Genes tell you what's possible, your lifestyle tells you what really happens. Do you approve of the Atkins Low-Carbo. So for many people, I think it does work, in the sense that you can lose weight. I'm more concerned with whether or not people can stick to this diet over the long term because the real problem is not losing the weight, but keeping it off. I think a lot of people do need help with weight loss and there are some commercial programs available for this.
Different programs seem to work for different people.
I don't think we have really great programs out there for many people, and I wish we had more. Many physicians are learning how to manage weight and may be helpful in some cases. The best programs are probably university-based programs, but there aren't very many of these. I wish I knew the answer. I think there are a lot of people who think that stress may play a role in weight gain, but physiologically we don't yet understand the link.