Review of the Women's Health Diet

Diet Book Review - The Women's Health Diet: 27 Days to Sculpted Abs, Hotter Curves & a Sexier, Healthier You! (2011, 2012 by Rodale Inc.)

Think you could never be as flawless as the models gracing the covers of magazines like Self or Fitness or Health? Well then think again, because the Women's Health Diet: 27 Days to Sculpted Abs, Hotter Curves & a Sexier, Healthier You! published by the editors of Women's Health Magazine claims that you too can "win the war against fat, build muscle, and become one of those enviable women". In as little as one month, you will feel stronger, sexier, leaner and healthier that you ever have before and best of all, it's easy!

The first page of the Women's Health Diet outlines the "Secrets of the Slim," a list of seven strategies that, if followed, will lead to "rapid and effortless weight loss (from belly, hips and thighs first!)." These strategies have women eating protein with every meal, always eating something for breakfast, eating before and after exercise, eating a predominately plant based diet, mastering the art of salad making, refusing to drink sugary drinks and allowing themselves to splurge 20% of the time, but only with the "best" versions of their favorite foods.

In addition, the program encourages women to forego calorie counting and cutting out entire food groups, and instead eat five meals, totaling 1500-2000 calories, comprised of "superfoods" from the "FAST & LEAN" list. FAST & LEAN stands for Fiber rich grains, Avocados and healthy fats, Spinach, leafy greens and other vegetables, Turkey and lean meats, Legumes, Eggs and dairy, Apples and fruit, Nuts and seeds. Refined carbohydrates, added sugars, and trans fats should only be eating in small quantities, and preferably not at all. In doing this, women will actually be eating more and filling up on the nutrients their bodies crave, instead of empty calories. Food is viewed as fuel and these nutrients will "stoke metabolisms, blast belly fat, and build lean, long-lasting muscle."

Building muscle is an essential part of the Women's Health Diet, and following the "Fast Track Tone-Up Plan" will "turbocharge weight loss, slim you down and have you looking and feeling better faster than diet alone". The plan requires only three 30-minute weight circuits per week in which you do as many reps of a given exercise (with perfect form) as possible for thirty seconds each, and then repeat until 30 minutes is up. The circuits can be done anywhere as long as you have a set of dumbbells. On two non-circuit days, women are encouraged to engage in at least 20-minutes of "active recovery" by incorporating fun physical activity into their daily lives; suggestions include: walking, gardening, cleaning, sports, and having sex. One day of the week should always be a dedicated rest day to give the body a chance to completely relax. The goal of this program is not simply to burn calories working out, but to increase one's metabolic rate by building muscle so that the body continues to burn more fat even while at rest.

An entire chapter of The Women's Health Diet is devoted to the fact that traditional diets simply do not work. These diets eliminate entire food groups, have complex point systems and algorithms, or focus on one particular food or nutrient. They are complex, hard to follow and often rely on calorie restriction and deprivation to achieve weight loss; in other words, they are all gimmicks that might cause you to lose weight in the short run, but are hardly sustainable and might cause you to gain more weight later on. In contrast, The Women's Health Diet is not merely a diet; it's a lifestyle that provides dieters with the tools they need to remain healthy and fit for the rest of their lives. The plan doesn't require calorie counting, portion ratios, intense workout sessions, special drink mixes or food restrictions; in fact, it is not even about downsizing your body, it's about upgrading it so that you can become your strongest, healthiest, happiest self. On The Women's Health Diet, "you will eat more, work out less and work with your body not against it"; they claim that "if this diet isn't fun and easy, you're doing it wrong".

In addition, the editor's are quite proud of the fact that the recommendations they make are based on the latest and most thoroughly researched information gleaned from prestigious journals and the country's top experts. With their onsite fitness facilities, kitchens and the largest private medical library in the world, "the Women's Health Magazine has been collecting, analyzing, testing and publishing evidence-based advice on women's fitness and nutrition for almost a decade". This diet distills those years of research into one simple, easy to follow program that the staff at Women's Health Magazine knows works because they follow it themselves, and have seen the results. That is what makes the Women's Health Diet different from any other diet out there; it is deeply rooted in science that not only looks good on paper, but also has been proven to show real results for real women.

With as strong a grounding in science as the editor's of the Women's Health Diet claim it has, it is no surprise that it makes a number of valid points supported by current nutrition and exercise literature. They are correct in saying that fad diets do not work; in fact, researchers at UCLA have found that two thirds of dieters regain the weight they lose (Mann, et a., 2007). Deprivation diets and diets that restrict caloric intake can create severe preoccupations with food, constant hunger, and binge eating, which may be the reason for this weight gain (Keys et al., 1950). Dieters will try to re-lose the weight leading to weight cycling, which has the potential to increase rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and strokes as well as general all-cause mortality. They conclude that, "the benefits of dieting are simply too small and the potential harms of dieting are too large for it to be recommended as a safe and effective treatment for obesity" (Mann, et a., 2007). In addition, calorie restriction, and the even mere idea of it, can lead to weight gain later on by decreasing lean muscle mass, and therefore basal metabolic rate, as well as increasing levels of the fat storing stress hormone cortisol (Tomiyama et al., 2010). Reducing one's food intake severly or by cutting out entire food groups is also highly unsustainable and difficult for dieter's to maintain (Sweeney et al, 1993).

The idea that eating more whole foods and fewer processed foods, as suggested on the FAST & LEAN