News Flash: There's Too Many Diets Out There

This was an interesting article about how confusing it is out there with all these diets.

Some good quotes:

In her quest to shed pounds, Amy Jamieson-Petonic tried the cabbage-soup diet, a hot-dog and peanut-butter diet, and just about everything in between. Then, after an "aha" moment as she tried on a size 22 coat, she said, "No more." She started eating smaller portions and healthier foods, and took up running. Lo and behold, she slowly lost 100 pounds. Fifteen years later, Jamieson-Petonic, now a 38-year-old registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, has kept off all the weight. "Real people can do this," she says.

Shocking. Eat less and healthier and exercise more. Interesting concept.

Here's a couple of the interesting diets that they talked about in the article:

The Astrology Diet

In "Zodiaction: Fat-Burning Fitness Tailored to Your Personal Star Quality," trainer Ellen Barrett and astrologer Barrie Dolnick promote an exercise and eating plan based on the 12 astrological signs. Scorpios are "fiery" and need "cooling foods," says Barrett. "It sounds fun, but there's no scientific backing for it," says the ADA's Andrea Giancoli.

I'm a little lost for words to comment on that.

Here's another:

The Blood-Type Diet

In "Eat Right 4 Your Type," Peter D'Adamo, a naturopathic doctor, argues that people should eat according to their blood type. A type A, he eats lots of fish and avoids processed meats. "There's no evidence that different people with different blood types need different diets," says Willett. So what's the appeal? People "think it's more personal than other diets," says Giancoli.

That's an interesting observation about how people are attracted to this diet because it feels more personal. People who have tried a lot of different diets (and fail each time) think that their bodies operate somehow differently than all the people that have ever lived on the planet. So they fall for these kinds of diets.

Detox Diets

For some reason, people think our bodies are full of all kinds of toxins," says dietitian Tara Gidus. Some detox diets, including "21 Pounds in 21 Days," call for "cleansing" with colonics. Translation: enemas. The problem with using them to clear the colon of waste: "it's not really waste at all," says Northwestern University gastroenterologist Alan Buchman. "What people describe as 'toxins' include the normal metabolic products of digestion and the normal bacteria that produce vitamin K and folic acid - and other substances that keep the colon healthy.

First, you can't help but laugh to think that people actually believe that their body is some kind of swampland for deadly toxins. Second, always keep this in mind when you start a diet and they have as part of the plan a "detox" phase in the beginning, then walk away from the diet. The only reason they have that phase is to get you to lose a ton of weight (mostly water and lean mass) in the beginning so you stick with it and dish out more money for something that you can't live the rest of your life doing.

I'm going to disagree with this last quote though:

The final word goes to James Hill, who runs the University of Colorado-based National Weight Loss Registry, which tracks dieters who have kept off 30 or more pounds for at least a year. What's their secret? They eat a low-fat diet and watch their total calories. They eat breakfast and weigh themselves often. And they get 60 to 90 minutes of exercise a day.

As I've stated in the past, it's not the lower fat levels that are making you lose weight, it's that you're getting in less calories. And you don't need 60-90 minutes of exercise a day. If you workout efficiently with strength training and intervals, you can get the results that you want with just 30-45 minutes of exercise, 3 days a week.

www.leanbodyfitness.com