Using Food Diaries
Doubles Weight Loss, Study Shows
Dieters who write down everything
they eat each day lose twice as much weight as those who don't, according to
one of the largest weight-loss studies ever conducted.
This confirms the importance of
keeping a food diary - advice that nutritionists and weight-loss programs have
pushed for years.
Scientists at four clinical research
centers recruited 1,685 overweight or obese adults who weighed an average 212
pounds. Forty-four percent were African Americans.
The participants were offered 20
weekly group sessions led by nutritionists and behavior counselors and
encouraged to try to lose at least 9 pounds in six months. They were told to
consume about 500 fewer calories a day, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, do
about 180 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, and keep
daily food and exercise records.
The findings reported in the August
issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine:
•Dieters who kept their food diary
six or more days a week lost an average of about 18 pounds in six months,
compared with about 9 pounds for those who didn't keep food diaries.
•The biggest losers also attended
most of the group meetings and did more exercise. Some did 300 minutes or more
of physical activity a week, but the average participant in the study did about
117 minutes a week.
•69% of the participants lost 9
pounds or more, which is enough to improve some health measures such as blood
pressure, joint pain and pre-diabetes.
•69% of black men and 59% of black
women lost at least 9 pounds.
"There is a misconception that
nobody can lose weight, but in this study, two-thirds of them lost enough
weight to make a difference to their health," says Victor Stevens, senior
investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland,
Ore. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute sponsored the study.
These weight-loss techniques work
well with everybody, including African Americans, who are often
underrepresented in studies and yet suffer from a high rate of obesity and
weight-related illnesses, he says.
Food diaries are a "powerful
self-management technique. They help you figure out where the extra calories
are coming from," he says. It works best if someone else looks over your
food record. "When you put yourself in a position where you are
accountable for your behavior, it changes behavior."
Many people are getting lots of
extra calories by eating large portions at restaurants, Stevens says. He is
currently working with a client who was consuming 1,500 calories of fast food
at lunch. The dieter is now bringing a 500-calorie lunch to work, saving 1,000
calories a day.
Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered
dietitian in Chicago, tells people that a food diary "is the best way to
monitor every crumb, morsel, nibble, sip, swallow and bite you take."
The Dash Diet
Dieters in the study were instructed
to follow the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which
suggests consuming:
Nine to twelve servings of fruits and
vegetables daily.
Two to three servings of
low-fat dairy foods daily.
25% or less of total calories from
fat.
A low-sodium diet, with 2,400
milligrams or less of sodium each day.
No more than one alcoholic beverage
a day for women; no more than two drinks a day for men. One drink equals 12
ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or half an ounce of 80-proof liquor.
Source: August's American Journal of
Preventive Medicine