Nutrition and healthy eating

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• November 16, 2012 9:00 a.m.

  Great article.I think total focus on diet is not so important. Also focus on daily workouts will definitaly get some results for you.....

  - Airmidnutrients

• November 30, 2011 6:05 p.m.

  I have lost 70 lbs from 238 to 166 in about 18 months. I started exercising. Lots of cardio on the treadmill, then I began to change my eating habits. I consume about 1600 a day with good nourishing food with a treat always. But I am convinced, it's the calorie intake and burn. Some days I burn 2000 on the treadmill. It's exhausting but I love it and have seen the results from a 44 inch waist to a 30 inch one now. I'm 64 and was the biggest junk food eater in the world. It can be done!

  - steve

• February 27, 2011 6:39 a.m.

  After gaining 50 lbs with each pregnancy (3 kids) and having to lose it afterwards, I have done a lot of research on good/bad ways to lose weight. I didn't want to spend time doing soemthing when it wasn't the right thing to do. Here is what I have found. Eat this, you will get fat...but don't eat this..you will still get fat. Exercise like this, you will get fat...but if you don't exercise like this you will get fat AND die. Eat six meals, or you will get fat..eat only every other day, or you will get fat and have a host of health problems. See what I mean? It becomes very frustrating and discouraging. I think the moral to this story is that you can eat things you love while you're on a diet without fearing an instant 10lbs around your midsection and the complete sabotage of all of your weight loss efforts. I count calories per week and use the zig zag method so they add up to around 1600 per day. It's just easier for me that way. I also make sure to include at least an hour of cardio/resistance at least 6 days a week. I eat mostly healthy food, but I'm not afraid to have a slice of pizza or a piece of cake as long as it is within my calorie budget and I have eaten enough of the good stuff also. I've never had a problem with getting the weight off (despite a struggle with my weight all of my life) once I stick to a certain number of calories. It also stays off until I binge for 9 months straight when I'm pregnant.

  - Ashley

• January 25, 2011 9:51 a.m.

  All the comments here are great. But how is it that the junk food dieter is eating 800 to 1,000 calories less than he is supposed to? It's my impression most of us don't need more than 2000 calories a day, if that! Really, most Americans just sit around. I have a fairly active job in retail, so I can eat a little more than most women, but even then, it's not that much. Of course, the big problem is that dieters will misinterpret the experiment, and think it is okay to go on a junk food diet. I work with a girl who needs to lose 40 pounds and she still eats 100 calorie packs of chips. She shouldn't eat any chips at all! For lunch, she eats some fruit and yogurt. Then goes home and eats God knows what. She's tired and miserable all the time. Her real problem is addiction--to junk food. The junk food diet is like telling an alcoholic he can drink once or twice a day--and he can't. Most chronic dieters don't like salads, veggies, whole grains, etc. That's the real problem. I had a roommate who peeled her apples and dipped them in caramel. To me, that's gross. The peel is the best part. She never ate a salad in the 2 1/2 years I lived with her. All her fruits and veggies were sweet, starchy, coated with fat and sugar. She just hated great food, she loved to junk up everything. That's the real problem with misunderstanding the "junk food" diet. It doesn't help the junk food junkies.

  - Susan

• December 10, 2010 9:45 a.m.

  I think some people are not seeing the forest from the trees here. The professor is NOT suggesting this as a diet for others. It was an experiment in which he proves a very important point that many people have been missing, including myself. It is not just about eating the right foods\nutrients\etc. It is also about how MUCH food you eat. His point is that if you reduce your portion sizes (i.e.-daily caloric intake) to a low enough level, you will lose weight. Personally, this was the big gaping hole in my weight loss efforts. I was excercising. I was eating good healthy foods, no junk food. However, I was eating TOO MUCH healthy foods. A friend pointed out the portion sizes issue to me a couple months ago. And this experiment just helped me see it even clearer. If he did this diet with healthy foods, it would be unclear how much could be attributed to "portion sizes" and how much could be attributed to "food types." By doing this he isn't refuting "food types" as being important. However, he is driving home the point that "portion sizes" ARE important and shouldn't be over-looked when trying to lose weight. Since changing my portion sizes to be more in line with what they should be (but with healthy\balanced foods) I have lost 25 pounts in a couple months! My excercise patterns and food types have not changed. Kudos to this guy for proving an important point that a lot of people are over-looking.

  - TJ

• November 23, 2010 8:02 p.m.

