New Book Helps You Select Best Diet for You

Everyone is dieting! There seem to be as many diet books and diet plans out there as there are dieters. Bookstore shelves are filled with great sounding titles like: The New Sugar Busters, Fit for Life, Good Mood Diet, Intuitive Eating. How do you choose and, more importantly, how do you know what will actually help you without hurting you?

A good place to start is the excellent new book, The Diet Selector: From Atkins to The Zone, More Than 50 Ways to Help You Find the Best Diet for You. Written by Judith Rodriguez, a clinical dietitian and professor at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, the book evaluates 50 weight-loss diets and 25 disease management or healthful eating plans.

In choosing a diet, Rodriguez says the first question you have to ask yourself is: "Does it fit your lifestyle and your (food) likes and dislikes?" She believes that multi-approach diets that address food, behavior and physical activity provide the greatest possibility of success.

Easy to use, The Diet Selector includes a history of each diet or plan, a description of how it works, pros and cons, and a sample menu. Diets are rated on long-term strength, flexibility, cost, family compatibility and scientific basis. While the book doesn't make recommendations, Rodriguez admitted she has her favorites. "There are some diets that I thought had healthier approaches -- such as the Frenchwomen's diet, which doesn't talk about dieting but about behavior and lifestyle values. The Mayo (Clinic Healthy Weight Program) diet is another one." She also liked the heart healthy DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet and the Mediterranean diet which focus on eating plans for life.