Crash diets DO work, you SHOULD skip breakfast and exercise WON'T shift that spare tyre: Britain's bestselling health author reveals the truth about slimming

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With temperatures plunging again, few people are pondering their ‘beach body’ right now. 

But a calorie-controlled diet is so much more than a way to a better figure, as my bestselling books The Fast Diet and more recently The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet illustrate. 

By cutting down, we can not only lose weight but also drastically reduce our risk of some of the most pervasive diseases of the modern age, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. 

But over the past few years of investigating nutritional science, I’ve come across numerous dietary myths which almost everyone believes, despite almost no evidence they are true. 

And these misconceptions are a huge obstacle for anyone attempting to eat healthily. 

So here I’ve put together my top ten dieting myths – and the scientifically proven facts that show just how wrong they are.

MYTH: In a crash diet you save fat, so will put on weight later

FACT: One of the most popular dieting myths is ‘starvation mode’, the claim that if you stop eating, your metabolic rate immediately slows down as your body tries to conserve your fat stores.

In a recent experiment, researchers took 11 healthy volunteers and asked them to stay in a metabolic chamber (a room where they precisely measure your metabolic rate – the rate at which the body burns energy while resting) living on nothing but water.

 Diet: In the short term, there is no evidence that starvation mode is anything other than a myth (file photo)

By day three their metabolic rates had risen by 14 per cent. This was probably due to a rise in a hormone called noradrenaline, which is known to burn fat.

If they had continued, I’m sure the volunteers’ metabolic rates would eventually have fallen, not least because they would have begun to lose significant amounts of weight and become malnourished.

But, in the short term, there is no evidence that starvation mode is anything other than a myth.

MYTH: Don't weigh yourself more than once a week

FACT: It's often said that you shouldn’t weigh yourself more than once a week because you will become obsessed. Well, I weigh myself several times a week, sometimes more, and I have science on my side. A recent study followed 40 people on a weight-loss programme. 

Regular: A study showed that the more often people weighed themselves the more weight they lost (file photo)

Some weighed themselves daily, others weekly, monthly or hardly at all. It was found that the more often people weighed themselves the more weight they lost.

MYTH: You must eat regularly to keep blood sugars up

FACT: In THE study I mention above, participants lived on water for three days and the researchers measured the volunteers’ blood sugar levels. Although these levels did fall after three days without any food, they remained well within the normal range. 

At the same time, the levels of fat in their blood shot up, showing that their bodies had switched into major fat burning mode. Eating lots of small meals simply feeds your hunger. Which brings us on to the next myth...

MYTH: Eating regular smaller meals will help you lose weight

FACT: A common belief is that if you spread out your food into lots of small meals this will increase your metabolic rate, keep you less hungry and help you lose weight.

Well, in a recent study, researchers at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague decided to test this idea by feeding two groups meals with the same number of calories but taken as either two or six meals a day.

Each group ate the same number of calories, around 1,700, a day. The two-meal-a-day group lost, on average, 3lb more than the snackers and about 1.5in more from around their waists. They also felt more satisfied and less hungry than those eating little and often.

MYTH: Doing exercise will help you lose weight

FACT: It seems incredibly obvious. Do some exercise, burn some calories, lose weight. But that isn’t what actually happens. 

Part of the problem is that fat is very energy dense. You would need to run for about 36 miles to burn off a single pound of fat.

Active: There are many benefits from doing exercise, but losing weight is unlikely to be one of them (file photo)

The other problem is that people often reward themselves for doing exercise by having a treat.

If you run for a mile you will burn about 120 calories; but if you then decide to eat a small bar of chocolate you will consume 240 calories.

There are lots of benefits to be had from doing exercise, but losing weight is unlikely to be one of them. That said, exercise is a great way of stopping you putting weight back on once you’ve lost it.

MYTH: It's better to lose weight slowly than rapidly

FACT: There is a widespread belief that if you lose weight fast you will put it on even faster. But is it true?

 In a recent review article titled Myths, Presumptions And Facts About Obesity in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers put this claim firmly into the myths category after reviewing numerous studies comparing rapid with slow and steady weight loss.

 A recent Australian study backed them up. Researchers took 200 obese volunteers and put half on a very low-calorie diet (fewer than 800 calories a day) for 12 weeks. 

The other half cut their calories by 500 a day (enough to lose a pound a week) for 36 weeks. Fewer than half of the steady dieters made it to the end, frustrated by slow progress.

 More than 80 per cent in the rapid weight loss programme stuck to it. Although both groups put some weight back on over three years, the amounts were similar. 

Dietician Katrina Purcell, study leader, said: ‘Achieving a weight loss target is more likely and drop-out lower if losing weight is done quickly.’

MYTH: Before you diet you must set realistic goals

FACT:This is another of those very popular beliefs which simply isn’t supported by any science.

