In search of the holy grail of successful dieting

Sylvia Thompsonchecks out the new titles and finds that behind the glossy covers, there is a lot of sensible advice on healthy eating and exercising.

Was losing weight one of your new year's resolutions? Did you buy a diet book to help you along the way? Did catch lines such as "slimmer, trimmer and healthier in just 10 days" (The Sonoma Diet by Dr Connie Guttersen, Penguin) or Drop a Size GI Diet - fast, easy, forever by Joanna Hall (Harper Thorsons) or even The Duvet Diet - sleep yourself slim by Jane Worthington (Rodale) make it seem easy?

Well, we decided to take a sample of this year's dieting books to see if they are all touting the same advice.

Is there a holy grail of dieting? Or are some books simply blinding you with science and wasting your time with novel recipes when you could sit down and work out for yourself what's wrong with your eating habits (eg keep your own food journal and be honest about snacking) and get on with making the changes without any diet book?

Most of the newly published diet books aren't promoting fast weight loss and once you get beyond the glossy covers, many of them are, in fact, encouraging people to change bad eating habits slowly and aim to lose between one to two pounds a week and then maintain this weight loss over time.

Naomi Moriyama, author of the Japan Diet, says, "we've dieted, detoxed, carb-counted, cleansed, rebalanced, irrigated, meal-skipped, food-restricted, food-timed, food-combined, fasted, protein-shaked, fat-burned, obsessed and denied ourselves to the point where we now weigh more than we ever did".

So, instead, Moriyama suggests we reconnect with a highly nutritious, traditional healthy diet and take it from there.

Calorie counting is out. Sticking rigidly to a few very specific foods is also gone and some of the new books even say you should chuck your weighing scales and focus instead on the inherent enjoyment of buying (farmers' markets from California to Tokyo are part of the new diet), cooking and eating healthy foods.

Moriyama promotes the traditional Japanese diet which has become highly fashionable as ready-made carry-out lunches in cosmopolitan supermarkets and speciality food stores.

However, the traditional mediterranean diet is also well researched for its nutritionally balanced content. In fact, the Sonoma diet is based on exactly the same Mediterranean foods, grown in the Sonoma valley in California.

Meanwhile, Dr Nicholas Perricone, author of The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet (Sphere), suggests the three biggest mistakes many unsuccessful dieters make are, firstly, a failure to eat enough protein, secondly, an avoidance of the good fats (from olive oil, nuts, etc) as well as the bad ones (saturated fats from fatty cuts of red meat and chicken) and thirdly, choosing carbohydrate foods such as bagels, potatoes, rice and corn cakes instead of fresh fruit and vegetables.

The glycaemic index, which was the big dieting craze last year, is no longer dominating the diet books. It gets mentioned alright but often with words of caution regarding how complicated it is to focus on low GI foods (the GI scale sets white bread at 100 and the aim is to eat foods lower than this) because when foods are eaten together their GI values change.

This is because the glycaemic index rates the speed of digestion of carbohydrate foods (ie how long it takes for the blood sugar levels to rise and send messages to increase insulin production which has a knock-on effect on how much fat is stored in the body) but doesn't rate the digestion of protein.

Even English health and fitness expert Joanne Hall admits that the glycaemic load (ie the GI divided by 100 and multiplied by the available carbohydrate content of the food) is probably a more useful concept than the glycaemic index. But try doing that maths calculation every time you sit down to eat a meal.

So, as interest in the low-carb diet wanes - just as the high-protein Atkins diet and low-fat diets did before that - what exactly are the healthy eating messages that this year's crop of diet books are latching on to?

Well, portion size is big in almost all of them. Dr Connie Guttersen, author of The Sonoma Diet, even suggests you use an 18cm plate or a 450ml bowel for breakfast and a 23cm plate for lunch and dinner.

Naomi Moriyama calls for a return to human-size portions, adding that the idea of super-sizing hasn't caught on in Japan because there has never been an overabundance of food.

She also believes the Japanese tradition of eating meals from several small dishes naturally discourages over-eating. Reducing portion sizes as a means to eating more healthily and losing weight has also been promoted in Ireland by Safefood, the food safety promotion board.

Eating your meals slowly is also recommended by this year's batch of dieting experts. Guttersen writes that research has shown that more weight is gained by eating on the run or standing in front of the refrigerator than by sitting down to enjoy a full meal.

Similarly, studies have found that people who eat fast are prone to over-eat. "They are still bolting down the food while the stomach is sending a message to the brain that it's had enough," says Guttersen.

"You want to savour your meal, taste and appreciate each bit of the delicious foods you're eating. One slow meal a day should be possible. Plan for it and make the time for it," she writes.

In The Japan Diet, Moriyama even includes tips for "mindful food shopping and eating".

