“Be realistic about diets, try to think about what you can sustain because continuing to disappoint yourself is not good at all,” said Barbara J. Rolls, professor and the Helen A. Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences in the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State. "If you do decide you want to lose weight, choose something you can do consistently, because research shows that doing something regularly -- not giving yourself weekends off -- is what tends to work best. So opt for an approach that's sustainable, consistent and perhaps not too ambitious, because you really want to succeed."
Rolls has written three books based on her decades of research on diet and nutrition, which shows that lowering the calorie density of food can help people feel full while eating fewer calories. Her latest book, “The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet,” offers tips for incorporating fruits and vegetables into recipes without sacrificing taste. The book continues to be among the best diet books according to U.S. News & World Report’s rankings -- only Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and government-sponsored type diets rank higher.
The healthy eating that Rolls advocates is easy to find on campus.
“There are plenty of choices around here, now,” said Rolls. “Gosh, so many more each year that it’s doable and it’s affordable. A lot of healthy choices don’t have to be expensive, so look around you and figure out how this will fit into your Penn State environment.”