If your goal is to lose weight, almost any diet that restricts calorie intake will do the trick, at least for a while. What should be met with suspicion are weight loss plans and programs that promise quick results and lasting success with little effort. In the real world, no such thing exists.
So-called "fad diets" hit the market almost daily. In essence, they all make the same claims: You will see positive changes almost immediately, you don't have to forego your favorite foods, you won't feel hungry, and, best of all, you don't have to exercise.
What they also have in common is that it's nearly impossible to follow them over time. According to a study by the University of Massachusetts, even the most popular diet plans have low long-term adherence. But, as any health expert will tell you, stick-to-itiveness is a central component of successful weight loss.
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, there are no foods or pills that let you magically burn fat and lose weight. There are no super foods that can alter your genetic code. Worse yet, some ingredients in weight loss products can be outright dangerous and even deadly. The bottom line, the AND says, is that "if a diet or product sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Rapid weight loss, which is what most commercial plans aim for, is not even a desirable goal. A slow but steady loss of half to one pound per week is an appropriate pace, according to the AND. If you lose weight more quickly, it will not only affect your body fat but also your muscles, bones and water balance.
Moreover, sudden weight fluctuations make weight loss less sustainable. So-called yo-yo dieting, where lost weight is gained back time and again, can put enormous stress on inner organs and is linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
While calorie restriction is an intricate part of dieting, deprivation of essential nutrients by withholding certain foods or entire food groups -- e.g. carbohydrates -- is not recommended. Also, the ADA says there is no scientific evidence that certain food combinations or eating particular foods at specific times can support weight loss, as some diet programs advertise.
Unfortunately, the word "diet," as it is most commonly used, is almost exclusively associated with "eating less" or "not eating at all." That by itself may lead to the wrong approach. In its original form, diet means simply "the way someone eats."
And indeed there are diet plans that don't focus on weight loss at all, but rather on eating highly nutritious foods, keeping portion sizes in check, and also encourage an all-around health-promoting lifestyle. For example, the Mediterranean diet, which is based on the culinary traditions of countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea and is thought of as one of the healthiest dietary guidelines anywhere, or the DASH diet (acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), developed for heart health, both emphasize healthy eating habits from which weight loss and permanent weight control can follow.
Neither of these, shall we call them "inclusive" diets (as opposed to "exclusive" regimens that eliminate foods in both quantity and quality), will let you shed massive amounts of weight in a hurry, but you will be better off for the rest of your life.
