Dieting as such does not produce long term results, we all know that. However, the only way to get all those kilos off is to not only change your lifestyle but to also embark on some sort of regime that will produce a negative calorie balance. In other words, we still need some sort of diet to get to a weight that we can then maintain with our new healthy lifestyle.
The latest craze are low carbohydrate diets, even the Atkins diet has seen a comeback, despite the bad publicity it has had from numerous well informed sources. There are many success stories, many testimonials of people succeeding with the either strategy, especially the low carbohydrate approach.
Now, why has it taken so long to come up with this idea? Everyone who understands biochemistry, knows that all starch (the form of carbohydrates found in bread, pasta, rice, cakes etc.) is readily transformed into sugar and hence will spark production of body fat, just like chocolate and other sweets. However, carbohydrates are by far the most interesting foods for most people because they are an integral part of most cuisines.
What is the solution?
For many decades we have known that there are different types of carbohydrates, that it is a good idea to have nuts and seeds as part of our diet, that whole grains are "good for you" etc etc. We have developed more sophisitcated language and now talk about glycemic indices and complex versus refined carbohydrates. We are now finding, that nuts and seeds are rich in essential fatty acids and that these essential fatty acids inhibit the production of fat building enzymes and at the same time, stimulate the production of enzymes that store energy in form of glycogen rather than fat. Both of this is highly desirable, especially as glycogen is much more readily accessible as an energy resource than fat. It is stored in the liver and hence does not produce ugly bulging anywhere.
Conclusion:
a diet of fresh, unprocessed food will sort out a lot of the problems we have with the eating habits in western societies. Carbohydrate in the form of full grain bread, nuts, seeds and processed rice in combination with fresh fish and fresh fruits and vegetables will not cause us to put on weight, unless consumed in huge quantities.
The cause of the so-called "obesity epidemic" is so blatantly obviously in the fast food, which has exorbintant amounts of calories with no real nutritional value.