The Sacramento Bee ran a story Nov. 9 with advice from two UC nutrition experts that Californians may take to heart next week when the holiday "eating season" begins. Linda Bacon, a San Francisco City College teacher who is on staff at UC Davis, and UC Davis nutrition researcher Judith Stern suggest people don't count on dieting after the holidays to make up for heavy eating. By and large, the diets don't work.
Dieters may get early results, but "every major study shows that a majority of dieters gain the weight back, and sometimes more," Bacon is quoted in the article.
The story reviewed a research project conducted by Stern and Bacon that found behavior change works better than dieting to improve overall heath. The researchers tracked 78 women, half were told to restrict their food consumption, keep food diaries and monitor their weight. The other half were instructed to train themselves to pay more attention to internal body cues that signal hunger and fullness. After two years, 42 percent of the first group dropped out, but only 8 percent of the second group. The second group maintained their weight, decreased their bad cholesterol and blood pressure. The dieting group lost weight in the beginning but gained it back by the end of the study.
"People are better advised to focus on behavior change than weight to achieve their health goals," Stern was quoted.