The Rosedale Diet

Do high fat low carbohydrate diets work?

Review of the Rosedale Diet. I’ve had problems with my weight since I was a teenager. I can’t remember a time that I wasn’t on one type of diet or another, which explains why I reached the point that I lost all interest in dieting. It seemed that no matter what I did or ate, I would still gain weight.

When I was younger the problem hadn’t been a major issue, but as I got older, ten pounds became twenty and then thirty. What was a small problem when I was in my twenties became a major concern as I approached my forties. I knew I had to do something and thought I would try the Rosedale Diet. Many of my friends had recommended it, so I thought it would give me a new approach to weight loss.

The Rosedale Diet is a very restrictive high “good” fat and low carbohydrate program. There are no carbohydrates allowed except fibrous carbohydrates that are in vegetables. Milk and dairy products are also forbidden on the diet. In addition to the limited food intake, you are allowed supplements that can be purchased to go along with the diet.

I found these food supplements to be very expensive and not very effective in controlling hunger. With such a low number of carbohydrates, it is amazing that anyone can maintain enough energy to stay on this diet. I know after about two weeks I had to give it up. I was constantly hungry, and most days I hardly had enough energy to get out of bed.

Although exercise is recommended, I never had the energy to attempt even light aerobic exercise—walking around the block was all I was able to accomplish. If it weren’t for my husband and kids, nothing would have been accomplished in my house. My husband and I own our own business, so my work hours are flexible, but I was always able to put in a full eight-hour day working as office manager.

After about a week on the Rosedale Diet, I was only able to work about six hours before I became completely exhausted and unable to even concentrate on small tasks. It was fortunate we had competent office staff or it would have been an even worse struggle.

I was disappointed in the amount of weight I lost compared to the amount of sacrifices I had to make. With the Rosedale diet consisting of so few carbohydrates one would think it was possible to lose weight quickly—reports had claimed that the high “good” fats boosted the metabolism.

Of course, exercise is part of any diet program, and since I was too tired to exercise, that contributed to the minimal weight loss.

I definitely would not recommend the Rosedale Diet to anyone who has more than ten pounds to lose. It is not only very restrictive, but the food choices are too limited to allow anyone to achieve long-term success. In addition, the low carbohydrates and lack of dairy products make it unhealthy in my opinion.

Review by Fiona Brindley