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The Blowout Diet
By WLR Guest Dietitian
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There's always some new diet claim that appears from
nowhere and tries to tip well researched advice about weight
loss on its head. The media certainly try to make sure a story
is as eye-catching as possible - a headline like the 'Blowout
diet' is sure to get all of us eager to to know more.
Recent research with rats, by Dr Mark Mattson, a
neuroscientist at the National Institute on Ageing in
Baltimore, suggests that giving them intermittent rather than
regular feeding patterns provides them with health benefits
that link to healthier hearts, better weight control, and
reduced risk of diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. The rats in
his study were starved for one day then allowed to eat as much
as they liked the next day.
Of course, people are different to rats, and apparently Dr
Matteson has just finished a study with people who ate all
their food in a two to four-hour period in the evening. The
results have not been analysed fully but he is optimistic that
they will also show beneficial health and weight control
effects.
Possible Benefits
According to Dr Matteson, intermittent eating may help our
health because 'our basic metabolism was set up when we were
hunter-gatherers, when the eating pattern would have been a
mixture of feast and famine. Maybe we’d go several days
without food, then splurge when a supply was found.' It is
thought the diet works by encouraging the body to produce
proteins and other chemicals normally released during short
periods of stress such as exercise. These include compounds
that for example, protect brain cells from degeneration.
Dr Matteson also points out. 'Until clear results are
obtained in well-controlled studies specific recommendations
concerning meal frequency and health are inappropriate to
make.'
Will it Work?
Now that you have read the facts behind the headline
hopefully you will be relieved to know that night binges are
not the new way to lose weight! While this study is
interesting it is just one study, with rats.
It is important
to compare this with the large amount of evidence that links
regular, structured eating patterns (starting with breakfast)
to better weight control.
In fact, eating little during the
day, then not being able to stop munching when you get home at
night, is an eating style most linked to having a weight
problem.
We live in a very different environment to our hunter
gatherer ancestors - and we aren't rats. For us, food is
easily available all of the time and we have to make a
conscious effort to make wise choices and to be active. We
also eat for all different reasons - for comfort, to
celebrate, part of our culture, out of habit, to cope with
stress - not just in response to hunger.
Structure, planning
and regularity help us to eat wisely, and basically learn to
cope as best we can with the food-filled, busy society we live
in.
We also can't change the laws of thermodynamics. We only
lose weight if we consumer fewer calories than we burn. So if
rats or humans lose weight more easily with an on-off eating
pattern it will be because it is helping them do just that.
As different approaches suit different people, maybe this
style of eating will suit some people. But from my experience,
restricting then overeating can make some people more
vulnerable to food preoccupation and binge eating,
generally making it harder to look after both their weight, and
their feelings of well being. |
