Choosing a Healthy Diet

by Michael on 28/04/09 at 8:09 am

So you want to lose weight? Once you’ve made the decision, the next question is: which diet is best, and what makes a healthy diet? Should you choose Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers? How about the The Eat Clean Diet or Lose 21 Pounds in 21 Days. Or maybe you have a friend who has tried the cabbage soup diet, the grapefruit diet, or the lemonade diet. There’s a long line of weight loss programs and it sure is confusing.

According to Forbes.com, last year the diet industry pulled in a whopping $46 billion. But hereâ€™s an important point: Not all diets, or the people selling them, have your best interests in mind. Some do; a lot don’t. So, you’ll need some way to help you choose a diet that works for you, one that is sustainable and will get you to your goal. Here are some simple questions to ask yourself.

1. Does the Diet Focus on Rapid Weight Loss?

We live in a world of instant results, ready-made dinners, and drive-through restaurants, we don’t know that it may take six months to lose 30 pounds. So it’s no wonder that many best-selling, weight loss programs focus on the quick fix. Hereâ€™s the simple mathematics: eliminate 3,500 calories from your diet and you’ll lose a pound. With a reasonable eating plan and exercise, you should be able to lose a couple of pounds a week. But what about The Biggest Loser? Those contestants often lose 10 pounds a week? Yes, and The Biggest Loser is a reality television show where the participants exercise for up to six hours a day. You, on the other hand, need to go to work every day, feed the kids, do the laundry, etc; most of us have a hard time finding one hour a day for exercise. Last week I did a workout where I spent an hour lifting weights followed by 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. After all that I had burned a little over 800 calories. It would take me nearly five of those workouts to lose a whole pound â€” that’s a week’s worth of workouts. Now I can speed up my weight loss by adding a careful food plan limiting my caloric intact; but I can’t go too wild, I still need enough calories every day to make sure Iâ€™m getting the nutrients I need.

A healthy diet doesn’t have you skipping meals, drinking shakes, or promising that you’ll experience rapid weight loss. Your mother was right: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Surprisingly, with a healthy diet youâ€™ll be eating more meals than you’re used to; that’s because most overweight people have deplorable eating habits and never ate properly to begin with. I used to put off eating until 1 p.m., but my current eating plan requires that I eat three times by 1 p.m. and I’m still losing weight.

2. Does the Diet Focus on One Food Group?

We’re always looking for magical ways to lose weight. Eliminating calories at first seems obvious, but letâ€™s take a look at one such regime â€” the cabbage soup diet. Itâ€™s proponents claim that the soup has fat-burning properties. But here’s the secret: there are no chips or chocolate bars in this diet, no cookies or cakes either; no bread, no potatoes, no rice (except brown rice on the last day); and you can’t drink alcohol or soda. So this diet isn’t magic, you are consuming fewer calories. Period.

And these types of diets work in the short term because they’re often getting the body to release water, which returns when you resume eating normally. And some of these diets are nothing more than modified fasts, so they have the unwanted effect of throwing your body and metabolism into a state of confusion. Starvation triggers your body to burn fewer calories and store more fat â€“ saving it for another time of famine. “Whew! That’s over, but I’d better stock up in case that happens again.” So with these diets we often end up putting on weight instead of losing it.

3. Does the Diet Require Exercise?

Losing weight is about more than a number on your bathroom scales; it’s about creating a healthy body. Exercise has to be a part of that plan. Exercise prevents the calories you eat from being stored as fat, it keeps your blood sugar in check, and it keeps your metabolism elevated. Exercise also strengthens your heart. And I also notice that when I exercise regularly, I sleep better and I’m often in a better mood. That’s right, exercise is nature’s anti-depressant. Exercise stimulates the production of endorphins, those feel-good chemicals that not only make you happy, but provide “natural” pain relief, and help you relax. Your bathroom scales may show that magical number you’ve been dreaming of seeing, but inside, you could be wildly unhealthy.

4. Does the Diet Leave You Hungry?

Or tired, or miserable, or constipated, or does it give you headaches. Things like fatigue, thirst, hunger, and changes in moods can indicate that something is wrong. For instance, a headache is often a signal that we’re dehydrated, not that we need a pain pill. A healthy diet shouldn’t be triggering natural alarm systems in our bodies. If a diet leaves you feeling constantly tired, you won’t be working effectively. Your house may become untidy and dirty, and your children won’t be getting the attention they deserve. That diet is unsustainable. If you’re always hungry, eventually you’ll cave in and eat, and probably eat more than you need to and probably the wrong foods. And if you’re miserable all the time, you won’t be enjoying your weight loss. A healthy diet will keep you happy and satiated. Your exercise program will keep your mood elevated, and you’ll be sleeping better. Finally, eating the right kinds of food will keep everything moving through your body properly, so you won’t have to reach for laxatives.

5. How Does the Diet Support It’s Claims?

Does a diet support its claims with any medical studies, or is all the evidence anecdotal. “I lost 20 pounds and you can, too!” As much as I love The Oprah Show, claims made there donâ€™t mean that Oprah is endorsing them. And what if she does advocate a particular product or diet â€” Oprah is just a woman with a talk show.

Likewise, the Foundation for Safe and Rapid Weight Loss might sound reliable. But who are they? Who works for them? And more importantly, who funds them? Can you trust what they’re saying? (Don’t google it, I made the foundation up.)

Summary: Finding a Weight-Loss Program that’s Right for You

Take your time in picking a weight loss program. If someone is pressuring you to join their weight loss clinic, they may not have your best interests at heart. A good program will still be there tomorrow. Avoid impulse buying of books and products. Take time to read a page or two of the book’s introduction, or look at the table of contents. Don’t just rely on celebrity endorsements or other marketing gimmicks. Who cares what any celebrity has to say about a book. With any diet or weight loss program you need to ask the questions Iâ€™ve raised in this article. If it doesnâ€™t measure up, look for another program. Diets that focus primarily on rapid or big weight losses, that eliminate foods, neglect exercise, or leave you hungry, are not going to be sustainable. You want to pick a program thatâ€™s right for you and with perseverance youâ€™ll only have to do it once. So take your time. Get informed and have your eyes wide open.

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