Calorie Density Diets Review

 

Calorie Density Diets are one of the latest approaches to weight loss that are based on weight and bulk of the food you consumme, not the makeup of the diet. Studies suggest that people eat the same volume of food each day, so instead of the volume of food being the focus of a weight loss regimen, the calorie intake should be the entire focus. Such is the rationale behind several new diet books, including "Volumetrics" by Barbara Rolls, a nutrition and obesity researcher at Pennsylvania State University, and a new version of the Pritikin Principle diet called the Calorie-Density Solution.

You calculate the calorie-density of an item of food by dividing its calories by its weight. Foods with lower calorie densities are better for losing weight than foods with high calorie densities. Foods with low calorie densities are high in fiber and water, which add calorie free volume and weight. Such foods include vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Combining these foods with high calorie-density foods such as pasta or meat can lower the overall calorie density of a meal thus making it healthier

In an experiment conducted at Penn State, researchers gave women similar meals, but varied the ingredients to change the calorie densities. For example, some women were served a pasta dish on two days, but on another day they were served a lot of vegetables in order to lower its calorie density. The women ended up eating the same weight of food each day, but when they ate lower-density meals they consumed 30% fewer calories. The results may have shown a correlation between lower density food intake and weight loss, but the study was a bit short-term. Long-term studies are being conducted to learn more.

Commentary: It seems pretty much common sense to me that a decrease in caloric intake and eating healthier will lead to weight loss. Complicated books and theories such as Calorie Density Diets are not needed to be studied to learn the obvious.