Clinical Guide to Popular Diets

It is no secret that the United States is facing an obesity epidemic with the obesity rates continuing to rise year after year. According to the Center for Disease Control, one third of Americans are now obese. It is no longer sufficient to simply point out the health risks of obesity to our patients as the reason to lose weight. Patients are seeking guidance in terms of what specific diet plan to follow and what foods should be eaten. There are thousands of diets on the market with new ones introduced daily. Not all diet plans have proven results, nor will they work for every patient. More importantly, not all diets marketed to the public are safe to follow for an extended timeframe. In fact, research shows us that diet composition is not the key to long term success, but compliance to a calorie deficient diet is the solution. So how does one choose which diet plan to recommend to patients?

Finally, a book for clinicians is here to help answer this question. This book provides information to help patients understand several different research proven diets on the market today including: the Atkins diet, the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, the I diet, the Mediterranean diet, Paleo Diets, South Beach, Vegetarian diets, Weight Watchers, and the Zone diet. Each diet is carefully and thoroughly reviewed in this book by some of America’s top obesity medicine and weight management specialists to provide health practitioners a knowledge of the diet composition, current research evaluating the diet, typical weight loss results, the pros and cons of the diet as well as which patients would most benefit from each diet plan.

This book provides the necessary tools for clinicians to feel comfortable discussing several of the more popular and scientifically researched diets with patients. This book offers solid information to advise patients, based on their specific health history, on which diet will afford the greatest chance for success.

Caroline Apovian, MD, is Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, in the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition at Boston University School of Medicine, USA. She is also Director of the Center for Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center, USA. Dr. Apovian is a nationally and internationally recognized authority on nutrition and has been in the field of obesity and nutrition since 1990. Her current research interests are in weight loss and its effects on endothelial cell function, adipose cell metabolism and inflammation, the bariatric surgery population and novel pharmacotherapeutic antiobesity agents. She is also an expert in the technique for subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies, and has been performing these biopsies on research subjects for over 10 years. She was on the expert panel for updating the 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS Guideline for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines and The Obesity Society which were published in Circulation, Obesity and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. She was also the Chair of the recently published Endocrine Society guidelines on the Pharmacologic Management of Obesity.

Elizabeth Brouillard, RD, LDN, CDE is the Nutrition Manager for The Center of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Nutrition and Weight Management at Boston Medical Center. She has been a registered dietitian for 8 years and has focused most of her career on weight management and diabetes. She obtained a certificate in adult weight management from the Academy for Nutrition and Dietetic and is a Certified Diabetes Educator. Elizabeth works in the outpatient settings and sees patients everyday struggle to make diet and lifestyle changes for weight loss and glycemic control. Many of her patients have tried several different diets with varying success in the past and Elizabeth been able to work with these patients to determine which diet plan will work best for them based on their current health, lifestyle, and food preferences.

Lorraine Young, MD, is the Clinical Nutrition Manager (CNM) at Boston Medical Center (BMC), I am responsible for the management of all in patient clinical nutrition services and dietitians for both adult and pediatric patients as well as two Pediatric outpatient dietitians. Clinically, I manage all home parenteral and complex enteral patients discharged from the hospital or referred to the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition Department. I am also responsible for the clinical care of these patients when admitted to the hospital. I have over 35 years of experience in the field of Nutrition Support as well as in conducting clinical research with one of the original developers of parenteral nutrition in the United States. These research projects included work with intravenous and enteral glutamine and growth hormone in critically ill patients. I have published extensively in this area.