A constant debate... should I follow a low carb plan or a low fat plan?
I present one research article that examined this topic on teenagers.
We dont have enough studies available, but this was a good one.
"Acta Pædiatrica ISSN 0803–5253
Low-carbohydrate (low & high-fat) versus high-carbohydrate low-fat diets in the treatment of obesity in adolescents"
Hope you enjoy this episode.
If you are interested in free recipes for teens, grab a copy here
Lifestyleforteens.com/recipes
If you like this episode, share it with your friends.
All the best,
Dr G
Dr Gourgari is a pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine expert and weight loss coach for teens with more than 15 years of experience. She helps teens build healthy habits that last, so they can feel happier, be more confident and love their body again .
To get a free copy of 30 healthy and easy recipes for teens that are high in protein, visit
https://lifestyleforteens.com/recipes
To learn more about the LIFT Program, visit lifestyleforteens.com/program
A constant debate... should I follow a low carb plan or a low fat plan?
I present one research article that examined this topic on teenagers.
We dont have enough studies available, but this was a good one.
"Acta Pædiatrica ISSN 0803–5253
Low-carbohydrate (low & high-fat) versus high-carbohydrate low-fat diets in the treatment of obesity in adolescents"
Hope you enjoy this episode.
If you are interested in free recipes for teens, grab a copy here
Lifestyleforteens.com/recipes
If you like this episode, share it with your friends.
All the best,
Dr G
Dr Gourgari is a pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine expert and weight loss coach for teens with more than 15 years of experience. She helps teens build healthy habits that last, so they can feel happier, be more confident and love their body again .
To get a free copy of 30 healthy and easy recipes for teens that are high in protein, visit
https://lifestyleforteens.com/recipes
To learn more about the LIFT Program, visit lifestyleforteens.com/program
Are you getting frustrated with what to feed a teenager who is always hungry? Everybody knows that teenagers have a huge appetite. It seems like you need to feed them constantly to satisfy their hunger. It's even more difficult where teenagers who struggle with their weight truly want to make changes like cut down on junk food or stop ever eating, and they can't. There's frustration, isolation, stress, and that's why I decided to create a recipe collection of 30 easy and healthy meals for teenagers. They're all high in protein to satisfy your teenager's hunger and they can all be ready in less than 30 minutes. If you want to grab a free copy, go to lifestyleforteanscom for our last recipes.
Speaker 2:This is the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens podcast. If you are a mom and want to help your child who is struggling to lose weight, you are in the right place. If you are looking for healthy lifestyle tips, dr Gorgary is here to help you understand the science around safe weight loss in teens and children, because what works for adult weight loss is not always the best for children. This podcast is for educational purposes only. Dr Gorgary does not provide medical, psychological or nutrition therapy advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problems without consulting your own medical practitioner and now your host, dr Jenny Gorgary.
Speaker 1:Hello, hello, welcome back to another episode of the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens podcast. In this episode, I decided to talk about a topic that I know a lot of moms and teenagers ask me, which is whether low carbohydrate diet is a good type for a teenager In general. When it comes to this topic, let me just start by saying there have not been a lot of studies that have investigated this topic in the right way. However, there was one small study that was done in 2008. It was published in Acta Pediatrica in 2009. This is, I believe, a study that had a good quality, and that's why I decided to bring this to you and let's just break it down in small terms so that everyone can understand it.
Speaker 1:This study was done by Dr Phillips Group in Israel and the title is low carbohydrate, low and high fat versus high carbohydrate low fat diets in the treatment of obesity in adolescents. So let's look more at the details and what this study did. So the main purpose of this study was to compare low carbohydrate diets that had different fat content compared to high carbohydrate diet that had a low fat diet in adolescents that they were overweight. So they had initially, three different groups of adolescents that they were between the ages of 12 and 18 years of age. A total of 55 adolescents participated in this study. The first group in the study had a low carbohydrate, low fat diet. The third group had a low carbohydrate, high fat diet. And the third group had a high carbohydrate, low fat diet. All the three groups ate between 1,200 and 1,500 calories. The first group that has a low carbohydrate, low fat diet was eating 60 carbohydrates. That was approximately 20% of their caloric requirements, 30% fats and 50% protein. The second group was eating 60 grams of carbohydrates. That was again up to 20% of their caloric requirements, 60% fat and 20% protein. And the third group was eating 50 to 60% carbohydrates, because that was like a high carbohydrate diet 30% fat and 20% protein.
Speaker 1:So what the participants were asked to do at the same time was that they were asked to see every week meet with a dietitian and a psychologist. In addition to that, the researchers asked them to fill out self-reported food diaries and to engage in regular physical activity. The whole intervention period lasted 12 weeks, so they had them under this closed monitor for about three months and after that they were instructed and they were giving menus to follow high carbohydrate, low fat maintenance diet and after that they asked them to return every three months and then they followed them again after nine months. They did that because they wanted to see what would happen after the initial three months More close follow up intervention period, the kind of loosen them monitoring, and they but they did continue to see them every three months for the next nine months.
