Say No to Fat loss Fads

Just about 2 months to go before 31st December and everybody wants to do a last minute, photo finish, weight loss. Of course in this case I would say its better late than not. However we must be careful not to harm and damage our bodies with fad diets that give quick results but also cause bad side effects.

Let us look at some of the common fad diets that people take up and then see how they could harm us. The most common one is people deciding to fast at least twice a week with only drinking fruit and vegetable juices the whole day. Some others have only fruits or only soups and salad on one or two days in the week. They feel it is a good way to detoxify their bodies and also lose some weight.

This method is dangerous because you are not getting your 3 meals in the day and you will feel weak. Your metabolism will come down and as there is hardly any protein intake and you will lose muscle mass which will make you weak and tired. You lose weight on the scale but since you have lost both muscle and fat your skin will become loose and sagging in appearance.

Those who go to weight loss farms or centers where they stay for a week to 10 days, tend to follow a similar diet as mentioned above for 7-10 days continuously. i.e. Only fruits, vegetable juices and buttermilk for all 7-10 days. They too lose a lot of weight but not only does their skin sag but they become weak, their metabolism slows down, they fall ill and worst of all, is that their kidneys get damaged which can be very dangerous to their overall health in the future. Besides the above side effects these people put back the lost weight and more quite rapidly.

The other popular method is high protein diets which may advice you to eat as much paneer, cheese, eggs and non-veg as you want through out the day and asks you to avoid foods like bread, rice, chapati, etc.

Please understand that this is a very abnormal and imbalanced way to eat. Yes, we all need protein foods to repair and maintain our bodies and for growth of cells and tissues. But we also need carbohydrate foods such as cereal grains, vegetables and fruits which are the energizer foods which helps us to work and play through out the day.

The high protein diets too are very, very dangerous and harmful to the kidneys as all the waste products of the high protein digestion have to be removed by the kidney.

Another type of diet is to eat a certain group of food according to your body or blood type. Some people are told that their body type can eat as much rice items as they want while others are told to eat only wheat. I don’t believe that there is any such response in the body. However we have observed that all obese and over weight people have a good chance of developing diabetes. In such a case all refined cereals such as rice and rice items, idli, dosa, avalakki (rice flakes) semia, maida items, noodles, pasta, etc., and rava tend to make you put on weight easily and can prevent you from losing weight. So whatever your body type or blood type you need to avoid intake of rice, rava and maida items while on a weight loss diet. Instead try to consume whole wheat flour, whole wheat bread, roties, ragi, oats and broken wheat.

1. Therefore the right way to lose weight is to completely give up all Fatty Foods such as
   All Fried Foods
   All Sweets
   All Nuts
   Pastries, puffs, cakes and cookies
   Red meat and fried non- veg
2. Eat 3 Carbohydrate plus Protein balanced meals daily.
3. Eat plenty of Fiber in the form of whole grain cereals, pulses, salads and fruits.

Along with the above Walk for 20-30 minutes daily and drink 2-3 liters Water daily.