One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight or at least eat more healthfully. Several Web sites offer tips and tools for getting there.
Healthy Holidays
30 Days of Holiday Eating
A series of daily tips, tidbits and insights about holiday food.
A Better Food Pyramid: Harvard nutritionists say their revamped food pyramid is based on the latest science and is “unaffected by businesses and organizations with a stake in its messages.” It starts with exercise and encourages adding more plant-based foods and cutting back on “American staples” like red meat, refined grains, potatoes and sugary drinks.
Dr. Gourmet: New Orleans physician Timothy S. Harlan, also known as Dr. Gourmet, has created free diet software that helps you plan more healthful meals. He calls it the Quality Calorie Diet Plan to reflect his belief that it’s the quality of the calories we eat that counts the most. The site creates meal plans and even offers ways to use leftovers later in the week. It includes food and exercise diaries as well as goal-tracking features, and a place for users to analyze their own recipes.
3FatChicks.com: This Web site began as a personal source of diet support for sisters Suzanne, Jennifer and Amy and has now grown into a community of over 70,000 registered members. It has the typical diet-site resources and tools, but the main appeal is the forum for dieters to share stories and find support.
Cooking Light: A great site for finding healthy and delicious foods that won’t make you feel like you’re on a diet. You’ll find recipes, nutrition information and advice on cooking techniques.
Food Blog Search: It’s not a diet site, but if you’ve resolved to cook at home more, this is a great resource for finding new recipes. This custom-built search engine uses Google technology to search for recipes in more than 2,600 food blogs.
National Body Challenge: Discovery Health’s National Body Challenge is a free fitness and weight loss program. After registering online, participants set their personal goals and create a customized eating and exercise plan. Registration gives users access to customized meal and fitness plans, a community of other Challenge participants, weight and fitness trackers and video and interactive tools as well as a 30-day free health club membership.
Weight Watchers — Although the site is offering a one-week free trial to it’s online plan, you’ll have to pay $65 for a three month subscription if you stick with it. While it’s true that most people who diet end up gaining back their weight, much of what Weight Watchers claims is backed by science. An April 2008 article in the British Journal of Nutrition looked at success rates of lifetime Weight Watchers members. They found that a year after reaching goal weight, 80 percent of participants had maintained at least 5 percent of the weight loss a year later and 27 percent of the dieters had stayed below their goal weight. While that means a lot of people regained their weight, it’s still more evidence for success than offered by most commercial diet plans.
South Beach Diet: This diet gained popularity as an alternative to the strict low-carb regimen of Atkins, with an emphasis on “good carbs” like high-fiber vegetables and whole grains. It also offers a free week trial, followed by a $5 a week membership fee.
So what have I missed? Are there other websites you’d recommend to help people lose weight and live healthier in 2009?
And for more on resolutions, read New Year, New You? Nice Try.
Healthy living doesn't happen at the doctor's office. The road to better health is paved with the small decisions we make every day. It's about the choices we make when we buy groceries, drive our cars and hang out with our kids. Join columnist Tara Parker-Pope as she sifts through medical research and expert opinions for practical advice to help readers take control of their health and live well every day. You can reach Ms. Parker-Pope at 
The easiest and most pleasurable way to eat well is to cook. Recipes for Health offers recipes with an eye towards empowering you to cook healthy meals every day. 
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What has worked really well for me is using a food journal. At a point when I was in college, I went to the dietician on campus and we reviewed portion sizes and the food pyramid (which can be found at: http://mypyramid.gov/). It’s simple (and free!) and has helped me keep the weight off and helped me to lose more.
I do question why the South Beach diet is on here. Shouldn’t the focus be more on having a healthy lifestyle (and using moderation when necessary) and not thinking of certain foods as good or bad?
FROM TPP — Well, I wanted to include a few commercial plans on the list, and I like the message of South Beach which is to improve the quality of the calories and the carbs that we ingest. The reality is some foods ARE bad. Let’s talk twinkies and processed pastries, sugary drinks — these foods have no redeeming nutritional value. For the person who always eats healthfully, you’re right — no need to think about foods being good or bad. But most of us aren’t everyday healthy eaters. We live in a world of fast food and highly-processed packaged foods. Your point about the focus being on a healthy lifestyle and moderation is the right idea for maintaining a healthy weight. But if the goal is weight loss, a more-structured eating strategy is typically needed. A plan like South Beach will work for some people, while weight watchers or just more mindful eating might be better strategies for someone else. No one plan will work for everybody, but I think South Beach is a reasonable option among many options out there.
— CarolynWake me when it’s over.
— StarInteresting how items on this blog regarding the failings of doctors and other health professionals recieve a veritable monsoon of comments, but post one item about taking personal responsibility for your own health…….where is everyone?? Still eating??
— BenjaminYou forgot about Sparkpeople.com http://sparkpeople.com/ which is completely FREE and offers exercise and diet plans, education, etc.
FROM TPP — Yes we are getting many votes for Sparkpeople.com I will check it out.
— EJI recommend Sparkpeople. It’s free, it’s online and you can use as much or as little of it as you like (message boards, exercise and nutrition trackers, recipes, challenges, special interest forums).
— SharonI decided to go vegan in 2009, but started pretty much right after our holiday feasts, so have been doing it for about a week now. This is not a weight-loss scheme for me but rather in support of my father, who struggles mightily with his weight (and some scary heart problems) and decided to go vegan about 6 months ago. Though he has issues with cheating and portion control, he likes the diet because he can essentially eat whatever he wants as long as it is not animal products or too much oil.
After a week of veganism, I notice a distinct change (for the better) in my energy levels, and also I do not ever have that unpleasant “heavy” feeling after eating. For me a large part of my interest in this diet has been the challenge of cooking vegan food: Vegan cuisine focuses on individual tastes and food items, and it is surprising how many delicious options are open to vegans…even new vegans who love to cook. Many vegetable dishes from Africa, Asia, and India are traditionally vegan, as well as being both filling and wholesome. (I am trying to stay away from the over-processed meat and dairy substitutes, although I take soy creamer in my tea, and some substitutions are necessary in baking).
OK, here are a couple of blogs that I have been enjoying:
http://thegluttonousvegan.blogspot.com/
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/
P.S. I am a “civilian vegan”–not of the militant variety; if my restaurant salad comes with a few crumbles of gorgonzola I’m not going to have a cow (so to speak). I think if more folks realized that you don’t have to become a radical about it, there would be more healthy vegans in this world.
— MaebI would like to add eatingwell.com the website for Eating Well magazine to this list. They do a great job. Also, since reducing the amount of protein and fat from animals is probably necessary for most dieters, I’d like to suggest vegweb.com .
— Jordanexcellent article
— Rob GardnerSparkPeople.com
It is ad laden, but it is free. Many motivational tools and wide variety of forums for various mutually shared interests work to encourage people to achieve their goals.
As other sites you list, SparkPeople has blogs and stories of success that can be tapped into for individual use. It has a rudimentary calorie counter and exercise log function. There are articles and videos for all sorts of exercises.
The “diet” is basically eat fewer calories than you expend. No tricks or gimmicks other than those that support building good habits related to reasonable caloric intake and exercise.
— TeriAtkins does, in fact, have a recently revamped web site, with lots of information, recipes, support forums, as well as a detailed step by step plan for following the diet.
http://www.atkins.com/Program.aspx
— BudI’ve been following Weight Watchers on-line since May 2007 and have lost over 100 lbs since then. While I’m about 30 lbs short of my personal goal, I’m no longer taking any prescription medications (I used to take meds for Type 2 diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure). The hardest part was starting. In the beginning, my goal was to lose weight; now my goal is to maintain the more healthful routine that I’ve developed.
FROM TPP — Wow. Impressive. Congratulations!
— GregNutritionVista.com offers a complimentary site that has a series of interlinked “Nutrition Tools” to help consumers with the following:
1. Do a simple, yet complete health assessment.
2. Check recommended intakes for calories, fats, carbohydrates and other nutrients.
3. Complete a health appraisal to assess their risks for preventable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
4. Consumers can also talk online to dietitians by clicking on ‘Live Chat’ for customized plans.
5. Monitor their diet & health over a period of time while sharing reports directly with their Primary care physicians.
6. On their “Nutrition Therapy for Cancer- Diet Guidance & Care” module, consumers can additionally find the tools and resources essential for the well-being of a cancer patient.
The site also offers access to customized diet plans and healthy eating guidance based on individuals gender, age and medical condition. Their unique offering is that consumers have direct access to well-qualified dietitians online and from anywhere!
The site took three years to develop and was launched in November 2007, by a well respected Gastroenterologist and Nutritionist from New York, Dr. Sunil S. Jhangiani.
NutritionVista.com is a global site that has an extensive following in Asia and in the U.S. An extensive panel of experts has been the guiding force in developing this portal.
To learn more please visit the following:
http://nutritionvista.com/Home/default.aspx
http://nutritionvista.com/Help/About/Default.aspx
Thank you,
— Mrinal JhangianiMrinal Jhangiani
17 Castle Walk
Scarsdale, NY 10583
http://calorie-count.com
Has outstanding database of food calories & nutrition, as well as resources for tracking exercise and finding the nutrition info for recipes you enter yourself. Perform “analysis” on your daily, weekly, or monthly food intake to get breakdown of proteins, carbs, fats etc…you also can see the % of RDA you have eaten so far in a day. This helps me a lot to adjust iron intake, for example.
Another source of good recipes & alternatives, as well as humor about the whole food game: http://www.hungrygirl.com/
Must go eat celery now.
— LGAYes, you’ve forgotten Donna Fish’s wonderful book, TAKE THE FIGHT OUT OF FOOD: How to Prevent and Solve Your Child’s Eating Problems.. it’s of course oriented toward children, but the suggestions work for adults really well. Fish is a well-regarded therapist in the city; there’s a wealth of suggestions born out of both practical and intuitive understandings of how to establish eating habits that will reduce your weight and maintain it. In other words, a healthy, real approach to losing weight.
— Jameshttp://www.peertrainer.com
PeerTrainer works on accountability: you join a group of four people and your group keeps everyone on track with their diet and exercise plans. Finding a good group is key, but when you do, it works!
— resolving to do betterAnother free website that is very helpful is fitday.com. It’s pretty Spartan, but you can keep track of your calories, carbs, energy expended, etc.
It really helped me lost 80 pounds back in 2003 — now I hope it will help me lose them again!
Anybody have any thoughts on controlling compulsive eating, I mean like really truly compulsive five-or-six-bagels-for-lunch-type eating?
— PatThe calorie counter at about.com/caloriecounter is pretty amazing. You can track your calories and exercise on a daily basis (FOR FREE!!) It analyzes the content of your meals in terms of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbs, fat. The pie chart gives you a great visual of how you’ve eaten on a given day.
— BARBARANutritionVista.com has extensive Nutrition Assessment and Monitoring Tools, specific to chronic lifestyle diseases of diabetes, obesity and heart disease. They have foods from all over the world that can be evaluated for their nutrient breakdown. The recipes section is vast and each recipe has a complete nutrient breakdown of 20 macro and micro nutrients.
— MrinalAnd yes, NutritionVista.com is FREE.
Use common sense when it comes to portion sizes. Most of the processed food that we consume today are BAD for us but good for the corporations that make them. Being vegetarian/vegan helps your health as well as the environment. Humans are not meant to be carnivores.
Most of the world lives a vegan/vegetarian diet and meat is a luxury.
A lifelong vegetarian.
— SStickk.com. On this site you make a financial contract with yourself about a goal. If you don’t reach the goal, you are forced to donate money (amount decided by you at the beginning) to a charity of your choice. Though goals can be anything, not just weight loss, it’s a popular choice in the site.
I haven’t taken the plunge yet but an seriously considering doing this for weight loss this year!
— JackieFROM TPP — Interesting!! Unfortunately the site appears to be down at this posting but the link is correct. Here’s a Freakonomics blog post on StickK.com
Another FREE Nutrition site which is a global outreach initiative is http://nutritionvista.com/Home/default.aspx
Its founding physician and Physician Advisory Board focuses extensively on chronic lifestyle diseases of obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
— SSurihttp://www.fitday.com
Less ads than Spark People, good calorie counter, food log, and meal analysis.
— cwI heard an interesting story on our local NPR affiliate (wamu.org) on New Year’s Day about using the Japanese concept of kaizen, the constant improvement philosophy, to make small but lasting steps in one’s behavior. Robert Maurer, the behavioral sciences professor on the program, espoused a “start small” principle and gave a personal example about losing 45 pounds over 18 months or so by very gradually increasing his exercise and re-learning healthy eating habits. He noted that small, manageable, and incremental changes avoid the fear instinct, which leads people to avoid change.
The approach makes a lot of sense to me - I think there’s a great temptation at this time of year to change everything all at once, and to start with fresh habits for a new year. The problem is it’s hard to make huge changes overnight, and the moment you slip up, you revert to your old, safe habits, and you beat yourself up for your failures.
FROM TPP — Here’s a link to the show you heard on WAMU.
— sergio georginiActive.com - web site with calendar for running, biking, etc events throughout the country
The only times I’ve lost large amounts of weight was when I had some sort of athletic event to train for (in my case, running events). Am sedentary by nature and don’t particularly enjoy sports or working out for the activity itself. Has always helped me to have some sort of event as an exercise goal.
— JackieAlso check out http://www.DietsInReview.com they have tons of diets and a great blog!
— jackFROM TPP — I almost included that site in my list but had a hard time figuring out who is behind it. do the diets have to pay to be reviewed on the site? I just couldn’t tell, but it is interesting to click through.
UPDATE: For more information about DietsInReview, see comment number 31 where the editors have posted additional information.