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You want to eat food you like. You want it to make you happy, or skinny or fit.
But when you go to the bookstore looking for guidance on the shelves, the choices are more overwhelming than the cholesterol report you just got back from your doctor.
And with a cycle of new diet books weighing in all the time, how do you know what's healthy or what will even work for you?
"At the end of the day, you want to learn something, and you want to be able to take it with you for the long haul," says Stephanie DiBacco, an assistant professor in the department of nutrition science at The Sage Colleges and an Albany-based registered dietitian. "Sometimes you relate to whoever's on the cover, skinny girl or a fitness trainer, because you think that that's your ideal goal or picture of health. You have to look beyond the cover and say, 'Is this something that I would do every day or take parts of it every day?' so that you've actually gained something from reading it."
DiBacco says it's important to look into the author's credentials, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly the American Dietetic Association) has reviews of diet books on its website (http://www.eatright.org).
She also says there are a couple of red flags to consider when you're flipping through the pages of the latest release. If a book is promising results within a set period of time — seven days, even 30 days — it's not taking into account that cookie-cutter plans don't work. People have different health concerns and varying circumstances.
And a plan that fits a person's lifestyle is key to success, DiBacco says.
"You want to look and see if those recipes are things you like and are able to make," DiBacco says. "As a general rule, most people don't eat alone three meals a day, so it's nice to be able to say, 'If I made this for my partner, my friends, my family, everybody should enjoy it.'"
If the diet book doesn't measure up, head to another aisle.
"I actually think cookbooks are better than diet books, because they just give you enough variety, and they do it in portions, and you get to pick what you like," DiBacco says. "There's no prescriptive about it."
If you're not interested in heading to the cookbook section, here's the skinny on four hot new diet books.
jgish@timesunion.com • 518-454-5089 • @Jennifer_Gish • facebook.com/JenniferGishwriter
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