Diet Comparisons
The most important thing you may want to know when that time has come (again) to cut some of your daily food intake is - which diet is the best? We are all different individuals, however a lot of us share the same goals: a diet that can make us thin in no time at all, hoping for some sort of miracle pill or eating plan that makes fat vanish to never ever return. That's the key part to the big goal: how to make sure all the weight lost through dieting isn't gained straight back again.
People get more and more confused about dieting - what it really means, the right way to lose weight and bringing your body back into shape because more is published about it in magazines and on the internet now. The worryingly increasing number of overweight people has turned weight loss into an industry like never before and the market is growing every year as obesity continues to rise. Nowadays it seems all some body needs is a fashionable idea and a knowledge of marketing in order to make a lot of profit and popularity by proposing some sort of weird weight loss diet, despite the lack of actual professional expertise in this field. The Atkins Diet would be a prime example of this.
There are a LOT of diets out there so here we're going to quickly go through some of the most popular and best known diets around.
The Atkins Diet
Let's start with one of the biggest fads of the dieting world - the Atkins Diet. Pretty much everybody has hard of Dr. Atkins Diet, largely due to the flood of articles praising the extraordinary results along with extensive media coverage of the controversial idea behind the diet. The biggest thing in favor of this diet is that it lets you eat incredibly high fat dairy products like cheese and butter as well as fry-ups. However, the Atkins diet has fallen from its pedestal over suspicions of dramatically increasing the risk of heart diseases, not to mention the proved fact that bigger number followers complain of diarrhea, weakness, muscle cramps and rashes.
The Zone Diet
Another well known eating plan is the Zone Diet. This is the brainchild of Barry Sears and is all about eating the correct mix of foods in order to reach the body's optimum hormonal balance. This state of balance, which is called the 'Zone', lets the body take in calories and use them through the day without storing anything as fat. Sounds good? Yes, but unfortunately this diet neglects some extremely beneficial foods without any scientific reason. Starchy vegetables, whole grains and beans are all banned, although these foods are not in conflict with the principles of the diet. The Zone Diet lacks essential nutrients while promoting high-protein foods says the American Heart Association.
The Jenny Craig Diet
Jenny Craig started her business in the early 1980's and her diet known simply as The Jenny Craig Diet is one of the longest running fad diets. The catchy idea of this diet is a trade off - you can be lazy because you don't have to choose recipes, buy fresh food and do the cooking, you just buy the Jenny Craig prepackaged food. Buying Jenny Craig's products runs up to around $100 a week then there's membership costs on top of that. Plus the vegetables and fruits needed are not included in the prepackaged food. For those that can afford all these costs it's a pretty good diet to stick to. However, similar low-calorie foods can be bought at the grocery store and you don't need to consult a Jenny Craig expert that insists on buying their products so they can make more money.
South Beach Diet
Next on the list is the South Beach Diet from sunny Florida. This diet has the right idea, but the wrong approach. Yes, a lot of people have managed to lose weight with this diet so it can work. The question is: can you really stick to it? Phase one of the diet is to eliminate most foods containing carbohydrates from your daily meals. Fortunately this phase lasts two weeks. However, the second phase focuses on the half-hearted return of whole grains and fruits and continues for...well, as long as necessary. If reaching your desired weight loss takes you a whole year, then that is how long this phase is going to last. If you don't like the foods allowed by this diet then you're out of luck - there are no alternatives.
Weight Watchers
The final veteran dieting program we're going to cover here is Weight Watchers. Potentially one of the best diets around for the reason that it puts all the management tools in your own hands. If you truly are committed to losing weight, all the information you need is given to you and a lot of reassurance of people going through the same thing are along side to help you. If having company during difficult times helps your determination and motivation then you are probably going to lose all that extra weight. If, on the other hand, you don't like the idea of being constantly under peer pressure this diet is not for you.
From our brief review you can see there are a lot of diets out there, many, many more than we've been able to cover. When choosing a diet, the best thing to do is carry out as much research about it as possible. See what many different real people who have tried it have to say. Then consult doctors and dietitians about it. You can probably build up a clear picture by comparing the ratio of praise to negativity about a diet and figure out by yourself whether it is wise to do it.
It is important to pay attention to what your doctor has to say about a diet. If they are telling you a certain diet will put your own body at risk then you should follow their advice.
