"Diets" news and stories

The Dukan Diet reportedly has Kate Middleton and J. Lo slenderizing. But is this high-protein, low-carb, four-phase diet really anything new? Calling Atkins and South Beach!

Now you can find out what all the hype is about. The English version of the decade-old French weight-loss bible The Dukan Diet: 2 Steps to Lose the Weight, 2 Steps to Keep It Off Forever, by French physician Pierre Dukan, MD, hits stores today, April 19.

Our friends over at Everyday Health asked nutritionist Kelly MacDonald, RD, to review the Dukan Diet, and lay out the pros and cons. Among them: "Though you may see rapid initial weight loss, it will mostly be from water and, later, from muscle mass. You'll also likely experience fatigue, moodiness, and other symptoms because the diet is so severely lacking in carbohydrates."

Click here for the whole Dukan Diet story from Everyday Health.

A professional nutritionist lost 27 pounds in ten weeks. His secret? Twinkies.

Well, not only Twinkies. Throw in some Little Debbie Star Crunches and Zebra Cakes, and Duncan Hines chewy fudge brownies to boot.

If the Atkins diet seemed counterintuitive (eat meat; lose weight), then Mark Haub's so-called Twinkie diet seems downright Bizarre-O with a capital "B." Haub, who works as a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University no less, set out to prove in August that when it comes to dieting, counting calories is more important than what you eat.

As CNN reports, Haub upended any notion of a balanced, healthy diet, replacing his usual meals with sugary snack cakes instead. The key, he argues, was that he dropped his daily calorie intake to 1,800 calories, as opposed to the roughly 2,600 calories that a man of his size typically consumes.

In Sunday's Pittsburgh Tribune Review, dietitian Betsy Klein states that fad diets, such as low-carb regimens, seem to be disappearing. She explains that they are declining because people are less obsessed with weight-loss and more concerned with what they're actually consuming. This change in eating can be traced as far back as the '70s culinary revolution in Berkeley initiated by chefs like Alice Waters. It looks like the trend is spreading to the rest of the country.

This past September, the New York Times printed an article about people starting to eat to enjoy food rather than solely to lose weight. Chefs are preparing healthful well-balanced meals that do not necessarily follow any extreme forms of dieting. I wonder whether people are eating to enjoy the culinary sensations on their palate or if they're eating to experience the food's medicinal properties. For example, some people consume honey because they believe it relieves a sore throat. In other words, some people eat with the objective to have food activate or shut down corporal pains and desires.

Even if we're eating for reasons both gastronomical and pharmaceutic, which culinary purpose dominates? How will our culinary perception evolve in 2009?

As we head into the holiday season, aka the Season of the Endless Buffets, portion control sticks in the back of any health-conscious or body-conscious mind. You know, at least while that mind is sober.

How are your portion control skills? Check them here on WomensHealthMag.com in a test where you are presented with pictures of two separate servings of pretzels and you have to guess which one you think is the 100 calorie serving. Sound tough? It is!

I got it wrong. Whatever, I just ate a pint of Ben & Jerry's. That's about 100 calories, right?

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to declare that all those 100 calorie packs totally bite, except maybe the Wheat Thins. They taste like the cereal version of whatever they're supposed to be. When I want Oreos, I don't want 100 calories worth of hexagonal Oreo-inspired crisps.

Everyone knows the secret of a good diet is to go ahead and eat what you crave, just don't eat too much of it. My entire pint of Ben & Jerry's? Well, I guess I'm not on a good diet today. Blame the economy. I don't know why, just do it.

In China, they have an extra season.

Spring, Summer, Late Summer, Fall, and Winter make up the five seasons of the Chinese calendar; corresponding with the five Chinese elements and a number of their healing philosophies.

According to my knowledgeable friend Lora:
"Each season is connected to a set of organs in the body. Corresponding foods that are fresh in each season are meant to cleanse, detoxify, and heal those organs. When we eat the same diet year-round without paying attention to seasonal foods, we ignore our bodies' needs to support and properly heal organs, which leads to lots of health issues (obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, etc.)."

So. Here's what you should eat right now: