Good Living with Aprilanne

It's Bikini Season - Beware the "Fad-Diet Syndrome"

It’s that time of year again when the temptation to go a “diet” can be so strong many people find themselves with all good intentions to eat right and loose weight throwing caution to the wind and going on the latest and greatest “fad diet” out there. 

Naturally your intentions to eat right, exercise, and loose weight are admirable and with adherence to the proper diet plan will ultimately deliver success.  The problem is, most “fad diets” can be disguised as “quick weight loss  miracle plans” which may unfortunately set people up for failure from the get-go because they are too rigid, promise unrealistic outcomes, and/or do not have the proven scientific research behind them to support their outrages weight loss promotion claims.   So how can one distinguish between a fad-diet and a wholesome, healthy weight loss strategy? If a diet you are considering has any or all of the following components proceed with caution:

Tell-tale Signs of a “Fad-Diet:”

1.   The diet offers inflated marketing claims of ultra-quick weight loss (more than a few pounds a week).

2.  The diet restricts certain food groups completely - “No carb” diets fall into this category which recommend you eat a diet full of health harming saturated fats in the form of eating all the full fat cheese, dairy, and animal proteins you want while eliminating heart healthy grains and legumes, and health promoting fruits and veggies.

3.  The diet requires you to consume specific foods only such as eating only grapefruits, bananas, cabbage soup, all liquids, or large quantities of fat and protein for extended periods of time for instance.

4.  The diet requires dieter to purchase specific weight loss supplements, drink powders, prepackaged foods and bars, etc. which can be an impractical  “eating lifestyle” to adhere to and/or maintain over a long period of time. 

5.  The diet does not promote exercise and claims you do not need to be physically active to loose weight on the diet.

While the above list is rather abbreviated to get the message out to avoid “fad-diets” like the plague - it does encapsulate nicely the top “diet pitfalls” to avoid when considering a diet plan to loose weight.  To complete the picture, below are the signs of a healthy diet - one that will offer you the most rewards for your efforts and the best results in your quest to loose weight and feel great this season:

Attributes of a Healthy Weight Loss Plan:

1.  The diet allows you to eat all of the food groups in moderation - without limiting your intake of food groups that are proven to enhance and longevity such as fruits and vegetables, beans and legumes, whole grains, etc.

2.  The diet plan is one that you can sustain (stay on) for long periods of time - ask yourself:  “will I be able to easily stay on this diet plan for “the rest of my life?”  If the answer is “yes” you may have found the perfect diet plan for you as long as it includes the rest of the points on this list!

3. The diet encourages the use of functional foods and healthful herbs, spices, servings of organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean protein sources such as chicken, eggs, and wild caught cold water fish, etc.

4.  Consumption of good fats such as monounsaturated fats  found in nuts, olives/olive oil, and fatty fish such as salmon for your omega 3’s are encouraged as part of a healthy eating plan.

5.  Exercise is promoted and required daily/weekly to keep you healthy and help you burn calories in order to loose weight.

The information in the above list has also been provided in an abbreviated fashion in order to get the message of  “healthy dieting” out there, and while loosing weight is not easy for many people the following simple, tried and true weight loss formula will help you in reaching your weight loss success goals:

ENERGY IN - (minus)  ENERGY EXPENDED = CALORIES/WEIGHT LOST OR GAINED. 

Calories/Energy consumed in the form of food - minus - Calories burned through exercise/activity equals = Calories/Weight lost or gained depending on whether a caloric deficit or surplus is created.

While it would be fantastic if everyone consumed a diet rich in nutrition and antioxidant rich fruits, vegetables, fish, lean protein and monounsaturated (good) fats - no matter what the calories consumed consist of - if a person of normal/average metabolism consistently expends more calories in energy (such as exercise) than they consume they will loose weight accordingly.

3,500 calories equals a pound of weight - when we burn 3,500 calories more than we have eaten we loose a pound. “Calories in - Calories Burned” = a successful weight loss strategy when you consume less calories than you burn or burn more calories than you consume.

If you are interested in getting more reliable, “No BS” information on  “Dieting,” “Weight Loss,” and “Healthy Eating” - including details on our new diet book underway please subscribe to our RSS Feed for ongoing posts - there’s much more to come!  Enjoy - Aprilanne

Related California Living with Aprilanne primetime TV segments now available for online viewing:

Watch “Toned-By-Tonight” Online 

Watch “Beach Body Workout” Online

Aprilanne’s Top 10 Foods Proven to Enhance Health & Longevity 

Aprilanne Hurley CN - is a Certified Health Professional specializing in Public Nutrition Education and Weight Management in the Lifecycle.  Please forward your private nutrition, dieting/weight loss questions to Aprilanne @ info@insidelooktv.com or post a public reply - thank you!

Health information on this site is provided to enhance the nutrition and wellness of the general public.  It is not intended to treat, cure, or prevent any disease.  Please check with your health care professional prior to starting any new diet or exercise regimen - thank you.  Yours in Good Living, Aprilanne