It’s getting to be that time of the year… diet season. Right now decorations are going up and people are getting festive by baking and sharing holiday treats for all to enjoy. Right now you aren’t even thinking about being healthy or following your weight loss plan, instead you’re enjoying the plethora snacks.
The truth is, it could save you a few extra pounds to lose with your New Year’s resolution by not overdoing it right now and staying focused. Honestly, this is a rarity and too many of us fall into temptation. So, I want to help you remember a few things when trying to lose weight. My biggest advice would be to avoid fad diets. How do you know if you are falling into a fad diet?
How to Spot a Fad Diet
1. Ridiculous and unhealthy claims, or promising a quick fix (i.e. “lose 10 pounds in a week”).
2. Claims that sound too good to be true.
3. Detox diets (yes, you will lose weight and may feel a little better about yourself, but once you begin eating food and not just juices or fruit, you will gain the weight right back).
4. Highly restrictive calories. For most people, roughly anything below 1200 calories can be too restrictive and unhealthy.
5. Claiming only one food or a certain food group will be the answer to all your weight loss questions.
6. Avoiding a specific food or food group.
7. Portions will be skewed. They will either have you consuming absurd amounts of something or promising the tiniest amount will cure you.
It’s important to treat your body right by eating healthy and regularly exercising. Don’t take the (what appears to be) easy way out! You will be greatly disappointed when you gain back the weight you lost and possibly more. Stick to the basics – eat healthy, eat plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, and eat a variety! What you put into your body now will directly impact how healthy your body is later.
what’s wrong with “Avoiding a specific food or food group.”? – if you know for sure that something is bad, like mayonaise, you should go on and “avoid” it in all situations…
Interesting article but I have to say it is not going to be helpful for most. There’s nothing we haven’t read before and if it worked like this article says, why are so many people still overweight? There are times when avoiding a specific food or food group is the way to lose weight. Just eating fruits, veggies and a ballanced diet will not burn the fat. It’s about your body and what foods make you gain weight. Weight loss is not a one size fits all because all bodies are different and fat is different for us. I’m a trim person but I’m still fat around my organs because of toxins found in food and the environment. That is why I do a detox once a year, not for weight loss but for detoxing the TOXINS.
Hey gn…I just wanted to respond to your question of avoiding a specific food or food group. By avoiding an entire food group you are running the risk of not providing your body with certain nutrients that are needed or that are good for your body. Let’s say for example you are wanting to avoid the oils group of the food pyramid. Obviously you don’t need to eat a ton of oil each day, but oils/fats in moderation are good and needed by your body.
Also, discussing the mayo comment…most things are ok in moderation. But the meaning of moderation may vary. You may need to practice moderation for one food differently for another. Enjoying a little bit of mayo every now and then won’t cause you to gain weight. You just need to be sensible and smart when thinking of the foods you are putting into your and how often you consume a certain food.
Hi Robin. Thanks for your comment. I would have to say “so many people are overweight” for various reasons…for reasons they can control (poor diet, no physical activity) or rarely for the genetic/biological reasons that are having troubles overcoming (hypothyroidism, etc). The point of my article was to help provide a different outlook or approach to realizing fad diets don’t work. If these fad diets worked, then there wouldn’t be 100s of weight loss books available or different variations of all these diets. Any success with a fad diet is very short lived. If people knew all of this information why do they continue to fall victim to them and start a fad diet only to gain all that weight back?
The point I was hoping to get across is that nutrition and eating healthy is a lifestyle, one that needs to be maintained rather then gaining weight and looking for the easiest way to get if off (i.e. only eating cabbage soup for a week or two).
I understanding doing a detox diet, if you think it helps you. However, many people do detox diets to drop pounds, but quickly gain it back because you can not continue on that type of diet for long. If you are truly worried about toxins in foods, try eating as 100% natural and organic as you can.
Just stopped by, nice blog!