Speaker 1:Another thing the researchers did is that they measured the percent body fat using an electronic scale that had the ability to measure body fat measurements along with their height, weight and calculated the body mass index. If you don't know what the body mass index is, I would encourage you to go back and listen to my first episode where I talk about it. And. But in a sense, body mass index is just a measurement that researchers, physicians, dieticians and other practitioners in the health care used to estimate what is the percentage of overweight that a certain person has, especially for kids that have different heights. They have different normal weights so it's difficult to assess the weight but whether somebody is overweight or not, just using the weight. So the researchers collected the body mass index to measure whether the diet, certain diet, was effective or not and how to compare one diet versus the other. Now they also collected urine and blood test of the check, lipids, cholesterol and other things that they are important for their health, and I'm not going to go into too much details about this. But what I wanted to focus is what happened at the end of those initial three months and also what happened after a year since they started, in terms of their weight, which is again assessed by body mass index.
Speaker 1:Okay, are you ready for the results? Let me tell you what this study showed. So, on average, the average body mass index of the teenagers that participated in this study was 34. At the end of the study, the average body mass index was 32. That is a significant improvement. I know it's only two points, but two points in body mass index is very difficult to change. It's not like the weight that you dropped two pounds and you may drop two pounds in a week. Dropping body mass index even by one point requires a lot of effort and cannot just happen like that. It just happened because somebody actually is deciding to do something different. So there was a significant improvement in the body mass index, which means that these adolescents actually did follow the recommendations that the researchers were telling them. But keep in mind. They were meeting with the psychologists and the data center every week and they were under close monitoring for the initial 12 weeks period time.
Speaker 1:However, here is the most important finding of this study All three diets were equally effective in creating this decrease in the body mass index, so none of these diets were better than the other one in terms of improving the body mass index. To be more specific, if you're interested to know the other lessons that were following the low carbohydrate lofa diet, they changed their body mass index from 35.2 to 32.5 in three months. 12 weeks. The low carbohydrate high-fi diet changed their body mass index from 33.7 to 31.7. The high carbohydrate lofa diet changed their body mass index from 33.8 to 32.0. That, again, is the average of the participants. They were equally approximately distributed within the three groups. There were 18 adolescents in the first group, the low carbohydrate lofa diet, 17 adolescents in the low carbohydrate high-fi diet and 20 adolescents in the high carbohydrate low-fi diet.
Speaker 1:Now what is even more interesting is the results after a year since the beginning of the study. After a year, the average body mass index in the three groups was 32.1. The decrease in the body mass index was sustained after a year, although it was not as good as it was after the 12 weeks. So what that means? It means that on average, the majority of the teenagers were able to improve their body mass index after three months. They did regain some of the weight and their body mass index got a little bit worse after the study compared to three months after the study. However, it remains significantly better at three months when you compare it to where they started at.
Speaker 1:And if you want to know more details about the numbers, the body mass index at 52 weeks in the low carbohydrate lofa diet was 32.4. In from 32.5 at 12 weeks. In the low carbohydrate high-fi diet, the 52 weeks body mass index was 32.6 compared to 31.7 at 12 weeks and in the high carbohydrate lofa diet was 31.1 compared to 32 at 12 weeks. So actually, the high carbohydrate lofa diet group had an improvement, continued to have improvement in their body mass index even after the end of the 12 weeks. Now what does that tell us? That tells us something that other studies, also done in adults, have shown and that following a low carbohydrate diet may be difficult to sustain for a prolonged period of time, and that is why over time, after a year, you may regain some of the weight, and that is because, most likely, you're not able to continue to follow a low carbohydrate diet for a year after the study. However, if it is a high carbohydrate lofa diet, you're more likely to sustain it over the year. That is one possible explanation.
Speaker 1:However, the key take-home message that I want you all to remember from this study is that all three different types of diets or dietary plans work in the first three months and the results were significantly improved after a year after the study in this group of adolescents. Now, in terms of their percent body fat, again as a group, that also improved. In general, the average body fat was 41.5% at the beginning of the study and after 12 weeks it dropped to 37%. That was a significant improvement. So my recommendation, after reviewing this study with you, is choose what works for you, choose what works for your family. As long as you are compliant with whatever dietary plan you decide to follow, that is fine. And let me just say that a lot of these dietary plans are not easy to follow and there was approximately 20% to 25% of adolescents that gave up and they did not follow up the study, and that is not surprising, because it is not easy to continue to follow something that may be restrictive, and that's why I'm not a proponent of a specific diet.
Speaker 1:However, I always encourage you to follow what feels easy and what feels in accordance to whatever plan you decide to follow based on your eating preferences. That's all I had to share with you today, and if you are looking for easy and healthy recipes for teens, I have created a free resource for you. You may find it helpful. You can go to my website, lifestyle14scom, click on free resources and grab 30 easy recipes for teens that can all be made and be ready in less than 30 minutes, and they're high in protein. See you next week. Bye-bye.
Speaker 2:Visit the website at lifestyle14scom and click on the work with me and free resources to learn more about this program and get free help to start this journey right away. Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode of Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens.