Live Healthy Live Well

Knowing that long-term weight management to maintain good health is important, we should be able to determine whether the guidelines/programs of popular diets are set up to be healthy habits for a lifetime or a fad diet that is all hype and will provide only a short-term fix.

Health Risks Fad Diets, and Yo-Yo Dieting

• Long term weight gain
• Eating disorders
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies like anemia
• Fatigue

Determining a Fad Diet

• Does the diet promise quick weight loss?
• Does the diet sound too good to be true?
• Does the diet help sell a company’s product?
• Does the diet lack valid scientific research to support its claims?
• Does the diet give lists of “good” and “bad” foods?

If you can answer “YES” to any or all of these questions, the diet is probably a fad diet.

History of Fad Diets

Women’s Day report on Bizarre Diets in History:

• 1727 – Avoiding Swamps
• 1800’s – Starvation or Hysteria
• 1820 – The Vinegar Diet
• 1903 – Fletcherizing
• 1925 – The Cigarette Diet
• 1928 – The Inuit Meat-and-Fat Diet
• Early 1930’s – Slimming Soap
• 1954 – The Tapeworm Diet
• 1960’s – The Sleeping Beauty Diet
• 1961 – The Calories Don’t Count Diet
• 1970s – The Prolinn Diet or the The Last Chance Diet
• 1980’s – 2000’s – Breatharian Diet
• 2000’s – The Vision Diet
• 2000’s – Ear Stapling
• 2000’s – The Cotton Ball Diet

Other Diets that Have Made the Rounds:

The Dukan Diet

• Sources say royal members have followed it.
• It has been a French Best-Seller for several years.
• A diet with 4 stages, low in calories and high in protein.
• Promotes lean protein, oat bran and water intake along with a daily 20-minute walk.

HCG Diet

• Uses a hormone, (human chorionic gonadotropin) found during pregnancy, to help people lose weight & maintain weight loss.
• 26 day treatment with 23 days of injections of HcG AND cut calorie intake to 500 Calories/day.
• FDA-approved only for – fertility!!
• Most report no fewer hunger pangs than those receiving a placebo and calories must continue to be low in order to lose more and maintain weight loss.

Low Carbohydrate Diets

• Atkins Diet
• Sugar-Busters Diet
• South Beach Diet

Cabbage Soup Diet

• 7-day plan
• Very few, specific foods allowed each day
• Will lose 10-12 pounds in the week
• Have not changed any lifestyle habits, and have lost mostly fluid
• Soup and other allowed foods will cause gas

The Recommendations:

Assessment of weight and health risk involves using three key measures under the care of a physician or dietitian:

• Body mass index (BMI)
• Waist circumference
• Risk factors for diseases and conditions associated with obesity

A Healthy Weight Is Needed to:

• Reduce your risk of disease and health problems.
• Help you feel better physically and mentally
• Helps you enjoy life

Choosing a Safe, Reliable Weight-Loss Plan and/or Choosing Good Health at Any Size

• Healthy eating
  plans that reduce calories but do not forbid specific foods or food groups.
• Tips to increase moderate-intensity physical activity.
• Tips on healthy habits that also keep your cultural needs in mind, such as lower-fat versions of your favorite foods.
• Slow and steady weight loss. Depending on your starting weight, experts recommend losing weight at a rate of 1/2 to 2 pounds per week. Weight loss may be faster at the start of a program.
• Medical care if you are planning to lose weight by following a special formula diet, such as a very low-calorie diet (a program that requires careful monitoring from a doctor).
• A plan to keep the weight off after you have lost it.
• Perhaps, weight loss is not the correct choice for you. Good health can be found at many sizes and choosing to live healthfully at a higher or lower weight may be the best decision.  Check out more at the University of New Hampshire.

Where to Look for Help:

• Registered Dietitians
• Primary Care Physicians
• choosemyplate.gov
• eatright.org

Author:  Cheryl Barber Spires, R.D., L.D., Ohio State University Extension, spires.53@osu.edu

Reviewer:  Daniel T. Remley, MSPH, PhD, Ohio State University Extension, remley.4@osu.edu

Sources:

• http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/weight-loss/hcg-diet.htm
• http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/nutrition/a1523/15-most-bizarre-diets-in-history-106514/
• http://www.webmd.com/diet/a-z/dukan-diet
• http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/fourteen-day-you-diet
• http://www.webmd.com/diet/evaluate-latest-diets
• http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/choosing.htm
  
• http://choosemyplate.gov
• hhtp://www.eatright.org
• https://www.unh.edu/health-services/ohep/nutrition/non-diet-approach-health-every-size-haes