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Author:
Michael Smith, MD

Name a diet...any diet. It doesn't work. Try to name another diet. Nope, no good. It doesn't work. No diets work. Don't misunderstand me, diets can help you lose weight, but that's only half the battle. What about weight regain?

Diets today don't work because they focus on weight loss, the easy part. The hard part is getting you not to gain the weight back...it's called weight regain. Interestingly, the same diets that help you lose weight, end up causing weight regain. This is why diets don't work.

A Diet Is Just A Diet

Diets cause weight loss by promoting a menu with fewer calories. Nothing more and nothing less. Eat fewer calories, create a negative energy balance (an energy deficit), utilize stored energy to make up for the deficit, and lose weight. There you have it!

To make things even better for you, they do this in the fastest possible time with the most weight loss possible. Fast and extreme weight loss, promoted by a majority of diet plans in the market today, causes diet shock and eventually weight regain.

The consequence of weight regain is the Yo-Yo Diet. This is a bad cycle of losing weight, gaining the weight back, and losing it again. This pattern of weight change has recently been shown to be a significant health risk.

Diet Shock, Weight Regain, and Yo-Yo

Yo-Yo dieting is as much of a health risk as obesity. So do you just give up and accept the "damned if you do and damned if you don't" mentality? Absolutely not!

Obesity is a significant risk factor for many weight related diseases, this has not changed. You need options that will lead to weight loss without causing weight regain.

Somehow you have to lose weight, prevent diet shock, and promote a state that keeps weight off. What are your options?

Options for Losing Weight and Keeping it Off

You have two options...

1. Stop dieting and start exercising as your sole means to weight loss.

2. Diet as usual but add steps to prevent diet shock and weight regain.

Please stay tuned for my next two articles...Resistance Training and Make Your Diet Work.

To Healthy Living!

Michael A. Smith, MD
Chief Medical Consultant
Diet Basics Website

Dr. Michael A. Smith is the Chief Medical Consultant for Diet Basics, a content rich website dedicated to the on-line dieter. Learn how to Make Your Diet Work and visit Dr. Smith's site where he presents his new dieting system designed to, "Make Your Diet Work!"

| Article Keywords: Healthy Diets

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Healthy Diets... Mediterranean Diet The Mediterranean diet concept is that of a healthy diet consisting of vegetables, fruit, cereals, legumes and nuts that are low in saturated fats. It also includes low consumption of dairy products, seafood, poultry, red meat and small to moderate quantities of wine. The Mediterranean diet is one of the most studied dietary patterns. It has been noticed that people in the Mediterranean region, an area of three continents, differ in their culture, tradition and food habit, but lead very similar active lifestyles and share similar eating habits. It was observed that cases of chronic heart diseases, diabetes, gallstones and cancers were minimal in the Mediterranean region. The daily Mediterranean diet includes mostly fresh vegetables, fruit mainly as dessert, cereals, whole grain breads, pastas legumes, beans and nuts cooked in olive oil. The diet is supplemented by low to moderate use of milk, cheese and yogurt along with mostly red wine or water. Seafood, poultry and eggs are a weekly add on to the diet, and the consumption of red meat is limited to few times a month. Sweet and dessert intake is also limited to a few days a week. Fruit is the most preferred type of dessert. The Mediterranean diet is well-balanced with a supply of essential vitamins, minerals, low in saturated fat, salt and sugar to ensure good health. As stated, people in the Mediterranean region lead active lives, but they also find enough time to relax, enjoy and socialize with every meal. This, in turn, helps in digestion of food and proper functioning of body systems. Interestingly, the Mediterranean diet does not exclude any food from the diet that has a reasonable amount of saturated fats. In fact, it is the combination of the food products in the diet that provides the necessary nutrition ...