Fad diets contribute to temporary weight loss
Maryjane Bowden
If 65 percent of Americans are dieting at any given moment, why is it that America is still predominantly overweight? It may be that most Americans have traded in good old-fashioned exercise and healthy eating for celebrity fad diets that do not have long standing results.
For example, studies of the Atkins diet, a popular low-carb high protein and fat diet, have shown that although people lost weight faster than those practicing a conventional diet, Atkins had no staying power.
People who practiced this diet gained back weight quickly and it was soon discovered that this diet was not heart healthy, and could be very dangerous to a dieter’s health.
While people were cutting out their carbs thinking everything else they ate would just be burned off, they were not thinking about the sugars which take longer to burn off.
People were losing weight from the Atkins Diet, but it was all muscle they were losing, not fat.
Several other celebrity dieting trends have also proved not conducive to a healthy body.
The South Beach Diet, Green Tea Diet, the Raw Food Diet, and Diet Pills have been tested by celebrities and average Joes alike.
They were discovered to not only be hard to stick with, but negative to health.
Instead of eating raw fish and carrot sticks everyday, studies by Woman to Woman, a women’s health group, show that regular exercise and sticking with a well-balanced diet, are most successful in losing and sustaining weight.
Cody Lewers, an MCC freshman, has never felt the need to diet and instead opts for consistently maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
“I don’t diet because I’m not fat. I just workout usually about 3 times a week and eat healthy,” said Lewers.
Lewers also participated in sports during high school to stay fit and active.
“Playing football really kept me in shape,” he said.
Some MCC students find solace in their youthful bodies and neither diet nor keep to a regular exercise regimen.
“I workout sometimes, but mostly I just eat whatever I’m craving.
“I try not to focus too much on what I eat, you shouldn’t get caught up in that kind of stuff,” Ashton Farnsworth, a freshman, said.
Yahoo Health explains that the key in weight loss is not only working out consistently, but continually eating healthy snacks and light meals throughout the day to ensure a high metabolism.
The key to a healthy body is a healthy metabolism and in order to maintain a healthy metabolism dieters should be consuming about 3 light healthy snacks and 3 well-balanced meals a day.
Eating several meals a day not only boosts metabolism but it curbs constant cravings for fatty foods.
Unlike celebrity fad diets, eating healthy and exercising daily is a time tested tried and true tool for losing and keeping off unwanted pounds.
