Note: This is the fourth of a series of seven articles that will help you gear up for a healthy, active, and fit New Year.

The holiday season is almost upon us, soon to be followed by non-stop New Year resolution weight loss advertising. Even with all of the valuable advice offered here on the DietDectivecom site, it is easy to be tempted to dive into the quickest, most accessible "diet" or "fitness plan" you see. Don't make that same old mistake! This time, get a plan that is based on evidence and results -- not just hype and gimmicks. And it should be designed for your body and your lifestyle. So take the time to do a bit of research in order to find the most accurate, scientific information. It's the accurate, scientific and specific-to-you programs that will work to get you -- and keep you -- healthy.

I was talking with a friend about the amazing amount of weight contestants on the reality weight-loss shows lose. “How can they be so successful when everyone else is struggling to hard to stay on a diet?” I asked.  She laughed and told me not to be so naïve. “You would lose weight also if you were essentially locked in a facility, all your meals were monitored and you were forced to exercise for hours every day.”

The following are excerpts from Mary Dimino and Doctor Brad Johsnon's new book, "Scared Skinny":

Studies at the University of Minnesota compared a fructose diet (17% of total calories from fructose, typical "fast food diet") to a diet sweetened mainly with sucrose. The results were dramatic. The fructose diet produced significantly higher levels of triglycerides in the blood, in men about 32% higher, than the sucrose-sweetened diet. The fructose diets also made triglyceride levels peak faster, just after mealtime, when such fats can do most damage to artery walls.

Dr. Richard J. Johnson responds to concerns about his book

There’s a lot of new research coming out about the root causes of obesity and disease that it can keep your head spinning round and round for hours trying to absorb it all. And for all the studies that are released, there are just as many new books ready to tout the latest principles and concepts that are discovered by those scientists and researchers looking at the extraordinary findings that are happening. One of these researchers/authors is Dr. Richard J. Johnson.

Dr. Johnson is the author of a new book entitled The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick which puts forth the hypothesis that fructose alone that is what is responsible for obesity and disease in modern society. This seems to run counter to what Gary Taubes wrote in his instant classic Good Calories, Bad Calories which puts the blame for people being fat and sick on insulin which can be raised by ALL carbohydrates, not just fructose. This contradiction in message was the subject of this blog post last month where a reader shared their concerns about who is right–Johnson or Taubes?