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The author. Courtesy photo.
By Lauren Antrosiglio
Have you been on a diet lately?
If not, you probably know someone who has, and with reason. According to the Center for Disease Control, over two-thirds of Americans (68 percent) are overweight or obese. To make matters worse, we’re constantly bombarded with advertising for fast food and unhealthy processed foods. On one hand, the media tempts us with unhealthy foods and drinks, and, on the other, the media propagates images of “perfect” bodies for us to strive for.
As a result, the diet industry is booming, our pockets are emptier, and there are tons of new — and potentially dangerous — diets popping up. For your consideration, here’s a guide to the five worst. …
Atkins & Zone diets
These diets were made popular in the ’90s. Thousands of people rushed to the grocery store and bought a bazillion hot dogs, hamburgers, pepperoni, cheese, and processed meats in hopes of losing weight. What they did, instead, was clog their arteries and set up themselves for failure. The Atkins and Zone diets not only contain almost 75 percent saturated fat, but they put your body into a state of chronic ketosis. Ketosis is the body’s natural response to a form of starvation in which our body does not get enough plant-derived foods. Putting your body in this state for extended periods of time increases your risk of cancer and puts major strain on your kidneys, possibly causing irriversible damage. People lose weight on these diets, but when the diet is over, the weight usually comes right back — along with a decreased state of health.
HCG & “doctor-supervised” starvation diets
HCG (human Choriogonadotropin hormone) is produced during the first few stages of pregnancy by the mother’s body. HCG shots are approved by the FDA for fertility, but the latest craze is getting these for weight loss. There’s no scientific evidence to back up diet-related claims, and the health professionals administering the drug put patients on a 500-calorie-a-day starvation diet. Other diets in this category require that you spend hundreds of dollars a month on their special food, but you still don’t get enough calories, and you are not allowed to exercise while on the diet. So, here’s what happens: You lose 3-4 pounds of water weight, followed by maybe 10 pounds of muscle because your body is in starvation mode and burning muscle for energy. Rather than going to a “doctor-supervised” weight loss center, make an appointment with a doctor you know and trust.
The one food diet
The cabbage soup diet. The baby food diet. The rice diet. The list of one-food diets is endless, and so is the list of people who have tried these diets and either gotten sick or lost weight then gained it right back. Whatever the food, each diet claims that the one food you are eating is somehow going to help you lose weight, but in reality, the diet is deficient in many important nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. In addition, diets like the cabbage soup diet also fall into the starvation diet category, so you can add loss of muscle to the long list of reasons not to try them.
The master cleanse
Yes, detoxing can be healthy. No, surviving on water with maple syrup and lemon for two weeks is not healthy. Your body requires key nutrients and vitamins to detoxify — none of which are provided in the master cleanse Kool-Aid. Moreover, simple sugar damages your liver during detoxification.
The water diet/fast
This is starvation at its worst. The water diet requires drinking a certain number of glasses of water (usually iced) and either eating nothing or a couple of apples or some other fruit or vegetable. A water fast is just having water. Both of these wreak havoc on your body and burn up muscle faster than you can imagine. And, as with all starvation diets, you’ll gain the weight back, plus more.
Dis-honorable mentions
• The sleeping beauty diet: Taking sleeping pills so you sleep for two days a week and therefore, aren’t eating during that time. Was this diet created by Courtney Love?
• The tapeworm diet: Getting tapeworms on purpose? I have no words.
• Six weeks to OMG: Only cold baths and showers, no fruit, and candy bars? OMG is right.
Short-term diets don’t work.
The key to weight loss is finding a healthy way of eating that becomes a lifestyle, eating mindfully (put down the remote), and maintaining a balanced exercise regimen with cardiovascular exercise and strength training.
Sorry, there’s no panacea.
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Lauren Antrosiglio is an ASU-degreed personal trainer in Prescott who specializes in weight loss, increasing muscle mass, rehabilitative fitness, functional exercise, and senior fitness. Contact her at Info@PrescottPersonalTraining.Com.