself a little more each day. This can translate into small or big adjustments to your lifestyle, like giving yourself more time for exercise, eating more nutritious food, not being too hard on yourself, and giving in to some pampering. Learning how to say no to others who rob you of your self-esteem, time or energy is also one significant way to demonstrate big love for yourself.

In the final analysis, you need to love yourself first. For how can you give love to others if there’s not enough of it inside you? Save up on love today.

M—Muscle burns fat. That’s as simple as it can be said. It’s a universal law. The more you move, the leaner you become. There isn’t any urgent need to join a gym, unless you are avidly and seriously pursuing a redefined body within weeks. But as far as heart attack and weight loss is concerned, just simply moving your body through regular, daily exercise like brisk walking or jogging/running can make you slimmer and stronger.

N—Never say never. Once you close your mind to possibilities, you also close the doors to opportunities. In short, your mind will act like a magnet attracting the good and the bad, depending on how you think. When it comes to achieving your health and beauty goals, the word “never” becomes a deterrent to your success.

Psychotherapists believe that a “never-oriented” mindset produces a negative backlash such as depression, unexplained fatigue, irritable temperament, etc. The more negative one’s outlook in life, the more acidic one’s body becomes. And you know the natural consequence—disease.

There is only one way this word is well used in that timeless piece of advice: never give up on life, and especially on yourself.

Positive effects on the brain

O—Oil is good for you, especially when it is the good oils like olive, coconut, rice bran, flaxseed, walnut, and fish oil. An excellent source of omega-3 essential fatty acids, researchers have identified the positive effects of these on the brain. Also established was a link between an imbalance of fatty acids and depression.

Oils, also called fats, coat the brain cell membrane while serving as a protective shield when brain signals are transmitted. Omega 3 oils reduce degenerative brain disorders leading to dementia and memory loss.

The much-debated benefits of virgin coconut oil have also been extolled. If the VCO is organic and cold-pressed, the saturated fat that belongs to the medium chained fatty acid allows the liver to store it as energy and not as fat. In short, it will not make you gain weight; if at all, it speeds up your metabolism.

P—Prevention is the operative word. One should not wait to get sick. And one way to avoid it is to boost one’s immune system. A “preventive” regimen neutralizes inflammation. The inflammatory response of the body has been identified as a basis for illness.

One way to control this condition is to eat anti-inflammatory foods like fluids and vegetables. In short, the fresher the food, the more organic it is, the greater the health benefits. The result: a more guarded and fortified immune system.

Q—Give yourself a quota, much like a target or goal. Put a check on this to do list. Count 10 points for every check. If you reach a quota of 50, then you are passing, not flunking.

Wellness daily checklist

Exercise 30-45 minutes

Sleep 6-8 hours nightly.

Drink 8-10 glasses of water.

Eat as least five servings of fruits and vegetables.

Laugh at least once in 24 hours.

Pray and meditate for 10-20 minutes.

Smile.

Limit alcohol intake—one glass for women, two glasses for men

No first-hand and second-hand smoking.

Feel-good scrub

½ c brown sugar

¼ c raw oatmeal

½ c fresh virgin coconut oil

¼ c fresh or canned coconut milk

Gently scrub the entire body from face to feet. Take a brisk cool shower. Feel your smooth skin immediately after.

Today’s affirmation: “I am fearless!”

Love and Light!

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From ‘Ketosis’ to ‘quota’

23-10-2010 01:26 bodybuildinghealth.blogspot.com All we want to lose those kilos that bother us so much, but no weight loss should be as quick to be truly effective, weight loss, urgent, may not be very beneficial to your health, the low should be gradual, and if you are consistent you keep in time. Do Not Attempt diets require you to stop eating because they are very harmful to health and can cause serious derangements in your body. If you organize in your diet, do not skip any meal, combine foods properly, eating every three hours or more and walk daily about 20 minutes to get off those kilos is over. You only need to be persistent over time and soon you will see great results. Slimming tummy slimming diet slimming diets lose weight quickly slimming pills slimming exercises abdomen slimming weight loss tips as weight loss kilos weight loss lose weight 10 kilos slimming products thin slimming exercise slim waist I need to lose weight.

