Weight Loss Diet

The word ‘Diet’ literally means the usual food and drink that a person consumes during the course of a day.

The practice of consuming a diet in order to lose weight is known as ‘Dieting’.

The term ‘Dieting’ is usually used for losing weight but it is also used in some cases to gain weight or to regulate the amounts of certain nutrients entering the body.

The diet that facilitates losing weight is known as the ‘Weight Loss Diet’. The ‘Weight Loss Diet’ is also referred to as obesity diet or reducing diet (especially fat). The term ‘Weight Loss Diet’ is sometimes confused with ‘Fad Diet’.

Fad Diet: The diet that promotes a restricted eating-plan or certain liquid foods lacking sufficient food value is termed as Fad Diet. The fad diets are very low in calories so they cause quite fast weight loss. However, quick weight loss may not be healthy and - in most cases - is not fat loss. It is actually water-loss which is quickly regained when the dieter resumes normal eating. The fad diets can cause weight cycling, so fad dieting in also dubbed as ‘Yo-Yo dieting’, which means a continuing pattern of gaining and losing weight. The fad diets are considered unhealthy. The common examples of Fad diets include the Cabbage Soup Diet and the Grapefruit Diet.

Good Weight Loss Diet: The diet that helps losing weight in a positive manner is a good Weight Loss Diet. It does not reduce the energy. A balanced low fat diet is considered as the best weight loss diet. A balanced low fat diet is high in healthy carbohydrates, low in fat and moderate in protein.

A good Weight Loss Diet should be rich in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, which are specially recommended for weight control and preventing diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Low-fat hi-carb diet: The ‘Low-fat hi-carb diet’ is considered a good weight loss diet. The ‘Low-fat hi-carb diet’ is the diet in fat AND high in complex carbohydrates. The Low-fat hi-carb diets are also recommended for optimal athletic performance. The high-fat as well as high-protein diets both are unhealthy. The fat contains more than twice the calories of other foods and it seven times more easily converted to body fat than carbohydrates.

The CARMEN study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, divulged, how increasing carbohydrate intake could help weight control. The study showed that when volunteers increased their consumption of carbohydrates and reduced their consumption of fat, they were able to lose body fat and maintain this weight loss without counting calories or embarking on awkward or life-changing slimming regimes.

The diets rich in complex carbohydrates are less fattening, very healthy and much less easily converted to body fat. The complex carbohydrates are made up of 'complex' molecules, so it takes longer for body to digest them. The complex carbohydrates make body stay full for longer without upsetting the system. One should eat about 60% of his/her calories in the form of complex carbohydrates.

The foods high in complex carbohydrates include whole meal bread, potatoes, pasta, rice (esp. brown) fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes.

Objective: The goal of a good weight loss diet should be to improve the long term eating habits. The weight loss diet or weight loss program that does not teach good long-term eating habits can not solve weight problem.

• The diet should include all food groups.
• The diet should offer an eating plan that can be followed for life.
• The diet should include enough information to help a person make informed choices on calories, fat and general dietary modification.

Therefore, all fad diets, fat-burning diets, single-food diets, diet supplements, expensive pre-packaged diet foods and all weight loss gimmicks like weight loss patches, appetite suppressants and 'fat-burning' weight loss supplements are not likely to tackle the weight loss problem.