Diets Part 2

Yesterday we got into some of the fad diets that are out there. We’re going to get into the main points and reasoning of these diets and compare them with the lifestyle of the Mediterranean Diet.

Atkins Diet: avoids carbohydrates if possible and classifies itself as a low-carbohydrate diet in order to avoid an increase of stored body fat. There has been some controversy that surrounded the Atkins Diet in the fact that high protein and low carbohydrate diets put people at risk of heart disease and that too much protein in the diet can affect your kidneys therefore increasing any preexisting health problems.

Cabbage Soup Diet: Taken from the website itself, http://www.cabbage-soup-diet.com/, it basically tells you the pros and cons of this diet. When you check this website out the first thing you notice is they claim that you will lose up to ten pounds in one week. This obviously cannot be healthy. The cons state that your body will probably be weak and there may be dizziness but to keep in mind that the diet is only for one week. These diets do not work; you may stick to this kind of diet for a week then is confused with how to maintain a healthy eating lifestyle after the one week is up. A lot of individuals tend to gain back the quick weight they have lost.

Grapefruit Diet: This diet originally lasts 18 days total and requires eating a lot of grapefruit; the diet used to be called the Hollywood diet. Currently according to this website, http://www.grapefruit-diet-plan.org/, you are able to lose 10 pounds in just 12 days. If you plan on continuing the diet after the 12 days are up you must take off two days before starting the whole process again. The cons show that the calorie intake from this diet probably is not enough for your daily nutrition and that the diet doesn’t mean its going to necessarily help with ones weight loss since it’s a temporary diet.

You’ve now seen a sample of what these three diets have to offer. With all three of these diets listed above there is controversy when it comes to ones health. Yes you may lose some weight which will probably be temporary and while doing so you are probably damaging your body. You will probably more than likely gain the weight that you temporarily lost and be like every other individual that starts searching again for a new diet to try: a new diet that probably will fail you once again. This is where the Mediterranean Diet comes into play. We know that the Mediterranean Diet promotes good food, good health, and that its doable. You are able to eat your favorite foods and still maintain a healthy lifestyle. If you have forgotten about the food groups check out this picture of the Mediterranean food pyramid here: http://www.thefinalsprint.com/images/2007/05/mediterranean-diet-food-pyramid.jpg.