Women ruminate about food longer than men, says "Time" magazine. Women also experience an emotional craving for food more than men. In many ways, women face an uphill weight-loss battle when compared with the opposite sex. However, once a female decides to go on a diet, compared with males, they're much better at choosing healthy foods, reading nutrition labels and sticking with a structured weight-loss plan.
Sugar Busters Diet
Given an "A" by Heather Reese, RD, for meeting the standards of a healthy and well-balance diet, Sugar Busters limits carbs, but does allow you to consume whole grain pasta and bread in moderation. "Unlike other low carbohydrate diets, it does not include a beginning phase that excludes specific food groups," says Reese. You're also encouraged to eat lean meats and healthy fats.
The goal of the Sugar Busters Diet is to eliminate refined sugars and flour, both of which are found abundantly in processed foods and contain little or no nutritional value.
With the Sugar Busters Diet, you'll get 30 percent of your calories from carbohydrates, 30 percent from protein and 40 percent from fat.
Weight Watchers
"Consumer Reports" rates Weight Watchers, the popular calorie-restriction diet, the highest long-term adherence rate of any diet in its analysis. With live and Internet support group meetings, weigh-ins and a flexible menu, Weight Watchers was found to be a better long-term diet compared with other commercial diets such as The Zone and Atkins, which performed well for short-term weight loss, but had a higher drop-out rate. "Consumer Reports" also based its ratings on adherence to U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Weight Watchers encourages consuming low-fat, high-fiber meals. It also has a point system that assigns a fixed number of points to food based on calorie, fat and fiber content. Dieters are given a total number of points they can consume daily based on weight, height, age and activity level. Factoring in exercise, a dieter can increase the number of points she can consume depending on how many calories she burns.
Barbara Rolls, creator of the Volumetrics Eating Plan, and a doctor in nutrition, came up with her new diet in response to the same old "eat less" message. "Telling people to eat less is unhelpful," she told the "New York Post" in 2005.
In its Diet Report, "Consumer Reports" indicates, "The top-rated Volumetrics diet employs a strategy of consuming low-density foods and encourages dieters to first take the edge off of hunger by consuming a low calorie soup or salad."
The Volumetrics Eating Plan allows dieters to eat fiber-rich foods like fresh fruits, vegetables with high-water content like tomatoes and broccoli; whole grains like pasta, rice, breads and cereal; soups; salads and lean meats like poultry and seafood. Though there are no food restrictions, avoiding deep-fried foods and those high in sugars is encouraged.
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