hope you're not trying to lose weight right now, since this is the most difficult time of the year to stick to a diet with all the holiday parties, food, and sweet treats that are around to tempt you. Even if you're not dieting now, you're probably shopping around for a diet to start on January 1. But before you pick up one of those popular diet books, please consider a nutrition expert's advice about dieting and weight loss.

Health experts all agree that being overweight compromises health. Carrying around extra pounds might just seem like a cosmetic issue to some people, but it has much deeper meaning than a displeasing physical appearance. Diabetes, heart disease, certain cancers, gall bladder disease, bone and joint pain, and high blood pressure are all common consequences of overweight and obesity. Just to give you an idea of the scope of this problem, there are 2,000 new cases of weight-related diabetes diagnosed in this country each day. Furthermore, after smoking, obesity is the second most preventable cause of death in the United States.

Losing any excess weight you're carrying around is a worth-while task. Easier said than done, right? Right. Losing weight is very difficult for two significant reasons. First, we live in an over-eating environment, in which we are constantly encouraged to eat anytime, anywhere, and in the largest quantities that our dollar will buy. Second, many people who go on diets are not truly committed on a mental and emotional level to their weight loss.

Losing weight requires more than just a desire to shed fat. It means being able to commit to trading in your current habits for a whole new lifestyle. It is this emotional readiness that separates those who are successful from those who are not. A recent study compared the effectiveness of four of the most popular diets: Atkins, Zone, Weight Watchers, and Dr. Ornish. The researchers found that all the diets basically had the same success rate-as long as the dieters stuck with the diets. After one year on the diets, however, 50% of those on the Atkins and Ornish diets quit and 35% of those on the Weight Watchers and Zone programs discontinued their weight loss efforts. Those who stuck with the plans lost, on average, 5% of their body weight-a modest loss, but enough to significantly reduce heart disease risk factors. How should we interpret this information? Some people might say that all the diets work, as long as you stick with them. But I say the opposite: diets don't work.

This study shows that it doesn't matter if you go low carb, high carb, high protein, or vegetarian-they're all lower-calorie diets and their success rates are all about the same. The important thing to consider is what happens after you've hit your goal weight. If you go off the diet, you'll go back to your old eating habits and gain back all the weight you lost. So do you really want to be on a diet for the rest of your life?

Since the dieting mentality is one of short-term deprivation, it's easy to convince yourself that you only have to give up cake and cookies for a little while until you lose the weight you need to. But that's a lie because true weight loss success is found in the ability to maintain your weight loss for the rest of your life. When you are truly committed to making changes to your current lifestyle, you will finally be able to end your battle with your weight.

Ask yourself the following questions to find out if this coming January will mark the last time you ever have to try to lose weight:

1. Am I ready to give up many of the usual foods I eat?
   
2. Am I ready to take the time to learn about making healthy food choices?
   
3. Am I ready to try new foods, especially vegetables and whole grains?
   
4. Am I prepared to eat differently than my family and the people around me?
   
5. Am I ready to commit to a consistent exercise routine?
   
6. Am I willing to stand up to the people in my life that undermine any of my attempts at improving my health?
   
7. Am I able to honestly evaluate my self-destructive behaviors, identify the reasons behind them, and devise solutions for changing them?

The good news is that if you're still reading this, you're at least at the point where you're informed about the need to lose weight and you're interested in changing your eating behavior. If you answered "yes" to six or more of the above questions, then congratulations! You're either getting ready to make your lifestyle changes in the next month or you may even be in the process of implementing your plan of action. Your task now is to look at the questions you asked yourself and come up with specific strategies for meeting each of these actions. For example, see the following article, "Burn, Baby, Burn," for ideas to address question #5. To tackle question #2, you can go to gelsons.com to read past issues of this newsletter or you can call me at 1-800-GELSONS with any questions.

If you answered "yes" to 3-5 questions, you may be ready to make changes in the near future, but January is too soon. You're undecided about whether you want to stick with your old comfortable habits or go all out and do the hard work it takes to make these important changes. The best thing to do is to keep reading about nutrition and health, get a check-up at the doctor's office, and then take this quiz again in six months. It often takes a defining moment, like a friend's illness or being diagnosed with an illness yourself, to really spur you into action. Don't give up on yourself now, but don't go on a diet now either; you'll be much more successful if you wait until you're ready.

If most of your answers were "no," then you may be in denial about the dangers of your current situation. It's easy to rationalize your behaviors with statements like "I'm too busy to exercise" or "cooking healthy food is too expensive." These rationalizations may indicate an underlying fear of failure that needs to be addressed before you can truly take control of your life.

I hope that I've said something here that has struck a chord with you. My bottom line is that diets don't work because if you go on a diet, then you're eventually going to go off the diet and that will leave you right back where you started. I encourage you to honestly assess your readiness to change and, when you are ready, change your lifestyle with your optimal health in mind.