Your weight loss diet may not be as healthy as you think

Eating more fruits, vegetables, and salads when you’re on a diet will be less healthy and balanced than you think… Here’s my finding Preliminary study Presented at the 2022 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association held November 5-7 in Chicago.

Most dieters exaggerate the quality of their diet

In fact, according to researchers, there is a gap between the insight we can get for an effective diet and that of researchers and health professionals.

Researchers evaluated the diets of 116 adults, ages 35 to 58, from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, area who were trying to lose weight. Study participants discussed their diets with a dietitian, then noted everything they ate and drank each day for a year afterward. tracking app, study authors reported. They also weighed themselves daily and wore a device to track their physical activity.

The researchers used the HEI (Healthy Eating Index), which assesses how well a diet pattern conforms to guidelines Dietary Guidelines for Americans from the US government. The score in this indicator is a function of the frequency of consumption of foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole and refined grains, meat, seafood, sodium, fats, and sugars. It ranges from 0 to 100, or even more if the diet is very healthy.

Participants had to self-assess their progress toward a healthier diet at the end of the study, by subtracting their final score from the primary score. The researchers performed the same process and significant differences emerged between the two perceptions: at the end of the study, only 1 in 4 participants had a good relationship between the perceived diet score and that assessed by the researchers.

Dieting can backfire

This great contradiction is not without consequences:Overestimating the quality of food consumed may lead to weight gain, frustrations with not achieving personal weight loss goals or a decreased likelihood of following healthy eating habits.Deepika Ladu, assistant professor in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and chair of the American Heart Association’s Council on Changing Lifestyle Behaviors to Improve Health Factors said.

The researchers hope that the results of this study will allow dieters to develop healthier, sustainable and above all more realistic eating habits, and help health professionals to better support them.