The New Nordic Diet

The New Nordic Diet has found to be successful for weight loss in a randomized controlled study.¹  In this study, the participants were given cookbooks highlighting foods like legumes, nuts, herbs, berries, fish, and even wild plants.  The ingredients were provided to the participants for free, and they went to choose what they wanted each week from a “store” that was part of the intervention.  I like the fact that they included different recipes for different seasons of the year.  Eating lots of ramps and asparagus in the spring, berries and cucumbers in the summer and apples and tomatoes in the fall is always fun for me and I think this strategy would help to re-engage the dieters every few months as their motivation might start to wane.  Having all those wonderful ingredients available in one store would have made it so easy to incorporate them into daily meals. 

Even children enjoyed the dishes developed for the New Nordic Diet when they were provided with free school meals in another randomized controlled trial.²  They were found to be eating more foods like legumes, nuts, berries, fish and cabbage than if they had brought their lunch from home.  So the recipes must be pretty delicious. 

Another study³ wanted to see if the participants would continue eating according to the New Nordic Diet on their own after the intervention was over.  They found that those who continued to follow the diet gained less of the weight back that they had lost, proportionately to the degree that they continued to follow the diet.  The participants mentioned that they found the diet to be more expensive than other foods available to them, it took more time to make the recipes, and sometimes they couldn’t even find all the ingredients once they were no longer being provided to them.  Continuing to provide support to clients could go a long way in helping them figure out how to keep their motivation up and deal with these obstacles. 

References

1. Poulsen SK, Due A, Jordy AB, et al. Health effect of the New Nordic Diet in adults with increased waist circumference: a 6-mo randomized controlled trial. The American journal of clinical nutrition. 2014;99(1):35-45. 
2. Andersen R, Biltoft-Jensen A, Andersen EW, et al. Effects of school meals based on the New Nordic Diet on intake of signature foods: a randomised controlled trial. The OPUS School Meal Study. British Journal of Nutrition. 2015;114(5):772-779. 
3. Poulsen S, Crone C, Astrup A, Larsen T. Long-term adherence to the New Nordic Diet and the effects on body weight, anthropometry and blood pressure: a 12-month follow-up study. European Journal of Nutrition. 2015;54(1):67-76.