Study of female dieters finds that food diaries help

-

Dieters take note: Women who keep a food journal, don't skip meals and don't eat lunch at restaurants very often lose more weight than dieters who don't follow these practices, a new study shows.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center tracked the dieting habits of 123 overweight or obese post-menopausal women who followed a weight-loss program for a year.

At the end, they lost an average of 19 pounds, or about 11% of their starting weight. Most followed diets of about 1,200 to 2,000 calories a day. They were advised to keep a food journal of everything they ate.

"The more accountable you are, the better you are going to do at weight loss," says lead researcher Anne McTiernan, director of the Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Prevention Center.

"A food journal is one of the easiest ways to keep track of what you are eating. If you write it down, it seems more real. If you don't, it's so easy to pretend to yourself that you didn't eat that much," she says.

Bonnie Taub-Dix, a registered dietitian in New York City, agrees that food diaries promote weight loss. "It doesn't matter where you write it: a computer, a smart phone, a note pad, paper towels or toilet paper. If you write down what you eat, you will eat differently."

When people are asked to recall what they have eaten, "Many of my patients will say things like, 'I never eat snacks,' or 'I only had chicken for dinner,'" Taub-Dix says. But if they are honest with themselves, when they keep a journal they notice that they snack more than they realize and there was more on that plate than just chicken, she says.

McTiernan says people who skip meals may be more likely to grab high-calorie snacks and meals.

If you have to eat out a lot, then you have to get comfortable asking that food be prepared so it has fewer calories, she says.

Men could also try these behaviors to lose more weight, McTiernan says.

The study appears online in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, formerly the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

USA Today

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Huge Japan Quake Cracked Open Seafloor

-
The March 2011 megaquake off the coast of Japan opened up fissures as wide as 6 feet (3 meters) in the seafloor, a new study finds. The fissures now scar the seafloor where peaceful clam beds once lay, according to Takeshi Tsuji, a researcher at Kyoto University in Japan . Along with seismic studies, the fissures, revealed by manned submersible vehicles that investigated the seafloor after the quake, show how the crust around the quake's epicenter expanded and cracked.
Read more

Index for a million documents on Polish Jewry to go online

-
Researchers of Polish Jewry are set to gain online access to more than 1 million new documents following an agreement signed by the Polish State Archives. Under the agreement signed last week, Jewish Records Indexing-Poland will receive indices to the documents from the Polish archives authority and place them on the website of the online database within one year, a JRI-Poland statement read.
Read more

A lot of the bread in the US will no longer be kosher

-
The largest baking company in the United States will be removing kosher certification from nearly all of its bread and rolls. Bimbo Bakeries USA confirmed to JTA that it will be removing the certification. The company produces brands including Arnold, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Freihofer’s and others. Two of its major brands, Entenmann’s and Thomas, will remain certified kosher. So, kosher eaters, your crumb doughnuts and English muffins are still safe. A couple of rye breads also will retain their certifications. “Removing the kosher certification from some of our products was strictly a business-process decision to enable more efficient operations, and it was one we did not make lightly,” Bimbo said in a statement. “Thomas’ and Entenmann’s products as well as Arnold’s and Levy’s Rye Breads will remain kosher-certified. It is important to note that we have heard our consumers’ concerns and are working with kosher certification organizations and discussing alternative solutions.” The c
Read more