Can the iDip diet really help you lose weight and feel full?

The individualised diet improvement programme (iDip) devised by researchers at the University of Illinois ups your fibre and protein intake. Could it have long-term health benefits? Bestselling author and Telegraph nutrition expert Sam Rice explains what you need to know. Most diets are doomed to failure because they are overly prescriptive and impossible to stick to ; step forward the cabbage soup diet.

Popular in the 1980s, this diet allowed you to eat unlimited cabbage soup and little else. Not exactly a recipe for success. As a nutritionist, following healthy patterns of eating, such as the Mediterranean diet , rather than strict regimens, makes much more sense.

The iDip (or individualised diet improvement programme) is the latest, and works along similar lines. Rather than focusing on cutting certain foods down, or cutting them out, the iDip is based on the sound nutritional premise that increasing fibre and protein intake will fill you up. Alongside a modest calorie reduction, it can lead to sustainable weight loss .

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