Most diet books dedicate almost half of the book to recipes which many nutritionists believe people never follow. "The daily meal plans are often welcome but I suspect many people don't bother with the recipes," says Margot Brennan of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetics Association.

Some diet book authors also choose to highlight their top 10 foods which can be counterproductive, according to dietitians, because people focus too much on these particular foods rather than keeping their attention on their overall nutritional intake.

Joanne Hall's book is the dieting book with the most basic nutritional information on macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). She also dedicates more space to exercise than any of the others.

And so to exercise, the cornerstone of being healthier and trimmer that many diet books in the past chose to ignore.

Tokyo-born, New York city dweller Naomi Moriyama believes strongly in the value of walking everywhere you can. She quotes Dr Simon Till, chairman of the British Association of Sports Medicine, who says, "five to 10 minutes of moderate intensity exercise done several times a day will give you excellent fitness benefits."

Joanne Hall develops the idea of small steps for big change, saying that people often fail in their attempts to improve their health by setting unrealistic, unachievable expectations. In her book, she outlines a six-week walking plan and promotes the now-popular concept of taking 10,000 steps a day (using a reliable pedometer) as all that is necessary to achieve health, weight loss and fitness improvements.

In the Duvet Diet, Jane Worthington raises the important issue about how poor quality sleep (caused by eating large meals late at night, cigarette smoking, alcohol and caffeine) can lead to eating the wrong foods.

The sleep-to-lose-weight concept is, however, better explained by Perricone. He quotes a study from the University of Chicago which demonstrated that when we don't get enough sleep, levels of hunger-inducing stomach hormone (ghrelin) increases while an appetite-suppressant hormone (leptin) decreases.

Worthington adds that some doctors and dietitians are now urging overweight people with other complications of obesity such as diabetes to include sleep management strategies in their weight-loss programme.

As to why so many of us are overweight now, Worthington suggests it's to do with our hectic lifestyles. "When you're constantly exhausted, you're less likely to seek out regular physical activity and more likely to eat convenience foods that are usually full of fat, processed carbohydrates such as sugar or both."

Joanne Hall adds that people often find themselves caught up in cycles of emotional eating. "It's recently been shown that we are more likely to engage in emotional eating if our basic human needs - such as security, love and belonging - are unfulfilled," she writes.

Prolonged periods of depression and anxiety also tend to cause emotional eating and poor sleep, leading to cravings for sweet and fatty foods. Maybe next year's dieting books will look more seriously at how our lifestyles are making us fat.

Meanwhile, get thee to a farmers' market to stock up on nutritionally dense fresh produce and go home and cook and eat it mindfully.

12 tips to lose weight without dieting:

1 Eat smaller portions:Consider using smaller plates and bowls.

Don't feel obliged to finish large meals in restaurants or when visiting family or friends.

2 Relax and eat at a leisurely pace:Eat at a table and not in front of the television.

Research has found that slow eaters are less prone to putting on weight than fast eaters.

3 Eat fish:Try to eat fish twice a week with at least one portion of oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel or herring). Choose leaner cuts of meat and avoid the skin of poultry.

4 Eat lots more fruit and vegetables:Aim to have half of your dinner plate made up of different varieties of vegetables.

Choose plant foods such as fruit and nuts as snacks throughout the day. Fruit and vegetables should make up one-third of the food you eat.

5 Choose the wholegrain option:Eat more wholegrain products such as brown rice, wholegrain breads and cereals.

6 Watch your drinks:Cut out fizzy drinks and keep alcohol consumption below seven units a week. If you drink coffee, aim to have one cup a day, preferably in the morning time.

Reduce tea drinking or vary it between black, green and herbal teas. Drink plenty of water throughout the day.

7 Careful what you buy:Choose foods with less saturated fat, salt, added sugars and little or no trans-fat.

8 Don't skip meals and never, ever skip breakfast:Research has found that eating breakfast helps people control their weight.

People who skip breakfast and eat fewer times during the day tend to be heavier than those who eat a healthy breakfast and eat four or five times a day. A good breakfast will kickstart your day.

9 Cook food carefully:Choose methods that maintain flavour best such as steaming vegetables and grilling meat.

10 Choose carefully when eating out:Avoid foods with creamy sauces and oily marinades and opt instead for poached, steamed or grilled dishes over pan-fried or roasted dishes.

11 Get and stay physically active:Moderate exercise counts and you can build up to 30 minutes of exercise a day by fitting in a 10-minute brisk walk, a short cycle, etc.

Foster good sleeping habits. Research has found that poor sleeping can lead to overeating.

12 Enjoy food:Think of food as a source of joy, energy, good health and celebration.

Don't go on a diet. Instead, phase in healthy eating habits over time and foster a good attitude to your eating habits.