This Week in Food, Health, and Fitness

This week, read about low-carb diets, the best diet for health and weight loss, how to strength train without a gym, and more.

Low-Carb Diets In the News

This week a clinical trial investigating the weight loss potential of a low carbohydrate diet versus a low-fat diet made a lot of headlines, and created a lot of confusion.

Investigators found that after 1 year, participants eating the low-carbohydrate diet lost about 11.7 lbs while the low-fat group lost about 4 lbs. Having worked on large-scale clinical trial with a long-term dietary intervention, I have a lot to stay about this particular study, but will save that for another time.

Before you go throw out your carbohydrate-containing foods, I urge you to read the excellent perspectives of David Katz, Marion Nestle, and Kevin Klatt, and you’ll find a good overview of this study at Examine.com. And if you want to reduce your carbohydrate intake, limit refined carbohydrates (sugars, processed foods), but keep the healthy beans/legumes, vegetables, and fruits, and unprocessed whole grains* that are important for good health.

* even whole grains can be highly processed, so best to eat intact unprocessed whole grains when possible for most fiber and nutrients

What is the Best Diet for Health and Weight Loss?

Weight Loss. Studies that have investigated various diets for weight loss have shown that generally the differences between diets is small, and the most important thing is adherence, that is, if people are able to stick to the diet. Also out this week was a new study of popular diets, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which reinforced this conclusion.

It’s not all about weight – what’s the best diet for health? Evidence shows that a Mediterranean-style diet is one of the best for health. This diet typically focuses on plant-based foods like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains; healthy fats from nuts, seeds, and olive oil; moderate intake of fish and poultry, and low intake of dairy products, red meat, processed meats, and sweets. Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate does a nice job illustrating what a healthful diet looks like.

You’ll find my advice on how to eat for health and weight loss here.

No gym, No problem!

You don’t need access to a weight room of fancy equipment to strength train. Here’s a series of strength exercises and videos by Micheal Boyle that you can perform with one dumbbell (or less).

I especially like this dumbbell snatch shown in the video below, but check out the other exercises.