Dieting
Question: I have heard that the 'Mediterranean
diet' is good for you. What is this diet and what countries eat this kind of
diet?
Answer: The Mediterranean diet has received a
great deal of attention lately because it has shown promise in reducing the
development of heart disease and cancer. Interest in the Mediterranean diet
arose as scientists compared the health of people in various countries. They
found that people in certain countries had lower rates of heart disease and
cancer. Investigation into the causes for these differences revealed that their
diets were different from the typical American diet. Since then, scientists
have looked specifically at these unique diets and tried to figure out what
makes them so healthy.
The Mediterranean diet is the
typical diet eaten by many people in countries like Italy and Greece. It
usually consists of more bread and cereals, fresh fruit and vegetables, beans,
and fish. Fat intake is mostly from olive oil and canola oil, with almost no
butter or cream. Red meats and deli foods are rarely eaten, but poultry is
occasionally eaten.
Scientists think that there are
many potentially healthy nutrients contained in the Mediterranean diet. These
include omega-3 fatty acids, oleic acid, fiber, antioxidants, vegetable
proteins, and B-vitamins. In addition, the diet avoids potentially unhealthy
things like saturated fat and red meat. Although the Mediterranean diet
developed in Mediterranean countries and is still most common there, many
people from other countries are finding that this diet is easy and enjoyable to
follow.
Question: Is it true that dieting can
actually make your stomach shrink?
Answer: No. The stomach cannot shrink below the size it is when it is
empty.
Question: Some people say the Zone diet is good
for athletes, and others say it's bad. Is it good or bad? Why?
Answer: Probably bad. The Zone diet was
developed by Barry Sears, PhD. The diet was made popular by his book The
Zone, which was published in 1995. The diet consists of calorie
restriction and eating a standardized ratio of carbohydrates, fat, and protein.
On the Zone diet, the average American male exercising three times a week would
eat about 1,400 calories a day:
- 40% of calories would come from carbohydrates.
- 30% from fat.
- 30% from protein.
By comparison,
the average American male (not on a diet) eats about 2,000 or more calories a
day:
- 55% from carbohydrates.
- 30% from fat.
- 15% from protein.
In his book The
Zone, Barry Sears claims that people on the Zone diet will gain a state of
optimal health that includes maintaining an ideal weight and enhancing their
athletic performance.
Unfortunately for the Zone diet,
sports medicine experts have looked at the claims and concluded that the Zone
diet is not likely to be good for athletes, and in some cases it may even
decrease performance. The basic problem is that the diet does not give athletes
in training enough calories. For example, the Zone diet would give marathon
runners about 1,750 calories per day, while they actually need about 5,000
calories a day to meet their training needs. Athletes-in-training on the Zone
diet would experience muscle mass loss and decreased athletic performance. Many
research studies confirm this basic tenet of high-performance athletic
training: Adequate carbohydrate and caloric intake is necessary to maintain
performance. Athletes who exercise only 3-4 hours a week, however, do not
necessarily need large caloric intakes and may be able to maintain performance
on the Zone diet.
In summary, the overwhelming opinion
among sports medicine experts is that the Zone diet is not good for
athletes-in-training. The main problem for athletes on the Zone diet is
inadequate intake of calories to meet their energy needs.
Question: I have been following the recommended
diet for 2 weeks now and have lost 6 pounds, but I feel extremely tired and
even have dizzy spells. Is this normal at the beginning of a diet?
Answer: I would suspect that many dieters
believe that tiredness and dizziness go hand in hand with dieting, but it is
not "normal" and certainly not healthy. If a diet is balanced and
provides a reasonable number of calories and amount of fluid, you should feel
well. Dieters following a very low calorie diet that results in the body
getting little energy (calories) may frequently suffer from fluid and salt
imbalances that can result in tiredness, lethargy, and dizziness. Dieters on a
strict low-calorie diet should be supervised by a doctor.
If you are following the
recommended diet, which provides a very moderate calorie decrease, it is
unlikely that the calorie level would cause tiredness. It could, however, be
caused by a major change in your eating or exercise pattern, by not getting
enough fluids, or by other factors. Since you have lost quite a bit of weight
in the first 2 weeks, it is possible that your calorie goal is a little too
low; however, it is common to lose more quickly at the very beginning of a
diet. If your weight loss does not balance out to a healthy loss of 1-2 pounds
per week, you could increase your calories a bit.
Tiredness and dizzy spells can
have many different causes. If these symptoms persist, consult your doctor.
Question: How many milligrams of sodium should a
person on a low-sodium diet consume in a day?
Answer: Doctors recommend low-sodium diets to
patients with a variety of medical conditions--particularly hypertension (high
blood pressure) and diseases that involve edema (swelling) or fluid retention,
like chronic kidney failure, heart failure, and liver failure.
A typical diet in the United
States contains 4,000-6,000 milligrams (mg) of sodium a day. A
"no-added-salt diet" contains 3,000 mg of sodium daily. A
"low-sodium diet" contains 2,000 mg of sodium daily, and a
"very-low-sodium diet" contains 1,000 mg of sodium daily. To consume
less sodium, you can stop adding salt to your food, eat less processed foods
that contain a lot of sodium, or even buy special low-sodium foods. The easiest
way to find out the amount of sodium in your food is to read the nutrition
labels. Nutrition labels on food packaging tell you how much sodium is in each
serving of an item. Some patients find that talking to a nutritionist helps
them determine which foods have the highest and lowest sodium content.
Doctors tell most patients to
try a no-added-salt or low-sodium diet first. The kind of diet a doctor
recommends depends on a patient's condition. If you want to start a low-sodium
diet, talk to your doctor to find out what is right for you.
Home Page
Newsletters
FAQs
H-SCAN Physical Age Test
Our Results
|