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How To Burn Body Fat Diet, Losing Weight - Video

Renée Zellweger

From ballooning up twice for her role as Bridget Jones and shrinking back down as soon as the director shouted ‘that’s a wrap!’, ‘A-lister’ Renee is a definite weight loss wonder. Her intense two hour workouts, which include interval sprints and cycling, mean she can snap back into shape as quickly as you say ‘gym’. A fan of the macrobiotic diet, Renée eats low fat, high fiber foods with plenty of fish and raw veggies to stay slim.

Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson shed an astonishing 80lbs and is now looking better than ever. She used Weight Watchers to help her lose the weight and has since become the company’s spokesperson. Admitting to now feeling more comfortable in her own skin, svelte Jennifer now oozes with body confidence which she never had before. She achieved her new figure through learning how to eat in moderation (usually palm sized portions), so she can now enjoy the food she loves without compromising her figure.

Jonah Hill

The comedy actor Jonah Hill managed to lose over 40lbs and now looks a far cry from his former self. His new found jawline and overall trimmer physique is down to the help of a nutritionist, who advised him how to change his eating habits. The actor admits that there is no miracle solution to weight loss – you just have to eat more healthily and exercise. So, the star enjoyed a light diet full of Japanese food such as sushi which aided his weight loss.

Kelly Osbourne

The rock and roll daughter of Ozzy Osbourne shed an amazing 42lbs in weight. The first 28lbs she managed to lose was down to her involvement with Dancing with the Stars, as all the training she did helped melt away the weight. Her trick for her continued weight loss is to have a small snack of something containing no carbs or sugar before bed to maintain metabolism. Once 161lbs at her heaviest, Kelly is now a trim Pilates-addict who can confidentially slink about in tight dresses.

Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson reportedly lost 60lbs through changing her eating patterns to a sensible three meals and two snacks a day diet, and by including protein with every meal to avoid hunger pangs. She limited herself to around 1,300 to 1,600 calories a day which helped her shed the weight, as well as including interval training into her exercise plan. She also has the diet plan Nutrisystem to thank for her weight loss, which Janet is now a spokesperson for.

Kirstie Alley

The former Dancing with the Stars contestant managed to shift a staggering 100lbs in weight through an organic inspired diet and basic healthy living habits such as taking supplements, getting eight hours of sleep and enjoying moderate and frequent exercise. She has since created her very own weight loss plan to inspire others to achieve and maintain the same results and to boost energy levels and metabolism, which she feels are the key to weight loss.

Seth Rogen

Actor and writer Seth Rogen lost 30lbs in nine months, transforming him from his chubbier Knocked Up film character. Seemingly, he lost the weight for a new film role, albeit reluctantly, as he finds healthy eating and exercise quite a grueling challenge as he enjoys his ‘treats’ a bit too much. But the fact is that he was dedicated to lose the weight in the first place, with the help of a celebrity trainer. He now dons a healthier look, so let’s hope he maintains it!

Alec Baldwin

Having a scare of diabetes was enough to spur this actor into a new weight loss regime. He managed to shed 30lbs in four months by saying goodbye to the sweet stuff and taking up Pilates, yoga and the renowned calorie burning activity of spinning. Perhaps he took inspiration from his fitness freak girlfriend too, but it was his health scare that encouraged him to give up his favourite sweet treats and pizza.

Jack Osbourne

Like sister, like brother, Jack is another of the Osbourne family to have shed the excess weight – 49lbs in fact. The rock star son developed a passion for outdoor pursuits including rock climbing, helping the self-confessed adrenaline junkie lose weight through extreme sporting activities. He lost the initial weight during training to climb El Capitan, a huge Californian cliff. His weight loss ignited inner confidence as he even pursued photo shoots in the buff since losing weight!

John Goodman

At his heaviest, the family favourite actor weighed in at 400lbs, which he can ‘thank’ his love of beer for. But the much-loved US star managed to shed over 100lbs by quitting the booze and hiring a health coach to guide him into a better, healthier lifestyle. To really burn those pounds, the actor also gave up sugar and works out moderately six times a week – enough to keep him trim without exerting too much pressure on his naturally large frame.

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Top ten celebrity body turnarounds