Forget about fad diets and influencers.
If you seriously want to manage your body, mind and health in a better way, the best people to follow are the nutrition academics who know the science and aren't trying to sell you something.
If we've still got your attention, you might want to try the University of Newcastle's free six-week online course, titled The Science of Weight Loss: Dispelling Diet Myths.
The six-week online course starts on Wednesday and runs for six weeks. It takes two to three hours a week.
It will use the latest research to teach people how to "develop a healthy eating plan to achieve a healthy weight".
As we chatted to University of Newcastle Laureate Professor Clare Collins, she gave an example of a couple who did the program and changed their habits.
"They stopped eating cheese and drinking wine every night," she said.
Since then, they've been in their best shape in years.
The course won't bamboozle you. It doesn't cover the complex psychological aspects of weight management. It helps people understand things like the difference between portion and serving sizes.
Participants have found that through learning about healthy living, their self esteem can be boosted.
Some weeks people will experience zero weight loss, but in other weeks they will notice kilograms being dropped.
Learning to pay more attention to nutrition and quantity of food consumed are other benefits of the course.
The course's purpose is to "build the nutrition knowledge and skills of adults who are interested in weight management".
"This may be for themselves, a family member or to assist others in achieving healthy eating and weight loss goals."
Clare highlighted that the focus was on learning about nutrition and improving wellbeing.
"It's not a diet plan," she said.
She said the course is a much more practical and effective way of managing weight than diets.
People on diets can end up putting on more weight later.
The course will improve understanding of "how to approach weight management from a scientific based point of view".
The course content includes:
- Key weight management concepts such as measuring body composition, calories and kilojoules, energy density, portion size and metabolic rate.
- The nutritional composition of different foods.
- How to use dietary assessment tools and calculate energy requirements.
- How to identify features of fad diets and healthy diets.
- Key behaviours for successful long term maintenance of lost weight.
Find the course at edx.org.
Trendy New Pill
We also asked Clare about the trend of people taking the type 2 diabetes drug semaglutide [sold as Ozempic and Wegovy] for weight loss.
It's attracting a lot of attention due to supply shortages. Some believe it could signal a new wave of hyped weight-loss drugs, despite concerns about side effects.
For those taking the drug, Clare said it will be even more important to make sure they're getting adequate nutrition because it tends to dramatically reduce hunger.
If a person on the drug ended up eating only one meal a day and they opt for takeaway, that wouldn't be good.
