Harvard study on diet and lifestyle impact on weight

tofeelwell

Hi All,

I just ran across a Harvard study published in June that raises some interesting points about food choices and lifestyle impact on weight. The study group was large, >120,000 people and studied over quite a few years. It points to some food choices that are most likely to produce gain or loss and to other issues like sleep and TV watching as weight gain factors. It tracks them as +/- x..x lbs weight gain or loss factors. I don't have access to the whole study but a summary is at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2011-releases/diet-lifestyle-weight-gain.html.

michedarnd

EXCELLENT post! Thanks! Maybe my combination of potato chips and years of short sleep have something to do with why I'm here? LOL.

MizzDoc

Thanks to the OP for posting this. The article was informative and reinforces much of what I have learned just by being here on MFP! As quoted from the article:

"The most useful dietary metrics for preventing long-term weight gain appeared to be:

•Focus on improving carbohydrate quality by eating less liquid sugars (e.g. soda) and other sweets, as well as fewer starches (e.g. potatoes) and refined grains (e.g. white bread, white rice, breakfast cereals low in fiber, other refined carbohydrates).
•Focus on eating more minimally processed foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, yogurt) and fewer highly processed foods (e.g. white breads, processed meats, sugary beverages)."

I have read similar information from many MFPeeps and within the various topics and threads on this website. So for anyone that doubts what is said here by the average user, this study provides some additional support.

hajjcomb

As Michael Pollan put it in his book, In Defense of Food, "Eat food. Mostly vegetables. Not too much."

_gwen

Thanks for posting this article.