The world's best diet

Last night I watched the second and final part of a documentary about 'The World's Best Diet'. It featured five celebrities, each of whom were challenged to try a diet from another country for about six weeks. One went Japanese, including lots of sushi (raw fish) and vegetables. Apparently, only 3% of Japanese are obese, compared with 24% of Brits! They also eat three times more fish than us and eat loads of soy beans. Someone else (Darren Gough - the cricketer) went Italian - and enjoyed a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables, fruit, oily fish and lean meat. The Los Angeles diet that Carol did was basically a very low arbohydate diet, combined with lots of exercise. Another went for a traditional (e.g. post-war) British diet - with meals typically consisting of meat, potatoes and two veg. The final person, Cheryl, went Indian- and ate various types of curry for six weeks. While she experienced a lot of wind (!) during the first few days - this calmed down after her sttomach had got used to it.

So, after sticking to their particular diet for six weeks, did the five celebrities lose any weight? Well yes, actually, some of them quite a bit:

Indian diet - 2 pounds.

British diet- 4 pounds (it might have been more but this guy cheated and ate snacks when he wasn't supposed to!). Most of the weight he lost was mostly down to reducing portion sizes.

Japanese diet - 9 pounds.

Mediterranean diet - 16 pounds (Darren also lost 2 inches off his waist). Darren's cholesterol levels went down by a significant amount - it just goes to show how much difference a few weeks of healthy eating can make. Darren commented that the Italian food he ate was easy to cook and also very tasty.

Los Angeles diet - 19 pounds (Carol lost 6 inches off her waist). However, despite the huge weight loss and loss of volume from her waist, Carol's cholestorol levels went UP! This is a consequence of the increased consumption of protein (especially through meat). Remember, this was the very low carbohydrate diet which is deemed unsustainable in the long term. Carol experienced severe fatigue during her diet and got very moody and irritiable - a fact verified by her family!

So, at the end of the programme, the 'moment of truth' arrived - and they revealed the Mediterranean diet to be the best. Click on the title link for more information about the Mediterranean diet.