Diets: Do's and Don'ts.

We've all heard of these famous diets. Atkins, The Zone, South Beach Diet. And chances are we've tried at least one of these, if not another diet that we heard about from some various source or another. Diets are like ex lovers. We cheat on them, we break up with them, we tell ourselves that after this one binge, we'll go back to them. Most of the time, we never do. The word diet itself seems to have a negative connotation. In reality, a person's diet, is just the food that that person habitually eats. Yet in our strangely obese, yet weight obsessed culture, we've taken a simple word, "diet", and given it a twist. A meaning. A connotation.

According to this eatingdisorders.org article, dieting is the number one risk factor for developing an eating disorder and approximately 68% of 15 year old girls are dieting. The question I'm left with is why? Why diet when it's proven that these "crash" diets do not work. All these diets do is restrict one's eating. Most of the time leaving a person feeling groggy and hungry. Not only this but dieting can reduce the body's metabolic rate, which would defeat the purpose of the diet, yes?

This CNN article about the dangers of dieting sheds light on what should be avoided when dieting such as skipping meals. Skipping meals is always a bad idea as it leaves one feeling hungry and much more tempted to splurge their daily caloric intake on a high calorie snack. Instead try having many small, healthy meals throughout the day. Your metabolism stays up and you won't have to spend all day feeling hungry.

What about detox diets? They seem like a good idea, flushing your body of toxins and excess fat, but in reality detox diets, which are skyrocketing in popularity thanks to extremely skinny actresses and models, are dangerous for your health. This MSNBC article warns of the unpleasant side affects of a detox diet such as frequent liquid bowel movements and blood sugar problems. To me, this just does not seem to make sense. The whole purpose of a detox is to emerge healthier, not deficient in important vitamins and liquid.

The logical, and safe way, to diet includes drinking plenty of water, exercising and consuming the right amounts of foods high in vitamins and proteins and low in bad fats and carbohydrates. Also, avoiding foods with ingredients that are unrecognizable in nature helps. Not only is it better for your insides but it just tends to make you feel better, knowing what you're putting in your body. A diet that works shouldn't be a diet that starves you or places extreme limits on your eating habits. The human body needs fats, proteins and sugars to thrive. We need carbohydrates for energy. So denying yourself those based upon the rigid rules of some of these crash diets makes no sense and, ultimately, you'll end up breaking up with another bad diet and be left feeling unsatisfied.