Beware of Diet Fads When Trying to Shed Pounds. Useful Points to Bear in Mind

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 pm

It might be actresses such as Suzanne Sommers and Jane Fonda, or models such as Christie Brinkley or Kathy Ireland. It seems that a number of celebrities today offer their own weight loss programs. The programs are interesting as we see these different graceful celebrities and we want to have bodies just like them. The celebrities are also highly likable, so we have a predisposition to be accepting of their products.

But, did you ever stop to think whether these celebrities have any nutritional training? Do they have medical training? Is the information that they offer nutritionally sound? Or is it just a good sales pitch?

Nutrition experts Annette B. Natow and Jo-Ann Heslin, authors of the book Get Skinny the Smart Way, say that consumers should be leery of celebrity-inspired diet books. They point out that such books are regularly based upon dietetic fiction and that, while the diets outlined in these books may cause short-term weight loss, they can be far from healthy in the long run. Therefore, you might think about passing up the celebrity diet books and opting for those written by nutritional experts instead.

But celebrities aren’t the only ones preaching trend diets. For example, there’s the so-called grapefruit regime which recommends consuming a grapefruit prior to each food. Another trend is the cabbage soup diet, which requires you to eat all the cabbage soup you can handle. Other fads call for eating all the eggs you can…consuming only raw foods…or fasting every other day. Such diets are not only based on nutritional propaganda—they can also be dangerous.

For instance, let’s take a closer look at the cabbage soup regime. No chief health association has endorsed it. Besides, the American Heart Association disapproves of it, noting that it can in fact harm you. Promoters of this diet say that you can drop as much as 15 pounds a week by following it—what they don’t say is that most of that weight is water weight. After you begin eating normally again, you will observe your weight rise again. Some of the side-effects of the cabbage soup diet include a feeling of weakness, tummy pains, and diarrhea.

Yet another debatable diet tactic is what’s known as food combining. Such a diet assumes that you are obese since you are not eating the correct combination of food. The requirements of such a diet can seem pretty arbitrary. For example, you might be told that you can consume a banana only in the morning. This is rubbish, since your stomach can handle a variety of different foods at one time. The idea behind such a diet is to eat food with fewer calories, but there are other methods you can use to accomplish the same goals.

Some companies even claim that you can shed pounds while you dream. They say that, if you use their product right before bedtime, you will lose weight. In actuality, no company can make such a claim with any degree of reliability. It is not possible to burn a huge number of calories while sleepy. In other cases, you may be tempted to try to lose weight by consuming special milkshakes or candy bars. In effect, these products are just milk and candy with specific vitamins and minerals added. However, one rarely feels satisfied after consuming these products. Accordingly, you may find yourself in fact consuming extra calories during the rest of the day. While you might be able to supposedly lose weight in the short-term, you’ll find it difficult to maintain the weight loss over the long haul.

The fact of the matter is that there is a great deal of cash that can be made through the sale and marketing of diet products. On condition that America has a large contingent of overweight people, companies will try to make a profit off of overeating. It is up to you to be knowledgable enough to identify a diet fad when you see it and select a different approach to losing weight. You’ll find that there are really no short-cuts to weight loss. Any successful diet program takes time, patience, and resolve, along with a willingness to change your eating patterns.

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