I don’t need to look at a calendar to know that the first of the year is fast approaching. My mailbox gives it away, loaded as it is with review copies of new and re-issued diet books. But I’m happy to say that there has been a tremendous improvement in recent years in the crop of weight loss guides. Most have been written by research scientists who avoid gimmicks and boring, overly restrictive or quick weight-loss schemes that are bound to fail. Instead, their recommendations are based on sound studies and clinical trials that have yielded a better understanding of what prompts us to eat more calories than we need and, in particular, more calories from the wrong kinds of foods.

These authors are not miracle workers who can get you bikini-ready for a midwinter vacation, but their approaches can work wonders for those determined to lose weight permanently, even with limits on time or budget, or with a social or occupational need to dine out often.

Treating body and mind

Science-based improvements in the diet-book genre began about five years ago with the publication of The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan: Feel Full on Fewer Calories, by Barbara J Rolls and Robert A Barnett (HarperCollins). Dr Rolls, chairwoman of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State University, shunned specific diet plans and instead developed an approach to eating based on her findings from numerous clinical studies that people need a certain volume or weight of food to feel satisfied.

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