FAD DIETS AND DIET CENTERS

More than one-third of Americans are trying to lose weight. Thirty billion dollars are spent each year on diet programs and products that do not have lasting effects and in my opinion, simply do not work. Often people do lose some weight, but if you check back with these people in 6 months or a year, you will find that they have gained back most or all of whatever weight they lost. Commercial diet centers are like Starbucks, there is one on every corner. To their credit, some do offer counseling, exercise and other programs that may be helpful, but usually the people who buy into these centers are looking for the easy answer. Believe me, the marketing companies for these centers know that, therefore sales are great.
They still prescribe foods that have a higher fat content than is advisable and they get predictably poor results. I recommend a diet that derives about 10% of its calories from fat. Check out the fat content in these diet programs:

Lean Cuisine—25%

Diet Center—23%

Jenny Craig—20%

Nutri/System—30%

Weight Watchers—27%

All have one serious flaw; they contain substantial amounts of animal products and oil. The result is at least 2 times more fat than is optimal for weight control. The fat content of these plans is still below what is normal for most Americans, but too high for good and lasting results. Most of the frozen dietetic meals are high in fat too, but the manufacturers know that most consumers are not looking at the fat content; they are looking at how many calories are in each meal. The plan is to put no more than 300 calories in the box and keep the serving size small enough to stay under the required limit. This approach is ultimately useless.
Another of these types of useless fad diets is the Supplemented Fasts and High-Protein Diets. Medifast, Optifast, and other high protein formulas are designed for “supplemented starvation.” They use a high-protein liquid formula instead of real food. These types of diets can result in rapid and profound water loss and can cause various metabolic disturbances. They are so dangerous that they have to be given under a physician's supervision. I can see why some physicians don't mind prescribing these awful diets, being that they include a detailed prospectus stating that the physician can expect to pocket nearly $16,000.00 per month in profits from selling these so called supplements. If you all remember Oprah Winfrey demonstrated how useless these supplemental starvation diets are when she lost a phenomenal amount of weight and then quickly put it all back on and became completely discouraged about any possibility of lasting weight control.
Ultra Slim-Fast another bad choice. All you really need to do to understand this unhealthy choice is to read the labels. If you still have questions about it, please ask me and I will answer all of them for you.
Some other weight loss plans, such as Dr. Atkin's Diet Revolution, promotes high protein and the elimination of carbohydrates completely. There are several things wrong with this idea. First this is not a formula for permanent weight loss. High protein diets cause a rapid loss of water in the body, therefore the weight returns because the body tissues require a certain amount of water in order to function properly. High protein diets are also usually high in fat because the food choices now are meat and dairy products that are accompanied by generous amounts of fat and cholesterol. High protein diets are linked to osteoporosis and kidney disease because they cause calcium to be lost in the urine. This diet releases by-products that act as diuretics, forcing the kidneys to work much harder and weakening the kidney's filtering abilities. Don't get me wrong, we do need a certain amount of protein in our daily diet, but we now know that the dangers of too much protein are very real indeed. Grains, beans and vegetables contain more than enough protein, but not in excess. Keeping balance in your diet is key.