Do Popular Fad Diets Work?

It seems like so many celebrities today market their own diet, exercise, or weight loss programs, celebrities like Suzanne Somers or Kathy Ireland. The appeal of these programs is obvious, because celebrities are always so trim and healthy-looking. And since celebrities are often amiable and trustworthy, it’s easy to trust that their products will work for you.

Most celebrities, however, do not have any professional training in the fields of exercise, health, or nutrition. Often, they are merely offering a good sales offer to the public.

Experts on health and nutrition Annette B. Natow and Jo-Ann Heslin, who wrote the book Get Skinny the Smart Way, say that consumers should be apprehensive of celebrity-inspired diet and exercise plans. They point out these kinds of books are usually based on nutritional fiction and that, while the diets outlined in these books may result in short-term weight loss, they are not always very healthy for the long term. It might be wise to instead consider a plan written by health and nutrition experts.

Celebrities aren’t the only pitchers of fad diets. There have been many ridiculous fad diets through the years, and many people have tried them, including the grapefruit diet, which suggests eating a grapefruit before each meal. Then there is the cabbage soup diet, which involves eating all the cabbage soup you can. There have been fads that require eating nothing but eggs, eating only raw foods, even fasting every other day. These diets not healthy.

No major health group ever supported the cabbage soup diet. The American Heart Association condemns it, noting that it can cause you long-term harm. Advocates of the diet say that you can lose as much as 15 pounds a week on it. However, this is just water, and when you begin eating other foods again, you will gain back all of the weight immediately. There are a few possible side effects of doing the cabbage soup diet, which include weakness, stomach cramps, and diarrhea.

Another dubious diet plan is known as food combining. Proponents of this type of dieting preach that you are overweight because you eat the wrong types of foods together. The requirements of this diet seem pretty random. For example, the diet might state that you can eat a banana only at breakfast. This makes no sense, as your stomach can digest different foods at any time of day. The goal of this plan is to consume fewer calories, but there are more efficient and healthy ways of doing this.

There are even claims that you can lose weight while you sleep. By using their product before you go to bed at night, you will lose weight in your dreams. This is an impossibility. There are even diet plans that state that you can lose weight by eating their special milkshakes or candy bars. These products are nothing more than milk and candy with added vitamins and minerals. You rarely feel sated or full after using these products, which can lead you to binge eat, and eat more calories than you would have otherwise. In addition, plans such as this make it very difficult to maintain any weight loss in the long term.

There is a lot of money to be made in the diet industry. Marketing companies will continue to feed off the ill health and insecurities of overweight people. When looking for an effective diet plan, it is your job to know the fad diets from the legitimate ones. In the long run, there are no true short cuts to weight loss. A successful weight loss program takes time and determination, along with exercise, healthful eating, and portion control.

If you would like to learn more about diets and how to lose weight?

Related Information of Interest:

Diabetes And Your Diet
If you are like me you probably thought diabetes is one of those things you have or don't have; nothing could be further from the truth because diabetes is now the biggest threat to health in the developed world and we are eating ourselves into it because of poor diet.

First question is how prevalent is diabetes?
Using Australia as an example that has a total population of around 20 million inhabitants, in the last full year official figures show 70,000 people were diagnosed with diabetes during the year. That is equal to one extra person diagnosed every seven minutes 24/7.

At present 700,000 people are diagnosed with having diabetes and a conservative figure indicate that for each person diagnosed there is another that is not diagnosed but does suffer from diabetes. that is 1.4 million sufferers out of a total population of 20 million. - More than 5% and growing by the day. The organization Diabetes Australia forecast that by the year 2010 the number of sufferers could be close to 10% of population. This rate of increase is happening throughout the developed world and is caused by lack of exercise and poor diet. We could be quite cruel here and say that people are queuing to shorten their lifespan because diabetes does reduce your lifespan.

The answer to this epidemic is in the hands of each of us. We must exercise more and be more conscious of what we eat. Attention to diet should start from a very young age; in particular we should concentrate on serving sizes and avoiding fatty foods. Yes that does include every child's favorite burger and fries. Once a month does little harm if the children are active, once a week causes damage even if they are active.

We all need to be conscious of seven servings of fruit and vegetables each day in our diet and also the need to back a good diet with reasonable exercise, like walking. People most at risk of type 2 diabetes, the most common, are overweight and do not exercise. They may have high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol, if you fit this category ask your doctor to check for diabetes next time you visit.

I saved the scariest fact for last: The total number of people in Australia with diabetes or "pre-diabetes" is 3.2 million or 15.1% of the total population. Each of these people will have a reduced lifespan.

This article is (c) copyright David McCarthy 2006.

David McCarthy writes articles on the subject of the effects of food and diet on your health. This article could be the most important he has written when you read the scary statistics. His work can be viewed at: www.recipesmania.com/articles.html

The Shawshank Redemption, a Stephen King movie
The Shawshank Redemption is consistently voted as one of the best movies of all time. Originally a story in a Stephen King book, the Different Seasons, known as Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, the story was adapted and the movie created.ï¿½The movie was directed and the screenplay written by Frank Darabont. The movie was his first major production.ï¿½Interestingly Stephen King has written two stories about prisons, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, which happen to be the first two movies that Frank Darabont directed.ï¿½

The story is a cruel one, in which Andy Dufresne, an educated and kind man is wrongly convicted of his wifeï¿½s murder.ï¿½During his time in prison he befriends several people, who are criminals, whereas Andy is not.ï¿½His life is changed forever, as he deals with the troubles of incarceration.

Stephen Kingï¿½s excellent character portrayal is not limited to his horror stories, and the characters in this story are some of his best.ï¿½One could even believe this was based on a true story, but it is not, King has confirmed.ï¿½The story is upsetting, puzzling and warming, and the movies popularity confirms people association with the story.ï¿½I think it will always be a classic.

When released at the theatre The Shawshank Redemption did not achieve great success, despite the great buzz already generated by the Hollywood industry due to the great story. This was in part due to great competition at the time, and also the fact that the story is about a prison, which put many movie goers off. However, after the release to DVD the Shawshank Redemption sold in huge quantities making it a firm favorite.

The other stories from the Different Seasons book are
The Body ï¿½ which became the movie, Stand by me
The Apt Pupil ï¿½ which also became a movie called The Apt Pupil
The Club ï¿½ which has yet to make it to the big screen

I would recommend the book to anyone who is a fan, as it is a great collection of stories. The Shawshank Redemption is a very popular story, whether read in a book or watched as a film.
www.shawshankredemption.net/

Darren Lambert is a big fan of the Shawshank Redemption movie, as well as other Stephen King stories.

Five Reasons Why You Should Drink More Water Everyday
1. Drinking more water everyday will keep your skin looking smooth and supple. Applying expensive creams and lotions to your face is not an effective way to conceal the effects aging has on your skin. The real fountain of youth can be found in a glass of water.

2. Drinking more water everyday will help you cut calories. Most popular beverages are loaded with calories. A can of soda can have as many as 240 calories per serving. Drinking 1 or 2 of these each day is a recipe for gaining weight. Choosing to drink water instead is the calorie free way to quench your thirst.

3. Drinking more water everyday will help you distinguish thirst from hunger. If you allow your body to become dehydrated it will be difficult to discern whether that gnawing feeling in your stomach is a call for food or a call for water. And if you keep eating food when what your body really needs is water, you will gain weight.

4. Drink more water everyday will help your think more clearly. Research has repeatedly shown that staying hydrated is necessary for the human brain, which is 85 percent water, to function at optimal levels. That is why many school systems throughout the country now encourage students to keep a bottle of water at their desks and to drink it throughout the day.

5. Drinking more water everyday will help you feel better. Your body is about 75 percent water and 25 percent solid material. Doesn’t it make sense that you would need to drink water on a daily basis to ensure that your body has all the water it needs to perform at optimal levels. It is a mistake to believe that thirst is the only indicator of a need to drink water. Constipation, achy joints and fatigue are also signals that your body may be dehydrated.

Jacqueline D. Stanley: Author, Speaker, Chief Encouragement Officer at Lettuce Is Not Enough University: The Place to Learn How to Live Well and Lose Weight. lettuceisnotenough.com