Sticking to the ultimate New Year's resolution: carbs are good and fat can be our friend if we would just learn to make nice with these vital macronutrients

THERE HAVE BEEN the cabbage soup, grapefruit, low fat/no fat, and high-protein diets, as well as calorie-counting and no-calorie-counting programs--and let us not forget the do-note-at-late-at-night regimen and ... well, you get the idea. Americans always are looking for the magic bullet to weight loss. After being a clinical nutritionist for more than 20 years and having worked with thousands of clients, I can tell you that no magic bullet exists.

Although the U.S. is one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world, there is a serious problem. Since the early 1980s, Americans increasingly have grown larger. We are eight pounds heavier, on average, than we were 15 years ago and consume 15% more calories today than in 1984. Adult obesity has doubled since 1980, increasing in every region of the U.S. in males, females, and across all age, race, and socioeconomic groups.

As the best-selling dress size for women grew from an 8 in the 1970s to a size 14 today, so have our risk factors for Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, high blood pressure, gall bladder disease, elevated cholesterol levels, osteoporosis, kidney failure, and certain cancers. Proper weight is not just a matter of looking good; it is about health. One study even suggests that obese adults have more chronic health problems than smokers, heavy drinkers, and the poor.

What are we doing wrong that allows for so many Americans to be either overweight or obese? Frankly, we simply are eating too much. Just ask the French, who are known for their rich, continental cuisine. Yet, the obesity epidemic is here in the U.S. In France, the croissants, glasses of wine, even portions served at McDonald's, are smaller than ours. Americans literally are killing themselves with their forks. In fact, funeral homes are selling larger caskets than they did in the 1970s.

It is the old bigger-is-better mindset and it is being ground into us on a daily basis. There is one advertisement that shows an overweight man getting blown across the room because he did not eat enough. The not-so-subtle message is that overeating is good and gorging yourself is acceptable.

The National Institutes of Health considers an individual with a body mass index of 25-29.9 to be overweight and a BMI of 30 or greater to be obese. Other accepted mathematical methods to determine if an individual is overweight or obese are weight-for-height charts, body fat proportions, and waist measurements. A much simpler approach is to accept the fact that an individual is obese when he or she weighs 20% or more than his or her ideal body weight as set by the weight-for-height charts. Regardless of the definitions and methods used to determine overweight and obesity, the number of individuals in both categories continues to rise for all age groups.

We must adopt a new and sensible strategy for successful weight loss. Statistics show that 45,000,000 Americans are dieting at any moment in time, yet weight reduction efforts have met with limited success. Individuals spent over $50,000,000,000 per year on weight loss in the 1990s. The popularity of diet books, each espousing a better method for weight management, hits the best-seller list only to be replaced by the next new panacea a month later.

Truth be told, there only are three ways to take in a calorie--proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. The difference between one diet book and another is simply in the way these three macronutrients are portioned out. Some promote high protein/high fats; others recommend leaving out carbohydrates; still others make fat the enemy. In reality, the body needs all three in sensible amounts. Any program that eliminates or severely limits an entire food group cannot be healthy. There is a "science" to food and, once understood, nutritional choices become easier and the road to health and proper weight a reality. Education as to these food choices is key and is based on lifestyle changes rather than thinking "diet" is something that one goes on to reduce weight. Anything you go "on," you go "off," and that type of mindset has proven to be flawed, as the high rates of weight recidivism demonstrate: A mere 25% of obese individuals maintain long-term weight-loss goals. Besides, no one likes deprivation. It is impossible and unrealistic to avoid parties, restaurants, and the occasional comfort food. It does not fit into our lifestyle to order a salad at the ballpark. How do we make sensible eating coincide with our goals and the way we five without a resounding clash?

It really is important to understand what got us here. Our bodies have not changed since cavemen walked the Earth. Our ancestors had no way of knowing when their next meal would be. In order to survive in times of famine, cavemen had to "store" food efficiently. Since our genetic blueprint has not been altered since those prehistoric times, it must be our modern lifestyle that is doing us in. The same biology that kept cavemen alive is the very biology that, in times of abundance, causes a problem. Furthermore, the technology that we see as gifts that define modern existence leads to the sedentary ways that contribute to weight gain.