The Dukan Diet: 5 things to know

The Dukan Diet--another twist on high-protein/low-carb--is one of the latest best sellers among fad-diet books. Fad diets are always sold as some magical breakthrough, or magical combination of eating the "right things, in the right way." The reality is that high-protein diets date back over 150 years (to 1860!), and if they actually worked--in the long term--we wouldn't have two-thirds of our population overweight or obese.

Here's five things to think about before choosing to take the plunge:

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Glycemic Load: What you should know

In my last post I explained that the popularity of glycemic index among dieters is based on myths about the affect of insulin on hunger, fat storage and weight gain. Glycemic index does have value however, just not what the fad-diet books claimed.

The glycemic index (GI) value of a particular food tells you how rapidly exactly 50 grams of carbohydrate from that food will move into your blood. The weakness of the glycemic index is that you don't generally eat food portions that provide exactly 50-grams of carbohydrate.

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The HCG Diet: 6 things you should know before you...

Dr. Oz's show February 23rd [2011] was on the HCG diet. The HCG diet combines daily shots of a hormone (produced by pregnant women) called human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) with extreme calorie restriction. Overall I was very disappointed with Dr. Oz, and the whole segment. I think it left consumers with the impression that the HCG diet, while controversial, is still okay under a doctors "supervision." Here's what you didn't hear on Dr. Oz yesterday:

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