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May 10, 2000
Most of us, at one time or another, have tried at least one of the fad diets that circulate periodically, whether it be to lose 100 pounds for the sake of our health, or to lose those last five stubborn pounds for the sake of that great holiday dress that absolutely has to fit before the company Christmas party. Regardless of the reason behind the madness, our intentions are typically good, although our rationale in believing in these methods of weight loss are often skewed. You know the drill...you eat nothing but a couple of gallons of cabbage soup, bananas, brown rice and 20 ounces of red meat in 7 days, and you're miraculously 17 pounds easier on your scale than you were when you started. Or you give up solid food altogether for a few weeks and regress to the days before you actually grew teeth and resort to drinking all of your meals instead. Sounds pretty good to most of us. But those of us who have tried any of these so-called "fad diets" know from personal experience that, while they might be effective at taking off a few pounds in a short amount of time, those pounds typically have a way of weaseling their ways back onto our bodies, bringing along a few extra "friends" for good measure, many of which will be taking a permanent vacation in our thighs. Truly healthy eating isn't about a radical new diet that emerges every few months. It is a lifestyle that involves a commitment to change the eating habits that some of us have grown up with. Changing the way we prepare our food, the way we eat it, and the way we exercise is the only undistorted method of changing the part of our bodies that makes a long-term difference in how we wear what we eat - our metabolism. Intermittently eating healthy foods with rich and fatty cuisine of the fast food variety only confuses our bodies, which typically results in the "yo-yo" effect we've all heard about or experienced, and unfortunately, can compromise the health of our hearts. A couple of good rules of thumb to follow when choosing a health or fitness program (notice the lack of the word, "diet") are as follows: - Any program that promises a weight loss in excess of 2 pounds per week should be avoided. One to two pounds is considered to be the most effective, as well as the most heart-healthy, method of losing unwanted pounds and, more importantly, keeping them off.
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