A popular New Year’s Resolution is “to lose weight.” With
all the diets and weight loss products and “so called experts,” it can be
confusing in deciding what is best and safe. We have all heard of fad diets but What is a fad diet? A fad diet promises
quick weight loss usually through unhealthy and unbalanced diets. There are
a few questions you can ask yourself to determine whether the diet is a fad or
not.
There are many fad diets and they come and go frequently, but here are some recent fad diets: High Protein Diets- consuming large amounts of protein and little or no carbohydrates will lead to weight loss but it is mostly water loss initially. Your body does start to use body fat for daily energy needs; this is called Ketosis and can lead to health issues as it forces your kidneys and liver to work harder. The other main concern with these diets is they lack specific nutrients and are restrictive and hard to follow for the rest of your life. Juice or broth fasts/liquid diets- are very low in calories and are hard to follow for extended periods of time. Very low calorie diets cause your body to go into starvation mode which lowers your metabolism. This is counterproductive, if you want to lose weight you need to increase your metabolism. Cleansing or Detox diets – our kidneys and liver are our body’s natural way of cleansing and detoxing and if healthy they don’t need any help. For more information on detox diets click here. If you want more information on fad diets click here. Many of these fad diets work, in the short term, but can be hard to follow for long periods of time and in some cases do more harm than good. Once these diets are stopped weight gain is common because eating habits haven't changed. The best way to lose weight is to change the eating habits that are causing the weight gain and exercising daily. By eating a diet that has enough protein, carbohydrates, and fat along with cardiovascular exercise to burn calories and weight training to build muscle you can increase your metabolism and lose weight. If you are interested in weight loss or have questions about weight loss diets/products your I.L. Creations registered dietitians can help. Check our calendar for your dietitian's next visit or contact us at nutrition@ilcreations.com. |
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