An article in Reuters and published in the International Journal of Obesity describes a need for a change in behavior in relation to diets and keeping the weight off. Once again, a diet is only good and effective if one changes their daily routine and adopts a healthy eating habit and follows some sort of physical exercise. The side effects of this behavior change goes a long way towards lowering the risks of chronic diseases.

Losing weight is often touted as a way to improve health, but many weight-loss programs may not help stave off disease since people tend to gain the weight back, Australian researchers say.

In a report in the International Journal of Obesity, they note the focus of such programs may need to change if they're really going to have a lasting effect.

To test the potential impact of different diets, the researchers ran two computer simulations: One included a low-fat diet, the other a diet rich in whole grains and vegetables plus 180 minutes of exercise per week.

According to the models, people lost an average of 8 to 12 pounds on the diets and kept the weight off for an average of 6 months. But the pounds slowly crept back on, and after less than 6 years, the dieters were back where they started -- negating any improvement in health from the weight loss.
In addition, the researchers estimate that only about 3 percent of Australia's population would participate in weight-loss programs.
"Interventions that try to change the behavior of individuals but do nothing about the environment in which these people live, are likely to have modest and temporary effects at best," said study author Lennert Veerman, who studies population health at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.

"They are not the solution for the obesity epidemic -- more, and different, interventions have to be taken," he added in an e-mail to Reuters Health.

Along with continued counseling to help people keep weight off long-term, Veerman suggests a 'junk food tax' and better nutrition labeling. These did seem to have an overall positive effect on health in a parallel study, published in November in the same journal.
In the US, 73 percent of adults are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The extra pounds increase the risks for a multitude of ailments, including diabetes, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, and some types of cancer. And according to the surgeon general, they rack up a yearly bill of $117 billion in the US, counting health care spending and lost productivity.

"We understand that weight loss programs that we have now are really helpful for individuals," said Hollie Raynor, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. "But the challenge seems to be, how do we help individuals maintain this weight loss over time?"

Financially speaking, the Australian study shows a dieter who also exercises would save an average of $1,088, and someone in the low-fat diet program would save about $1,040 in health care costs.

Nonetheless, Veerman said, "the fact that not everybody (who's) overweight wants to, or can, participate reduces its overall effect on the overweight-related burden of disease in the population."

WHAT’S FOR DINNER?!

Chicken under a Brick with Rapini

Prep Time:20 mins

Total Time:1 hr

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Directions

Butterfly the chicken by cutting out the back with kitchen shears.

Lay the chicken on a clean work surface, skin-side down.

Using your fingers, free the bone that separates the two breasts. Lift the bone out and discard it.

Coarsely chop sage and rosemary. Using your fingers, gently loosen the chicken skin from the breasts; Rub salt and pepper and a little of the chopped herbs onto the breasts, under the skin.

Slice the peel from the lemon and cut it into large pieces; reserve the peeled lemon.

Scatter about a half of the chopped herbs and lemon on a large piece of plastic wrap.

Add about a third of the sliced garlic.

Lay the chicken, skin-side down, on the herbs and seasonings.

Scatter the remaining herbs and lemon and about half of the remaining garlic (the rest will be used to flavor the rapini) over the chicken.

Season the exposed side of the bird with salt and pepper, then season with a little olive oil.

Wrap the chicken in the plastic and allow it to marinate for at least an hour, but better yet over night.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Unwrap the chicken and pick off the herbs and pieces of lemon peel.

Season the skin side well with salt and pepper.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Place the chicken in the skillet, skin-side down.

Flatten it with a heavy weight, a brick wrapped in tin foil works perfectly.

Cook the chicken until the skin begins to color, about 45 seconds.

Transfer the chicken to the oven and continue cooking until the thigh juices run clear, begin checking after 25 minutes but expect the chicken to take about 10 minutes longer.

Remove the chicken from the pan and allow it to rest in a warm place for about 5 minutes.

Reserve the skillet with the pan juices.

While the chicken is cooking blanch the rapini in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes, then drain.

When the chicken is done and resting, heat the pan juices on the stove over medium high heat.

Add the reserved garlic to the pan and cook until it is fragrant and beginning to color, about 2 minutes.

Add the blanched rapini and cook, turning it in the pan juices, until it is tender, about 2 minutes.

Season the rapini with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice then transfer it to a serving dish.

Serve the chicken over the rapini.