Most Effective Diets...Perhaps

I don't know what David Kirsch is smoking (probably oxygen or something else healthy).  I ordered my David Kirsch 5-Day Detox last Thursday to be sent by Fed Ex (another $11) and it's now Tuesday with no package in sight.  He, of all people, should know that when someone is ready to make a commitment to detoxing (as evidenced by the fact that the kit costs over $100), there's a small window of opportunity.  Pretty soon, I'm going to forget about all the cookies and champagne and hot chocolates over the holidays.  It's going to be Valentine's Day and I won't want to cleanse.  Seriously David....where's the damn kit? 

[**Note: I received the kit by Fed Ex about 4 hours after this blog post.  The David Kirsch company contacted by e-mail and via the comments below to ensure that I received the kit....thank you!  Great customer service for sure!]

In the mean time, thought I'd share an article written by The Daily Beast on the most effective diets.  

Basically, they tried to find scientific articles on a number of popular diets and lay out average weight loss, attrition rate, and a nutrition score in an easy-to-read format.  Unfortunately, they did not compare apples to apples.  In some instances, they only evaluated one scientific paper on a diet, but multiple papers are in existence (e.g., SlimFast).  For other diets, they reported the weight loss only for those subjects who completed the entire study (e.g., Volumetrics), whereas for others, they reported the weight loss of the entire subject population including those who stayed in the study and those who dropped out (and I'm sure you can figure out that the weight loss will be lower in these studies when presented this way).  Then they didn't evaluate The South Beach Diet because of lack of published scientific evidence, but in fact, there are at least two clinical trials showing it's effectiveness (in one study, ~10 lb weight loss after 9 months).   

And so, as usual, the media is presenting, what I like to call, "almost correct information".  

What I hope happens is that folks read the article and get inspired by a diet.  All of the diets presented have been scientifically tested to ensure they work.  But not all of these diets will work for every person.  I was involved in one weight loss trial where the majority of subjects following a high-protein diet lost weight...more weight on average than the subjects on a low-fat diet.  But the person that lost the most weight in the entire study was following the low-fat diet.  So what might work, on average, for a group of people, is not necessarily what will work for an individual.  

I've said it before and I will say it again...weight loss diets are like lovers...you need to find your "diet soul mate" to make it work long term. 

I'm certain that my soul mate is NOT David Kirsch...being stood up before our first date does not make for a long-lasting relationship!