There are so many fad weight-loss diets out there that it's hard to pick a few favorites — but we did. Some are based on pseudoscience, and others on nothing at all. But all demonstrate the amazing creativity that can be brought to bear on a serious problem like obesity.
weight loss
Will "Adiposity-Based Chronic Disease" change personal behavior, the way the term "obesity" could not? Two scientific associations that made the switch hope it will.
I can burn how many calories while shoveling? You don't have to resolve to hit the gym this month, especially if you can easily burn 200-400 calories while doing winter outdoor activities: skiing, snowshoeing, and even shoveling.
Ah yes, holiday time is here — so is egg nog, Christmas cookies and Hanukkah latkes — all designed to pack on the pounds. So how to best prevent or treat the resulting overweight or obesity? Science tells us there's no best way. But as we've thought for a while, there are many ways to take the weight off. And if one doesn't work another just might.
Activity trackers of all sorts have become must-have piece of technology — the theory being that they can encourage people to move more. But can activity trackers added to standard behavioral interventions help people lose more weight and maintain the weight loss longer? A recent study says ... not so much.
We here at the council enjoy debunking health fads. We especially enjoy debunking — in both print and video — weight loss fads. In fact, just last week I debunked one of the hottest trends in weight loss: body wraps. I don't know why this is, but something about selling unrealistic goals to vulnerable consumers for financial gain that only benefits the person at the top of the pyramid scheme really irks me.
Sure, it would be great if there were one magical thing you could do to lose weight, without lifting a finger
It's easy to be led astray by trusting to logic when evaluating health advice. But sometimes logic is borne out by science, as in the case of a recent study of prevention of knee arthritis by weight loss in overweight and obese women.
Can people be motivated to change their behavior to improve their health? Encouraging weight loss by financially rewarding individuals isn't particularly effective. But a new study suggests that using a "stick," with fines that penalize inactivity, just might be more effective than a dangling the money "carrot."
How to motivate obese people to lose weight is a really hard nut to crack. While there are many weight-loss strategies available from dieting guidelines to surgery over one-third of Americans are obese. And according to a new study, providing monetary incentives at work isn't the magic bullet, either.
Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective means of weight loss for the extremely obese; some types have even been shown to cause remission of diabetes. But these benefits occur with some downsides, which people should be aware of before choosing this type of treatment.
In this space we've covered numerous research articles about dieting and weight loss especially those that evaluate the effects of low fat or low carbohydrate diets (most recently here and here). Although it might seem that the topic has been thoroughly covered, there are apparently still unanswered questions.