No Foolin'

Stay clear of any April Fools pranks attempting to pull on your healthy efforts!  Whether you want to fit in your favorite pants in your closet, look dashing in swimwear, feel fit, or ward off diseases—weight loss may be consuming your thoughts.  Diets purporting results which seem too good to be true just might be!  So, how can you make sure you are an educated consumer and making the best choice?

 

Be Leery of these Common Diet Gimmicks 

• RAPID LOSS.  Healthy weight loss should be 1/2-2 pounds a week.  According to CDC, when people lose weight gradually, they are more successful in keeping the weight off than people who lose rapidly.  So, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, avoid the urge to lose quickly.

• NO NEED TO EXERCISE.  What a great ploy--lose weight without effort.  Although it would be fabulously easy, attaining a healthy weight requires incorporating physical activity.  Physical activity will also support your efforts in maintinaing weight once you achieve your goal weight loss.

• RIGIDITY.  To assess whether or not a diet is right for you, ask yourself, "could I eat this the rest of my life?"  If you can't, than it is not a sustainable health plan for you.  Remember, it's about an ongoing lifestyle.

• SPECIFIC FOOD COMBINATIONS.  American Dietetics Association states, "there is no evidence that combining certain foods or eating foods at specific times of day will help with weight loss.  Eating the 'wrong' combinations of foods doesn't cause them to turn to fat immediately or to produce toxins in your intestines, as some plans claim."

• ELIMINATION.  Diets which eliminate or highly restrict entire food groups are not healthy.  Your body needs nutrients and by eliminating or restricting you will be missing crucial nutritents.