Diet

Issue #27

Diet

The Weight Loss Slimmer often addresses complex issues faced by a range of people on the path to losing weight. We regularly cover advanced topics, such as Topamax as Weight Loss Drug or Omega Diet Centers.

But in this issue, let's wind the clock right back, and for a breath of fresh air, let's consider the basics of just what is a diet.

What is a Diet?

By definition, a diet is the usual selection of foods eaten by a person or animal. So by definition, everyone follows a diet. You might eat mostly salads. Your friend may eat a diet rich in meat. A koala eats mostly eucalyptus leaves.

Through common usage, a "diet" has developed the notion of being restrictive, and for the purpose of losing weight. So it's probably this specialization that you envisage when you hear the term.

Do Diets Work?

Keeping the definition above in mind, diets can and do work. There are approaches to eating and foods selections which do have a enormous impact on how much you weigh. So diets definitely work.

Not convinced? Well, consider the contestants on the popular television show Survivor. A group of men and women set in the heart of some deserted location with only their wits for survival. Survivor contestants lose huge amounts of weight, noticeably becoming much thinner.

So how do they do it? Do they use some special diet pills, go to regularly weight loss meetings, or exercise on some high-tech tummy tightener? Absolutely not! Survivor contestants lose huge amounts of weight due to the strict, restrictive diet forced on them. Of course, eating a handful of rice a day and drinking juice from coconuts probably isn't going to rock your world, and such an extreme diet actually can damage your body in unexpected ways, so we would never recommend it. However, it is an extreme example that diets do in fact work. There are no pills and no special exercises needed.

Do all Diets Work?

The question to whether a diet works is clearly yes. But importantly, not all diets work. Many diets are based on flawed concepts, and so have no chance of working at all. So "going on a diet" in no way means you're going to lose weight. The key is to cut through the hype, and find the right type of diet based on the right underlying principles, that will bring you the results.

Different Types of Diets

Jenny Craig, Cabbage Soup Diet...the list is endless. But all diets can be distilled down into just a handful of diet categories.

1. Food Group Restriction Diets

This group is made up of any diet that tells you what foods you must eat, and what foods you cannot eat at all. Typically, you'll be told you can eat unlimited amounts of special "wonder" foods, and that you must steer clear of any food on their "list of banned foods".

As an example, we'll create the hypothetical "celery and mustard diet". On this diet, you can eat unlimited amounts of celery and mustard, but you mustn't eat anything else.

So will it work? Absolutely. I can guarantee you that if you eat nothing by celery and mustard for weeks on end, the weight will fall off your body. Sounds amazing! Where do I sign?

The problem is, however, that these types of diets make it impossible for you keep the weight off over the long term. Why? Because all they teach you is to eat just a tiny selection of foods. And as much as I like mustard, I'm really not going to be able to stick to this diet for very long. And even if you did, very soon you'd become sick. Celery simply doesn't contain all the necessary vitamins, minerals, and amino acids essential to your body's survival.

So the verdict on food group restriction diets? The can cause initial, rapid weight loss, but they cannot be sustained for very long, and so provide no way for you to maintain any weight loss you do achieve for any length of time.

2. Low Fat Diets

Low fat diets give you a maximum number of fat grams you can eat in any day. This is typically 20 - 30 grams, or is sometimes represented by a percentage, such as 30%. The theory is that fat makes you fat, and as long as you fill your life with low-fat yoghurts and milks, and avoid oils, butter, and margarine etc, you'll lose weight. On a true low-fat diet, you can eat as much low-fat food as you like, and as long as you stick to your fat grams, you'll lose weight.

Or so the theory goes. At first glance, it appears to make sense. Eating fat will make you fat. However, it actually fails to tell you that this is not how your body works. Not in the slightest. All food, fat, carbs, and protein, are actually broken down into sugars, before they're stored into your fat cells. So your body isn't actually aware of where the sugars come from. And both carbs and proteins are successfully converted into sugars and stored as fats, just the same as dietary fats are.

It is, however, true that fat molecules are very energy dense, and that foods high in fat are bound to convert into a large amount of sugars which could very well be stored in your fat cells. So for this reason, eating a low-fat diet can help steer you away from some of the foods that are likely to stay on your waistline.

So introducing a second hypothetical diet - "the zero fat diet". On this diet, you can eat unlimited amounts of jubes, candy floss, jelly beans, full strength sodas - anything you like, as long as it contains absolutely no fat. Now, I do like the sound of this! And yes, I think I could probably stick to this diet as easily as any 10 year old. However, you will very quickly find out that although this diet contains absolutely no fat, the amount of sugar it contains is vastly excessive. And in now time, you'll be out shopping for new clothes - bigger clothes.

So what's the verdict on low-fat diets? While keeping your diet low in fat is great for your general health, and is one way of avoiding some of the foods that tend to make you put on weight, by itself it won't cause you to lose weight.

3. Limited Calorie Diets

This class of diet generally allows you to eat from all of the food groups, and often doesn't count fat grams at all, but has a mechanism for limiting the number of calories you eat in a day.

It works on the concept that your "energy in" needs to be less than than the energy your body burns, and so the overall deficit created causes your body to draw on its fat reserves. And in fact, this is what happens. If you catch the train, walk around a bit in the office, pick the kids up from school, your body has to find the energy from somewhere to perform all of these normal tasks. And if you aren't feeding in all the energy, it will draw it from your fat reserves.

Weight Loss International's Slim for Life diet falls into this class.

While there are a range of different diets that are of this category, it's important that you choose a diet that teaches you ways of eating less energy but without feeling hungry, and teaches you a way of eating that you can maintain for the rest of your life. Slim for Life is probably the most successful in this area.

4. Low Carbohydrate Diets

This class of diet steers you towards certain types of foods which are low in carbs and has you eating foods which have a low glycemic index.

The theory here is that when your blood sugar level rises, insulin is secreted into the body, which helps facilitate the storing of glucose into the fat cells. This mechanism does exist, and so the theory is based a true physiological processes.

However, in its purest form, the theory doesn't fully hold true. Introducing the new hypothetical "butter only diet". Yes, that's right, you can eat 10 pounds of butter every day, nothing else, but you must ensure you eat all 10 pounds. While you're probably ready to dry-reach just at the thought of this diet, and although this diet has a negligible glycemic index, all that copious amount of fat must go somewhere - and you guessed it, it gets stored in your fat cells. It doesn't mysteriously all get burnt off and float away.

So the verdict for low carbohydrate diets? Although the glycemic-triggering mechanism is very real, and people can probably benefit from a diet lower in glycemic properties, any diet purely concerned with carbohydrate levels alone cannot guarantee any level of weight loss.

Summing it all up

With a plethora of different diets, shakes, and special foods available on the market, it's comforting to know that all diets can be divided into four main groups. In it's purest sense, the class of diet that has the best chance of success is category 3 diets - those that limit the overall amount of energy you consume. This type of diet matches the way medical science understands the physiology of our bodies.

You can of course, choose the best of all words, and choose the best parts of all four diet classes. By taking some advice from all the diet groups, the overall results can truly be remarkable. Let's summarize what knowledge we can draw from each of the above listed diet classes.

Class 1. Eat more of foods that help you lose weight, and less of the foods which will cause you to put weight on

Class 2. Eat a diet lower in fat. Fatty molecules are very energy dense, and so a lower fat diet tends to steer you in the right direction for keeping off weight

Class 3. Limit the amount of energy you eat in a day. Create an energy deficit, and your body will draw on its fat reserves

Class 4. Eat less of foods with a high glycemic index. By keeping the insulin levels lower, you may lessen the body's willingness to store energy in your fat cells