The Stonyfield Farm Diet for Weight Loss
by Vicki Koenig, MS, RD, CDN

Did you overdo it for the holidays? It's easy to do. There's no use in beating yourself up about it. It's just time to look forward and focus on what it takes to get your body back in shape, the shape you want it to be!

First, allow me to wave my magic wand while you click your heels and say, "There's no place for pounds. There's no place for pounds." Oh, right. We're looking for realistic, scientifically based programs that are not fake promises of quick weight loss fads. My approach is to help you create a better way of eating that will result in a better state of health. A nice side effect will be a normal or improved weight status.

My diet "prescription":
Here's a twist on the routine diet advice. How about a diet that is:

• High in calcium, especially from dairy sources,
  
• High in fiber including the fiber from inulin and
  
• Moderately high in lean protein to help with weight loss.

Those are things to include. Including ample amounts of exercise will definitely firm up your plans for the future.

Let's look at the scientific research to back up this recommendation.

Calcium:
In a previous column, I wrote about the studies that demonstrated the effects of a diet high in calcium, especially from dairy, which seems to interfere with fat absorption and is more effective at fat burning. This column was written based on research published in the year 2000. There's even more research to substantiate this from the same researcher, Michael Zemel, Ph.D. and several others. Honestly, the research is now even more impressive than when I first reviewed it. Calcium definitely does seem to have a negative effect on fat storage and in fact a diet high in calcium is associated with weight loss especially around the torso. Numerous studies have shown that people with low calcium intake have more weight gain, less weight loss and bigger, fatter fat cells.

Unfortunately, when most people try to lose weight and cut back on calories, they often cut back on milk products also. In Dr. Zemel's more recent research, he looked at dieters who all had plenty of weight to lose. He and his Nutritionists helped them to cut out 500 calories a day. Some of the dieters were also asked to eat three to four servings of dairy daily. Everyone lost weight after six months. Those that ate dairy lost 70% more weight. They lost an average of 19 pounds compared to 11 pounds with the control nondairy-eating group. The dairy group also lost 64% more body fat than the control primarily from their abdomens, the unhealthiest kind of fat for the heart. These results are significant. "Higher calcium diets favor burning rather than storing fat. Calcium changes the efficiency of weight loss", said Dr. Zemel. Most Americans have at least 20 pounds to lose and as well would benefit from the added calcium.

How much do you need to have an effect? The best results were seen with at least 1200 mg of calcium per day. In Zemel's and other researchers' studies, the effect of dairy calcium and fat burning seems to max out at four servings per day of yogurt, milk or cheese. Yogurt provides the added benefit of better tolerance for those with a lactase deficiency. The additional benefit of Stonyfield Farm yogurt is it contains inulin, which boosts calcium absorption! If you have severe lactose intolerance, taking the lactase enzyme pill with dairy foods is a very reasonable remedy to this. The other key to the effective use of this diet advice is that it only works with a weight loss promoting diet. You can't just eat the yogurt on top of a high calorie diet and expect to lose weight.

Fiber:
Most of us need to eat more fiber in our diet. It's beneficial for good health, helping to lower blood lipids, (fats), promote good digestive health and to decrease the incidence of colon cancer. Many weightloss diets promote high protein and low carbohydrate. Did you also know that the major complaint of these low carb diets is constipation? If we don't get enough fiber, how is food going to move through our systems? While these low carb diets promote fiber from vegetables, it is often does not meet the recommended 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day. We don't know the long-term effects of these high protein diets, so let's not forget fiber in the short-term struggle with excess weight.

• Fiber helps the body digest a higher protein diet frequently used by people trying to lose weight.
  
• Fiber can decrease fat absorption, which is beneficial for weight loss. Some fibers form a gel and can "absorb" the fat in the intestine, helping to prevent fat absorption and subsequent storage of adipose tissue.
  
• Fiber provides roughage, preventing constipation, while also helping the body eliminate toxins.
  
• Fiber remains in the digestive tract providing a sense of fullness but without extra calories.
  
• Inulin is a natural fiber that provides a creamy mouth feel adding to the satisfaction of a reduced fat yogurt. It has all the benefits of fiber as just mentioned, plus as a prebiotic, it boosts the production of the probiotics. There's a certain bacterial mix in the gut that is associated with a higher protein diet. This bacterial mix is associated with a greater potential for harmful pathogenic toxins. Add inulin and other fibers in the diet and you will benefit from more probiotics to offset the potential putrefactive bacteria that can be produced by mostly eating meat.

