Conflicting data hide 'ideal' diet
Darlene Superville
Associated Press
May. 4, 2003 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - Eat less, exercise more.
Most everyone knows it's the surest way to lose weight and keep it off.
But the rate at which waistlines are expanding in the United States - land of supersized fast-food meals and endless television options for the couch-potato set - suggests that too many people haven't taken to heart the message to stop stuffin' it and start huffin' it.
Experts say consumers aren't entirely to blame.
Studies touting the health benefits of certain foods one week seem to be contradicted by follow-up research. And dietary guidance from years past is being revised. Eggs, for example, are back in favor, years after being shunned over concerns about cholesterol.
It's a recipe for confusion.
"People are getting messages from the left and right, often about just the latest findings from a new study, and that's not usually sufficiently reliable," said Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.
"That can make what is even at best a complicated story really very confusing," he said.
At this time of year, the desire to lose weight often becomes more pressing, with summer a few weeks away and the latest in skin-revealing fashions beckoning from store displays.
But whatever the season, conflicting food advice leads many people to give up and resolve to "eat what I want," added Sheah Rarback of the American Dietetic Association.
Willett also blames the Food Guide Pyramid, created by the government to encourage healthier eating. Foods that should form the base of the diet, mostly grains, are represented in the pyramid's wide bottom; foods to be eaten sparingly - fats, oils and sweets - are in the tip. Fruits and vegetables, dairy products and meats, fish and poultry are in the middle.
Willett said the food pyramid implies that all fats are bad when there are some good ones, like those in fish. That mistaken message, in turn, led many people to lose sight of the fact that, when it comes to losing weight, calories are what really count; 3,500 of them equal about a pound.
So, as they filled up on fat-free cookies, ice cream and other morsels produced by the food industry, the calories, and the pounds, piled on.
Willett has assembled an "ideal" diet of his own that relies on healthier plant oils instead of animal fats, and whole grains and high-fiber carbohydrates (think brown rice and wheat pasta) over refined grains like white rice.
It emphasizes plenty of vegetables and fruits, and healthy protein sources such as fish, poultry, nuts and legumes instead of red meat and high-fat dairy products. Willett also recommends a daily multivitamin, moderate alcohol consumption and regular physical activity.
Some recent studies suggest this as an "ideal" meal: a slice of fish (the oilier, the better) cooked in garlic, shallots, onions and tomatoes, served with broccoli and washed down with beer, wine or a mixed alcoholic drink. Finish with fresh fruit and a steaming cup of tea.
Experts caution, however, that there is no magic food. They stress a diet low in bad fats, heavy on vegetables, fruits and whole grains, with some daily physical activity.
All things in moderation, in other words.
Even the smallest changes matter. Eating one tablespoon less fat per day will lead to a 10-pound weight loss in a year, said Katherine Tallmadge of the American Dietetic Association.
"It's not about trying to make sweeping overhauls that are doomed to fail," she said.
Government efforts to encourage good eating date to the 1890s, when the Agriculture Department prepared the first food tables listing data on the protein, fat, carbohydrate, ash and "fuel" value for some commonly available foods.
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