Food diary helps weight loss, but would you keep writing it till you die?

TUESDAY July 8, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- In a country where food is so cheap, obesity and overweight have become inevitable for many people. Numerous weight loss regimens and programs have come into existence and the weight loss business is inevitably booming. Now a method known as writing food diaries could become the next big thing. 

A study conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research and published in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed those who kept a food diary ended up losing twice as much weight as those who did not.

A quick reminder: Those who had this level of achievement had received detailed instruction from the researchers. For most food consumers, simply writing a food diary may not be any better than writing a love letter when it comes to weight loss, a foodconsumer.org health observer cautioned.

The study involved more than 1,500 overweight and obese adults who weighed an average of 212 pounds. Participants attended 20 weekly group meetings and were advised to eat about 500 fewer calories per day, do moderate exercise for 30 minutes or more a day, and follow the low-fat, low-sodium DASH dietary plan.

After five months, participants experienced an average loss of 13 pounds in weight. Those who diligently wrote a daily food diary on the calories they consumed lost twice as much weight as those who did not.

Better yet, those who kept a food diary, kept the pounds off while their counterparts regained weight, according to the study.

How could writing a food diary help weight loss?  

It may not require a rocket scientist to figure that out. The reason is obviously that those who wrote a food diary had a stricter control of the calories they ate, the foodconsumer.org health observer suggested. 

Experts said food diaries help the weight losers form a "foundation of personal accountability," according to ABC News.

But would an ordinary consumer find it convenient to write a food diary to help control calorie intake?

Study author Dr. Victor Stevens has praise for writing a food diary. He was cited by ABC NEWS as saying food dairies are flexible and allow dieters to tailor-make their accountability for different goals.

Still, Dr. Stevens suggested even a food diary may not be enough. He was cited as saying some dieters may benefit further from joining an organization weight loss program that help them to stick to their accountability.

Although writing a food diary obviously helps weight loss in the study, the foodconsumer.org health observer doubted that the method would be effective for an ordinary consumer who does not receive detailed instruction on diet and exercise, and is not networking with others for weight loss. After all, no one could keep writing a food diary and stick to a calorie restricted diet for his whole lifetime!

He suggested that there is a better way to lose weight. He said that gain or loss of body weight is not just about how much you eat. More importantly, it is about what you eat. Those who do not want to write anything or do not want to participate in any program or social networking, but still want to lose weight, may consider adopting a plant-based diet.

According to Dr. Colin T. Campbell, distinguished and well recognized Cornell University nutrition professor who has published more than 300 research papers, you can maintain healthy weight without counting calories as long as your diet contains mostly plant-derived foods.

Overweight and obesity are recognized as risk factors for many chronic conditions. Dr. Dean Ornish, a Harvard educated physician who is using a dietary regimen to treat heart disease with great success, allows unlimited amounts of calories in patients' diets. But his regimen prohibits eating common meats.

In a word, write a food dairy if you have the time and a strong social network for weight loss. For those who want to take an easy way to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, eat a plant-based diet.

By David Liu, Ph.D., and edited by Heather Kelley.
Jul 8, 2008 - 2:31:16 PM