The Mediterranean diet may get all the attention as the solution for people who follow a flexible diet and want to lose weight.
But a new diet promises to help you lose weight by focusing on just two nutrients: fiber and protein.
Known as iDip – or by its less powerful name, the Individualized Diet Improvement Program – helped nearly half of participants in a new study lost 13 percent of their body weight, or up to 26 pounds.
Even better, the weight loss was maintained for a year after the trial.
The Individualized Diet Improvement Program (iDip), developed by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, emphasized that users
According to the study authors, simply cutting your calorie intake won’t work. You’ll miss out on key nutrients and be more likely to gorge yourself on food and gain weight again.
The amount of protein and fiber a person consumed depended on their body weight and goals. In general, people ate more fresh vegetables, oats, and lean meats, such as fish and turkey.
Protein is the macronutrient that keeps you full the longest – even more so than fat and carbs. The longer you stay full after a meal, the less you eat overall.
Fiber is a nutrient that is crucial for adding bulk to your diet without adding excess calories – and it is found in abundance in fruits and vegetables, which also provide the body with vitamins essential for health. It can help you feel fuller for longer, similar to protein.
“We don’t exclude food groups like low-carb or low-fat plans do. The primary goal is to empower dieters to make informed choices so they can create their own sustainable weight management program,” says Mindy H Lee, a registered dietitian at the University of Illinois said.
The first test of iDip, which took place in 2017, helped half of the participants achieve and maintain their weight loss goals.
The second iDip trial, just published in the Journal Obesity science and practiceincluded 22 overweight people and had them attend 19 different workshops, do homework, measure their bodies weekly and receive individual guidance over a period of one year.
The researchers kept in touch with the participants for a year after the initial experiments to see if they maintained the weight loss.
They were advised to eat high-fiber, low-calorie foods, such as oats, apples, beets, and broccoli. And they were advised to eat low-calorie, high-protein foods, such as turkey, chicken, fish, and beans.
They did this by giving participants a so-called protein-fiber chart, a tool that helped them choose foods that met their fiber and protein goals.
This is because they say that focusing solely on reducing calorie intake without increasing protein and fiber intake will not produce lasting change, the lead author said. Manabu-Nakamuraaccording to a professor of nutrition.
At the end of the trial, 41 percent had achieved significant weight loss. They had lost an average of 12.9 percent of their initial body weight.
For example, someone who weighed 200 pounds was able to lose 26 pounds and maintain that weight in the year after the first experiment.
However, the program was not a miracle for everyone. The rest of the group, which consisted of about 13 people, lost an average of only 2 percent weight.
An example of the tool the researchers gave participants to track the protein and fiber density in their food
People who saw results within the first three months were more likely to have sustained weight loss by the end of the trial period.
The study showed that the researchers still need to make some adjustments to make it applicable to everyone.
Furthermore, their study was relatively small-scale and they need to repeat it with more people to determine whether it works on a larger scale.
iDip shares similarities with other diet trends, such as the Mediterranean diet, where users eat more fresh food and lean meat, but there is no ban on one specific type of food.
However, it combines these flexible aspects with a rigorous weighing and education system, so that users still get a concrete picture of where they stand with their weight loss.
“The problem with currently available commercial weight loss programs and products is that the magnitude of weight loss in people who follow a diet is not large,” said Professor Nakamura.
“The bigger problem is that people can’t maintain it.”
He added: ‘Flexibility and personalization are essential in creating programs that help dieters achieve optimal weight loss and weight maintenance.’