You can get fiber from lots of vegetables, yogurt with inulin, the skins of fruits, psyllium seed husks, oat bran fiber, gums, pectin, nuts and seeds. I think eating lots of fiber is important AND I think people can benefit from also taking a supplement like psyllium husks or oat fiber or flaxseed meal on a daily basis.

Protein:
Ultimately, to lose weight comes down to reducing calories coming in and what you're willing to stay with as a weight reduction plan. This means you have to be able to stick with it and not be too hungry and uncomfortable in the process.

There's research to substantiate that an increased amount of protein can be beneficial for weight loss. A diet moderately high in protein will help you lose weight and has been shown to decrease hunger. I'm not advocating the extremely high protein, low carb diets. You will lose weight on them, perhaps quickly, but even though some of these diets have been around for decades, like the Atkins diet, there's no body of research to support that the weight loss can be sustained for the long term. The problem is that while you may be able to stay on the diet for 3 months, it cannot be maintained for life.

To lose weight, you have to want to stay with the plan. If the diet is low fat, high carb, the problem is that frequently you're hungry while you're eating less. If it is low carb, high protein, an actual side effect is nausea, which does cause decreased intake. Fewer calories do promote weight loss but do you want to always eat and feel like this? New research shows that if you increase your protein to as high as 125 grams per day, (while still getting at least 100 grams of carbohydrate), that you can lose weight, lose more fat and less muscle, decrease triglycerides and possibly increase HDL-cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) and not be so hungry in-between eating.

Donald K. Layman, PhD, a professor of Nutrition at the University of Illinois conducted a study looking at the effects of a low fat diet based on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid compared to a higher protein diet. For 10 weeks 24 mid-life women all above their ideal body weight ate 1700 calories per day from one of the two diets. The pyramid diet was 55% carbohydrate, 15% protein, (68 grams) and 30% fat. The protein diet was 40% carb, 30% protein, (125 grams) and 30% fat. Everyone lost an average of 16 pounds, however the women eating the protein diet lost 12.3 pounds of body fat and only 1.7 pounds of muscle mass. Those on the pyramid diet, lost 10.4 pounds of body fat and more significantly 3 pounds of muscle mass.

Dr. Layman notes "Women eating a lower protein diet were less capable of burning calories at the end of the study as when they started it." Additional positive effects of the protein diet were a significant reduction in blood triglycerides and a slight rise in HDL, (good) cholesterol. Layman believes that a high protein diet provide more of the amino acid leucine which stimulates muscle protein synthesis during low calories intakes. This translates into greater lean muscle tissue retention. Exercise further enhances this. Lower protein diets also require less insulin. High carbohydrate diets increase insulin levels, which increase fat storage and potentially blood triglyceride levels. An additional benefit is studies also demonstrate that a higher protein diet is associated with less hunger between meals. After eating a meal higher in protein, there is a longer period of time before a person feels hungry and needs to eat. This certainly helps you to stay with a diet longer and actually get and keep some weight loss. Ultimately, calories count. But it does help to feed yourself the calories that satisfy you longer.

With the New Year, I have plenty of clients who are trying to lose weight. Click on the diets below for a meal plan that might just help you change the way you eat with lots of healthy side effects. If you try my Stonyfield Farm Diet, please let me know about your results through the Ask Our Nutritionist in the Healthy People section. I might just be on to something. Remember, you heard it here first!

A 1500-Calorie Stonyfield Farm Diet

A 1900-Calorie Stonyfield Farm Diet

Reference:
http://www.nutri-facts.com/calcalc.asp A good place to plug in your weight and different activities to see exactly how many calories you're burning.

http://www.cyberdiet.com/reg/focus/weight_loss_supplements1.html This mentions Dr. Zemel's calcium and weight loss research.

Layman, DK, et al: Carbohydrates versus protein in diets for mid-life women. FASEB J. 2000;14:A564. Dr. Layman's research article.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/lowcarb/ A discussion on exactly what is low carb. It's an interesting website by "3 Fat Chicks".

http://www.3fatchicks.com/lowcarb/archives/cat_low_carb_rebuttal.php This is a nice description of many low carb diets and their pros and cons.

http://www.hsrmagazine.com/articles/2b1cover.html An interesting article that discusses digestion well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A24635-2002Oct26&notFound=true This is an article from the Washington Post on October 29, 2002 that discusses recent research comparing results from being on the Atkins diet vs. a low fat diet.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/824375.asp?cp1=1 This is a review of a seminar on high protein diets for weight loss that I actually went to at the American Dietetic Association's Food and Nutrition conference October 2002 in Philadelphia.