In one study, University of Minnesota researchers asked nearly 2,000 overweight men and women about their goals before they started on a weight-loss programme. 

A study found women who had ‘less realistic’, e.g greater,  goals were the ones who lost the most (file photo)

They followed these people for two years and found the women who had ‘less realistic’ – eg, greater – goals were the ones who lost the most.

So it was better to set a big goal rather than say, ‘I’ll try to lose a few pounds’.

For men there was no link, one way or the other, between how realistic their goals were and how much weight they lost.

MYTH: Following a low fat diet is a good way to shed pounds

FACT: ‘Go on a low-fat diet’ has been the advice of dieticians and doctors for the last half century, despite remarkably little evidence that such regimes are effective.

The Women’s Health Initiative, for example, was a massive study that began back in 1991. Approximately 48,800 women were randomly allocated to either a low-fat diet or to a control group (‘stick to what you are doing’). 

At the end of eight years those on a low-fat diet were just .88 of a pound lighter than the control group and there was no difference in rates of heart disease or cancer. So what should you eat?

Choose a Mediterranean diet, rich in fruit and vegetables, but also olive oil, nuts and the occasional glass of red wine. It’s a far better way to lose weight and reduce your risk of heart disease than a low-fat diet.

MYTH: Eating breakfast helps you avoid putting on weight

FACT: We are often told that eating a good breakfast is a simple way to control weight. The warning is that if you skip it then you will get hungry later in the day and snack on high-calorie junk food. 

Eating breakfast revs up your metabolism, preparing you for the day. It seems a plausible suggestion, but is it true?

Morning meal: Scientists found that contrary to what is widely believed, a recommendation to eat breakfast ‘had no discernible effect on weight-loss in adults' (file photo)

To test this idea researchers got 300 overweight volunteers and asked those who normally skip breakfast to eat breakfast, while those who routinely ate breakfast were asked to skip it. They weighed the volunteers beforehand and 16 weeks later.

The breakfast skippers who had made themselves eat breakfast lost an average of 1.6lb. While the breakfast eaters, who had spent 16 weeks skipping breakfast, lost an almost identical amount, an average of 1.56lb.

The researchers concluded that, contrary to what is widely believed, a recommendation to eat breakfast ‘had no discernible effect on weight-loss in adults who were attempting to lose weight.’

MYTH: Juicing is a good way to help you lose weight

FACT:  There are juice diets out there promising all sorts of fantastic things, and on a pure juicing diet rapid weight loss can certainly happen. But most of that weight loss is going to be water. 

The reason is that your body keeps a special store of emergency fuel locked up in your muscles and liver in a form called glycogen. 

Deceptive: Many juice diets promise all sorts of great results but most of that weight loss is going to be water

This also binds water. When you stop eating, your body burns through the glycogen stores, releasing the water. 

Not surprisingly, once you start eating normally, your body will replenish its water and glycogen stores and much of the weight will come back on. Genuine fat loss takes more time. 

The really important thing, on any very low calorie diet, is to be sure you have the right balance of nutrients, particularly adequate amounts of protein, and a plan for how to keep weight off permanently once the diet ends.

 THREE WAYS TO STOP SNORING
 

PREVENT: Snoring is the noise caused by the vibration of the soft palate and tissue in the mouth, nose or throat.

It can be hereditary, though alcohol increases chances of snoring as it relaxes the muscles and increases the narrowing of the airways.

Sedatives and some antidepressants can have a similar effect to alcohol on the muscles. Obesity can also raise the risk. People with large amounts of fat around the neck, and with a circumference of more than 17in, tend to snore.

Snooze tips: In order to treat snoring, sleep on your side as sleeping on your back causes the tongue and excess fatty tissue under your chin to relax, squashing the airways (file photo)

TREAT: Though incurable, snoring can be successfully controlled. Sleep on your side, as sleeping on your back causes the tongue and excess fatty tissue under your chin to relax, squashing the airways.

Surgery is only suitable for some cases and is only available on the NHS as a last resort if snoring has an adverse impact on health or quality of life, and all other treatments have failed.

Patients can be left with side effects such as a dry mouth, long-term voice changes and a partial loss of taste.

DON'T BOTHER: Over-the-counter anti-snoring devices may help, but only if you know what type of snorer you are. Take the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association’s online quiz to determine whether your snoring originates from your nose, mouth or base of the tongue vibrating. This will help you choose the appropriate device.

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THE BLOGGER Skincare expert Caroline Hirons

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More than your average make-up and skincare blog, Caroline puts her 20 years’ experience in the beauty industry to good use, giving honest product recommendations. Each item gets a thorough review, from a run-down of ingredients and its organic credentials to how to use it and if it’s suitable for acne-prone or sensitive skin.

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