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Why Some Diets Can Do More Harm Than Good

Posted on November 13, 2009
Filed Under Popular Diets | Leave a Comment

Apart from the fact it has the word “die” in it, I don’t much like the word. Diet gives the impression of a temporary solution and with anything temporary it must come to an end. When we reach that end, the old habits and weight come flying back.

If you are on a diet you are losing weight for the here and now. If on the other hand you want to lose weight on a more permanent basis this is what I would refer to as a “lifestyle change”.

Think long term and permanent change which is what you want to get out of this program as opposed to just wanting to lose weight for the moment.

Because dieting is for the short term once we depart from it we gain back the weight as we fall back into our old eating habits. This leads to “Yo-Yo Dieting” as we go from one diet to the next in the hope that this is the solution to our weight problems we have been searching for.

Just like a Yo-Yo goes up and down so does our weight with each diet we embark on.

Each diet has the same symptoms. We start out and experience quick results, hit a plateau, binge then gain back all the weight plus more.

Why do we gain all of the weight back plus extra? Our bodies have what we call a set point. Think of it as your body’s natural thermostat. It regulates your weight.

When you drop weight after starting your new diet especially on diets that restrict caloric intake, your body goes into shock. Say your starting weight prior to commencing the diet was around 170 pounds.

You lose 5 pounds. Then you lose another 3 pounds. Suddenly your weight loss comes to grinding halt. You cut even more calories in the hopes of keeping the weight loss going but again, you lose zero pounds. By now because you have restricted your calories that your body goes into self preservation, survival mode. This is where evolution as its finest kicks in. Your body overrides you by making you sluggish and lethargic. You have the metabolism of a tortoise. You barely have enough energy to lift your own arm let alone your entire body to continue exercising.

Your body has taken over and thwarted your attempts to lose weight. You can’t work out to lose the pounds you simply don’t have the energy for and to top it off you have an increased appetite.

Your body is stimulating your appetite to make you gain back all of the weight you spent a lot of effort to lose. So not only do you eat, but you eat lots. Your body’s thermostat makes sure that your weight goes back to your original 170 pounds, in fact it doesn’t just stop there.

It makes you add a few extra pounds on top of that to store away for a rainy day. Because you put your body through trauma it thought it was starving so it literally made you store extra fat for times of famine to safeguard you against losing any more weight again.

So there you have it, you just hurt your chances of losing weight by provoking your body into defense mode and making you gain extra weight.

It’s well documented that this happens which is how the phrase got to be coined as “Yo-Yo” dieting. Your weight goes down then it comes back up again and then some.

There is a way around Yo-Yo dieting and the secret lies in not shocking your body into retaliation but rather working in alignment with it. I’ll explain more on that a little later in this book.

Fad Diets

If any of the diets you have ever tried in the past fell into any of these categories, there’s a good chance it was a fad diet.

1. Promises you will lose lots of weight in one week with little effort

2. Fails to mention disclaimers or recommend doctors consultation prior to dieting

3. Suggests you eliminate entire food groups from your eating plan such as carbohydrates or dairy or vegetables

4. Restricts you to a set eating plan without considering what your preferences are, in other words lack of flexibility setting you up to fail

5. Fails to reinforce good and health habits and lifestyle changes

6.Reduces your eating to less calories than you can healthily function on

7. Goes against sound medical information

8. Is dependent upon certain supplements, diets or products to be effective

9. Makes over the top, unrealistic claims

10. Lack of scientific proof that it works and why it does

Sound familiar? Most diets you see fall into these categories. They rely on doing something drastic just to differentiate themselves from other diets whether that be eliminating entire food groups, eating certain foods on certain days, eating only one color of food or eating only one kind of food for days at a time.

Fad diets all have the same thing in common. The solution to weight loss they offer is only ever temporary a band aid quick fix to a problem that has been years in the making. Once the diet ceases the lost weight quickly returns. When this happens it is more often than not, fluid not fat that was lost in the first place which is why it is gained back so quickly.

None of these diets are sustainable. You simply cannot survive on them. The thing that makes you weight is the difficulty of adhering to such a strict diet in the first place. You go off your food because of the lack of variety and that is what makes you lose weight, or do you?

Fad diets are extreme ways to drop pounds quickly but the results are not permanent, you more often lose fluid and muscle than fat so not only are you not losing the fat you wanted to but you are damaging your health in the process. Any diet that eliminates entire food groups is not good for you.

We have a variety of foods to eat for a reason, because we need them for our nutrients and it is only those foods that can provide them, to eliminate them means that we can become vitamin deficient. To cut out one or more food groups is setting yourself up for disaster and harmful to your overall health.

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