Fad Diets Make you Fat

The fatter the nation gets, the more desperate we become.

Have you noticed the surge of fad diets in the last 20 years?  It seems like every time you turn around there is a new diet promising unbelievable results.  A fad diet is some excessive decrease in calories for a short period of time (usually as long as you can stand it) to induce weight loss (notice I said weight loss, not fat loss since most of quick weight loss is water and muscle).  The two key characteristic of a fad diet is (1) extreme caloric restriction (2) temporary duration.

My only question is this:  If my body has found balance at this size and weight, and ALL I DO is change the caloric intake for a short period of time, what happens when I return to my old habits?  Will I not go back to where I was? When you go on one of these diets, your body responds to the lower calories by releasing something known as "starvation hormones," which slow your metabolism down in order to help you survive. Eventually, you stop dieting and go back to your old ways - but this time, your metablism is slower. This actually causes you to gain more weight than when you began dieting in the first place.

Doesn’t that just seem logical?  Can we really expect anything else to happen? And you paid someone for this genius idea?  Yes, out of desperation you did.  But no longer.

Here are the facts: you either make permanent changes, or you fail.  PERIOD.  The smaller the changes the more likely you are to keep them.  You must change your attitude about what it means to diet: lifestyle change rather than short term dieting.  As you do, you will begin to look for the changes you can make that will last.

(As an aside, I recommend starting with exercise first – get that going and then move on to small gradual diet changes.)

Here are some changes to beging with: focus on clean carbs, lean meats and healthy fats.  If you can’t pronounce the ingredients (and they are in English), that should be a warning to you.   Clean carbs are low-glycemic sources like brown rice, yams and garden vegetables which are favored over white rice, white potatoes, and fruit.  Lean meats examples are chicken breast, turkey, fish, shrimp and very lean beef.  Good fats are olives (olive oil), avocados, and nuts.  Minimize bread and pastas, but enjoy on occasion – hey you’ve gotta live a little!  Even THAT is part of a healthy lifestyle.

So ditch the fad diet and make a lasting change or otherwise you will be worse off than when you started.