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Should we eat more carbs or less carbs or more fat or what

When it comes to macronutrient balance, diet fads simply can’t seem to agree. As Norman Swan writes in the latest COSMOS , new evidence from mouse studies suggests “bread and potatoes have been unfairly demonised.” “In the 1980s when public health researchers demonised fat, they didn’t foresee that we’d trade fats for unlimited sugar and fructose and bowls of white rice or pasta.

As I mentioned here somewhere last summer my doctor recommened that I go on the “Dash Diet” onstensivly to help me get my blood pressure under control (and take a vitamin D supplement since my vitamin D level was low). Talking about the overhyped “Gluten-Free” craze on FaceBook and my other blog this past week and what doctors might say about going “gluten free” I wondered what were doctors really recommending in the ways of diets.

This news story (it a news story, NOT a report on a scientifically design meta analysis) from 2014 had a ranking list from the survey that was conducted:

1. Weight Watchers
2. South Beach Diet
3. Dash For Health
4. Jenny Craig
5. Nutrisystem

All of these diets are really about just getting a conscious handle and control on your overall calorie consumption. The South Beach Diet may tilt a little towards to HCLF and Atkins end of the spectrum where the Dash For Health diet leans toward removing excess salt (sodium) form our diets but they are all still clustered close around the idea of overall calorie consumption control. They are all about achieving a balance.

I do want to say that none of the diets on the top of this list are about reducing or cutting out gluten. The only people who need to do that are the 1% of the population that suffer from celiac diesease and the -1% that may actually suffer from NCGS (see my RationallyThinkingOutLoud blog post)

Doctors Reveal Their Most Recommended Weight-Loss Programs

The Daily Meal announced its latest report, 12 Best and Worst Weight-Loss Programs According to the Experts, in partnership with Everyday Health and MedPage Today. Tapping into the MedPage Today audience of healthcare professionals, The Daily Meal surveyed nearly 1,000 physicians, clinicians, dietitians, and nurse practitioners, to determine which commercial weight-loss diets are recommended and which ones should be avoided.