02 March 2024 , 12:24
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A little-known diet that allows you to design your own meals has been found to reduce body fat and aid weight loss, research suggests.
The Volumetrics Diet is an eating plan designed to promote weight loss by having you fill up more low calorie, nutrient-dense foods. The aim is to reduce feelings of hunger while promoting other healthy habits, like regular exercise and the use of a food journal. The eating plan, based on a book by nutrition scientist Dr. Barbara Rolls, claims to help you feel full while eating fewer calories and offers in-depth guidelines, recipes, and tips on how to calculate the calorie density of your most loved foods.
In essence, foods that are low in calories and high in water, such as fruits, vegetables, and soups should be consumed in larger volumes, leaving less room for calorie-dense foods like cookies, candies, nuts, seeds, and oils. The diet allows you to eat what you want, so long as there are higher proportions of low calorie foods and limited numbers of calorie dense foods.
Dr. Rolls says these restrictions help you feel satiated, reduce your caloric intake, and promote weight loss while fostering healthy eating habits. Unlike fad diets, the Volumetrics eating plan should be considered a long-term lifestyle change rather than a quick-fix solution.
No foods are completely off-limits as part of the diet (Getty Images/iStockphoto)How it works
The Volumetrics Diet separates foods into four categories based on their caloric density:
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Category 1 describes foods with very low calorie density (less than 0.6). This includes fruits, non-starchy vegetables, soups nonfat dairy and beverages like water, black coffee, and unsweetened tea. Category 2 can be enjoyed in moderation and includes low calory density foods (0.6–1.5) such as whole grains, legumes starchy vegetables and lean proteins.
Category 3, medium calorie density foods, (1.6–3.9) are permitted but dieters must keep an eye on serving sizes. These foods include meat such as fatty fish, poultry with the skin, and high fat cuts of pork and beef, refined and white carb and full fat dairy. Category 4 describes high calorie density foods (4.0–9.0) and should be consumed sparingly. They include nuts, seeds, oils and processed foods.
Dr. Rolls advises to divide the number of calories in a particular serving size by its weight in grams - giving you a figure between 0 and 9. Foods that score the lowest are typically those with a high water content, such as broccoli, while processed foods usually rank high.
While dieters are free to design their own meals using foods from each category, a typical meal should mostly consist of foods from Category 1, then Category 2 to help fill your plate. There should be a small amount of foods from Category 3 and very limited amounts from Category 4.
The standard meal plan - built around 1,400 calories per day - can be adjusted to fit an individuals calorie goals by increasing portion sizes where necessary. No foods are completely off-limits. The diet also encourages at least 30–60 minutes of exercise every day, as well as keeping track of your physical activity and food intake in a journal. This helps monitor progress and flag areas you may need to improve on.