Someone else's 2 cents, via one of my email subscriptions:
The new issue of *Consumer Reports* includes an article: "Rating the
diets; Jenny Craig edges out six others."
Here are some excerpts:
[begin excerpts]
Our latest diet Ratings update (available to subscribers) has produced a
new winner: Jenny Craig, a commercial program that combines personal
phone or in-person counseling with a portion-controlled regimen of pre-
made foods supplemented with homemade side dishes
What gave it the edge over the other big names we assessed--stalwarts
such as Atkins, Ornish, and Weight Watchers--was a 332-person, two-year
study of the program published in the Oct. 27, 2010, Journal of the
American Medical Association.
Ninety-two percent of participants stuck with the Jenny Craig program
for two years--a remarkable level of adherence--and at the end of that
time weighed an average of about 8 percent less than when they started.
When we last rated diets four years ago, the winner was the Volumetrics
diet, based on eating high-bulk, low-calorie food.
In a sense, it's still a winner: The Volumetrics brand is now part of
Jenny Craig, which is why we're not rating it separately this time.
<snip>
So if you need to lose weight, should you immediately sign up for Jenny
Craig? It's obviously worth considering, but if you don't like the idea
of eating pre-packaged meals, it might not be for you.
The diet that works is the one you can stay on, says Kathleen Melanson,
Ph.D., associate professor of nutrition and food sciences at the
University of Rhode Island and director of its Energy Balance Laboratory.
"If you're forcing yourself on a diet you hate, it's going to be really
hard to stick with long-term," she says.
And these days, choices abound.
You can follow the Ornish diet, a near-vegan plan with very little fat,
or its diametric opposite, the Atkins diet, which allows almost two-
thirds of your calories from fat.
Or you can settle somewhere in between with the moderate regimens
offered by Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.
<snip>
To lose weight, you have to burn up more calories than you take in, no
matter what kind of diet you're on.
"The first law of thermodynamics still applies," says Dean Ornish, M.D.
But emerging evidence shows that some forms of calories are more filling
than others.
Protein is the most satiating nutrient, followed by high-fiber grains,
fruits, and vegetables.
<snip>
Evidence is accumulating that refined carbohydrates promote weight gain
and type 2 diabetes through their effects on blood sugar and insulin.
"If you have insulin resistance, your insulin may go up to 10 or 20
times normal in order to control your blood sugar after you eat sugar or
carbs," says Eric C. Westman, M.D., an associate professor of medicine
at Duke University who co-wrote the newest version of the Atkins diet.
"But the insulin also tells your body to make and store fat. When you
restrict carbs, your insulin goes down and you can burn your body fat,
so you eat fewer calories and aren't as hungry."
Isn't it dangerous to eat so much fat?
That's still a subject of vigorous scientific debate, but it's clear
that fat is not the all-round villain we've been taught it is.
Several epidemiology studies have found that saturated fat doesn't seem
to increase people's risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke.
Other studies suggest that you might be even better off if you replace
saturated fat with unsaturated fat instead of with certain carbs, the
ones that turn to blood sugar quickly after you eat them, such as white
bread and potatoes.
A nutrition researcher, Frank B. Hu, M.D., of the Harvard School of
Public Health, recently wrote that he believes "refined carbohydrates
are likely to cause even greater metabolic damage than saturated fat in
a predominantly sedentary and overweight population."
Moreover, clinical studies have found that an Atkins or Atkins-like diet
not only doesn't increase heart-disease risk factors but also actually
reduces them as much as or more than low-fat, higher-carb diets that
produce equivalent weight loss.
On the other hand, the Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease, which
includes a low-fat diet along with exercise, stress management, and
group support, has proven so effective that Medicare now covers it for
cardiac patients.
While scientists sort this out, what's a low-carb dieter to do? Michael
L. Dansinger, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Tufts University
and a longtime weight-loss researcher, suggests this middle ground: "a
low-ish carbohydrate diet that's high in vegetables and lean protein,
including dairy; moderate in fruit; with nonsaturated fat from sources
such as olive oil, nuts, avocados, and fish."
[end excerpts]
The article is online -- but requires a subscription -- at:
<
http://bit.ly/KenPopeConsumerReportsDietRatings>
Ken Pope