Men on Diets
Move over, ladies -- the men are dieting too.
Of course that last point is endlessly disputed. A recent Stanford study threw a little ammunition to the Atkins advocates. In a year long study comparing four popular diets, overweight women lost the most weight on Atkins and had slightly better cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
Though the women-only study also has implications for male Atkins dieters, the lead author, Stanford researcher Christopher Gardner, says neither sex should take the results as a total vindication of the popular diet.
"This is just a 12-month study," he says. "As a health professional, I'd be concerned about what a high-saturated fat, high-protein diet would mean over the course of a lifetime."
Gardner argues that refined carbohydrates are the most important foods for both women and men to avoid. White bread, white rice, soda, starchy junk food -- it's these, he suspects, that are responsible for the increase in the country's caloric intake over the last couple decades. Good carbs such as fruit, vegetables, oatmeal, brown rice, and whole wheat breads and pastas, on the other hand, shouldn't be neglected.
Just knowing the score on different foods isn't always enough. In tailoring nutrition lessons for me, Klein zeroes in on some common vulnerabilities even among those who know cookies from kale.
"Travel is an issue for a lot of men because many are often away from home because of work," she says. "Learning how to eat healthy on the road is important. On planes, I say to bring four or five packages of instant oatmeal -- they'll give you the hot water. Also, boxes of dry cereal. Cheerios, but not Honey Nut Cheerios."
Klein also advises travelers to book their hotel rooms on the sixth floor and walk up. Another tip: Get the taxi to drop you off a mile from where you're staying and hoof it the rest of the way.
Back at home, men are also world-class breakfast-skippers -- terrible habit, Klein says. "We go into a kind of starvation mode when we sleep, so if you wait until lunch to eat again, the body thinks, 'Hey, I'd better save this as reserves. Who knows when this guy's going to eat next?' So it gets stored as fat. Take five minutes to have a high-fiber cereal or even peanut butter on whole wheat toast. Small changes make big differences."
One last directive from Klein, who says Americans eat way more than we need: Cut those portions in half. It's the quickest change a man can make in his eating habits -- even if it is hard to swallow.
Men on Diets
Move over, ladies -- the men are dieting too.
The male comfort zone -- How men choose diets continued...
Of course that last point is endlessly disputed. A recent Stanford study threw a little ammunition to the Atkins advocates. In a year long study comparing four popular diets, overweight women lost the most weight on Atkins and had slightly better cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
Though the women-only study also has implications for male Atkins dieters, the lead author, Stanford researcher Christopher Gardner, says neither sex should take the results as a total vindication of the popular diet.
"This is just a 12-month study," he says. "As a health professional, I'd be concerned about what a high-saturated fat, high-protein diet would mean over the course of a lifetime."
Gardner argues that refined carbohydrates are the most important foods for both women and men to avoid. White bread, white rice, soda, starchy junk food -- it's these, he suspects, that are responsible for the increase in the country's caloric intake over the last couple decades. Good carbs such as fruit, vegetables, oatmeal, brown rice, and whole wheat breads and pastas, on the other hand, shouldn't be neglected.
Tips for men on diets -- How to avoid diet pitfalls
Just knowing the score on different foods isn't always enough. In tailoring nutrition lessons for me, Klein zeroes in on some common vulnerabilities even among those who know cookies from kale.
"Travel is an issue for a lot of men because many are often away from home because of work," she says. "Learning how to eat healthy on the road is important. On planes, I say to bring four or five packages of instant oatmeal -- they'll give you the hot water. Also, boxes of dry cereal. Cheerios, but not Honey Nut Cheerios."
Klein also advises travelers to book their hotel rooms on the sixth floor and walk up. Another tip: Get the taxi to drop you off a mile from where you're staying and hoof it the rest of the way.
Back at home, men are also world-class breakfast-skippers -- terrible habit, Klein says. "We go into a kind of starvation mode when we sleep, so if you wait until lunch to eat again, the body thinks, 'Hey, I'd better save this as reserves. Who knows when this guy's going to eat next?' So it gets stored as fat. Take five minutes to have a high-fiber cereal or even peanut butter on whole wheat toast. Small changes make big differences."
One last directive from Klein, who says Americans eat way more than we need: Cut those portions in half. It's the quickest change a man can make in his eating habits -- even if it is hard to swallow.
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