  I think there are two. mostly separate, issues here. Eating fewer calories than needed will result in a weight loss, regardless of the health of the diet. If a person prefers to focus on fewer calories and a diet than is modestly healthy, so be it! I hear friends and acquaintances tsk tsk about someone else's poor eating habits (a Big Mac last week?!) when they themselves are 20 lbs. or more overweight! Is that because of all the lettuce they eat?

  - Jay

• November 23, 2010 11:30 a.m.

  Most dieters have issues about giving up favorite foods, often those faves are high in fats and sugars. The old adage "nothing succeeds like success" might apply here. Once a dieter sees results, it is often easier to adopt healthier eating choices. Losing weight also makes exercise easier and more desirable. Dieting is about emotional as well as physical health. Dieters deserve a great deal of praise. Changes to better one's life take courage and lots of it. I agree that a diet like this is not a good long-term solution, but it might be a good short-term one that could lead to greater health and satisfaction, and perhaps a good alternative to surgical procedures that are being performed. Good to know that a diet like this can bring about weight loss. I've not seen anything like this published previously. I think Tara's idea about allowances and trading off calories for occasional splurges, is a great one.

  - Ann

• November 23, 2010 11:26 a.m.

  Don't forget he was trying to demonstrate a point. Many consumers get too narrowly focused by trying to take the "magic bullet" or easy approach, ie. under the Atkins diet regime in it's early days, dieters were required to cut all so called carbs, when in fact carbohydrates derived from whole grains and fibres are essential for balance nutrition. Similarly, others focus on almost total abstinence of fat, which would leave the body deprived of many essential fatty acids.

  - Gord,

• November 22, 2010 3:25 p.m.

  Cheers to you for seeking out the information from the source in order to write your blog post and form an opinion. I encourage everyone else to do the same. He's not hiding anything. He admits it's not a long-term diet, it was an experiment in energy balance, period. The media make the headlines and get your attention in any way they can. You can find the facts on his facebook pagetitled Dr. Haub's Diet Experiments.

  - Tammy, MS, RD, NSCA-CPT

• November 21, 2010 8:49 p.m.

  Relax people it was just an experiment to show that ultimately calorie balance is the most important factor in weight loss. He doesn't endorse or condone this...

  - Andre

• November 19, 2010 1:18 p.m.

  The other day, a Registered Dietitian asked me if I had eaten all my colors--the logic being that if I had eaten the full spectrum then I must be getting enough nutrients. I told her that I had eaten three bags of Skittles while reading a book. Clearly I was set for the day. I fear what the average layperson would do with this information.

  - Hannah

• November 19, 2010 12:59 p.m.

  I just can't get over how this professor can endorse junk food as a weight loss program. I foresee future problems with pancreas and liver imbalances. Initially, this plan looks intriging, but you have to weigh the long term effects.

  - Therese

• November 19, 2010 9:41 a.m.

  I have to admit that sometimes I skip dinner so I can have a larger bowl of ice cream or popcorn in the evening. If you like to eat large portions of high calorie foods, but you reduce calories to fit them in, you can keep yourself from gaining weight, but eating like this on a daily basis would deprive one of important micronutrients like vitamin C, vitamin E, omega 3 fatty acids, etc. Eating a variety of foods and following the food guide pyramid ensures that one takes in the appropriate mix of nutrients. However, everyone is entitled to an occasional treat!

  - Tara, RD

• November 19, 2010 8:40 a.m.

  Short term, yes, I believe these results are possible simply related to weight loss, same with the high protein (usually high fat) and low carb diet. Long term (2 years or less), I would suspect we would see entirely different results in lab values. As an example, I've seen 3 patients that have followed a high protein, low carb diet for 2+ years. In all 3 cases, their LDL levels (desirable at 100 mg/dL or less) were 250 mg/dL or more...dangerous... We may not have the exact percentages of macronutrients figured out as to what is considered a healthy diet...nor may it be necessary. What IS essential is variety and moderation in all we eat.

  - June, RDLD

• November 18, 2010 8:07 p.m.

  This is certainly not advice for a long term eating regimen, nor does it teach the public healthy messages. With the poor weight status the country is in right now, I hope people don't try this at home. This professor had the nutrition background, which the layman does not. I am sure he did this for the fun of it.

  - Lisa, RD,CDN

• November 18, 2010 12:03 p.m.

  It doesn't say anything about exercise but I believe I saw something on GMA that he exercised as well. I agree that we don't know his long term results but most long term results don't show improved health with this type of eating.

  - Joetta, MS,RD,LD