Be Successful with DIETS

Diets are not only for losing weight. There are so many different types of diet but then can be categorized into a few different groups

Low Fat Diet or Calories Restriction

This is probable the original diet. The idea is simple, you need X amount of energy every day, so you restrict your intake of food to less than X calories each day. Many combinations of diet follow this theme, with the main idea being low fat, high carbohydrates and controlled calories.

• The Good Side: Any recommendation to reduce trans-fats is beneficial.
• The Bad Side: This can be really bad for the many people as it reduces the stores of fat soluble nutrients and increases hunger. It does not make allowances for differences between people or for changes in nutritional needs over a persons lifetime.

Healthy Eating Diets

This is recommended by the government food pyramid and all general healthy eating guides. It is also incorporated into the most popular diet schemes. The emphasis is on lower fat and higher carbohydrates and eating fruits and vegetables in good quantities.

• The Good Side: Any diet with emphasis on increasing vegetable intake will improve many peoples health. Eating lower fat and higher carbohydrate will work for some people's body chemistry.
• The Bad Side: Does not take into account individual differences in food requirements, meaning such recommendations can be disastrous for many people. The advice does not cater for changes in nutritional requirements during your lifetime. Grain consumption is also linked to the majority of present day health issues and so would not be good advice, except for certain people's body chemistry.

Metabolic Typing Diet

Uses physical, dietary and psychological traits to classify the body along fundamental systems. This allows the specific foods and nutrients to be discovered for that individual person.

• The Good Side: Accurately determines nutritional requirements and is specific to your own body chemistry. It allows for individuals to change nutritional requirements during their lifetime as seen in the real world. It encompasses a large variation in recommendations for different people which is the same as the real world.

• The Bad Side: Can be complicated and difficult to understand if following on your own and you need to use a trained advisor to get a level of analysis powerful enough to create long lasting changes.

Atkins Diet

This requires the person to eat greater amounts of protein through meats and to use fat liberally. It suggests obtaining carbohydrate intake from vegetables, seeds, nuts and berries. The overall effect is a high protein, high fat and low carbohydrate diet.

• The Good Side: Suggests removing grains from the diet which can benefit most people. It ensures you obtain adequate amounts of fat soluble vitamins and promotes consuming organic foods and vegetables. Will work for certain people short term but very few on a long term basis.
• The Bad Side: It does not account for the fact that people vary greatly and a low carbohydrate intake, especially to this extent, can be disastrous. It does not separate different form of meat and vegetables. It does not allow people to change nutritional needs over their lifetime

Following Your Food Cravings

Many people say their body knows best and thus it is only right to follow what it wants.

• The Good Side: Works well if you are very in tune with your body and accurately following a metabolic typing diet and so would know that you are obtaining your exact nutritional needs.
• The Bad Side: Food is addictive chemically and emotionally and in 99% of cases food cravings are confused and nothing to do with nutritional needs. For example your body will crave a cigarette if you have a few, but that does not mean it is needed. The more sugar or bread you eat the more you crave them also. Food cravings also drop back to your dominant gland and thus can lead to exhaustion if the stimulating foods are over consumed.

Junk Food Diet

Eating whatever food comes your way and not caring what it is.

• The Good Side: There isn't really any actual good side to this diet.
• The Bad Side: Decreased health across the board

Juicing Diet

Using a juicer to make any number of juices and smoothies.

• The Good Side: Can obtain significant amounts of nutrients if done correctly
• The Bad Side: Normally lacks fat and protein amounts for good health. Reliance on fruit juice can be troublesome for many people. Does not account for the different nutritional qualities of fruits and vegetables, grouping them all together as good. Whether a food is good is dependent on your body chemistry.

South Beach Diet

The book recommends very little in reality but for removal of heavily processed foods and avoiding certain carbohydrates which stimulate insulin production. It is a mix of Atkins diet and the Mediterranean diet with far less restrictions.

• The Good Side: Recommends reducing processed foods which is of benefit to anyone as is controlling certain insulin rising foods
• The Bad Side: Doesn't account for individual differences and allows people too many foods that will be wrong for certain body chemistries. Sold 5 million copies but also holds the title as the having the most money spent on the marketing of any diet book.

Blood Type Diet

This bases food recommendations on your blood type which is said to indicate your genetic needs from our ancestors.

• The Good Side: Acknowledges the fact we all have different nutritionally needs and focuses on whole foods.
• The Bad Side: Recommendations have no bearing on the person's nutritional needs with the majority of his evidence criticized. Does not account for actual differences seen in the real world or changes during your life.

Blood Analysis and Diet Recommendations

Food recommendations are based on results from your blood test.

• The Good Side: Acknowledges the fact we all have different nutritional needs, and uses analysis to make recommendations.
• The Bad Side: Only uses a blood test to give recommendations. Blood is just one systemic level within the body. Put simply because you have high or low levels in the blood does not indicate whether you have high or low levels in the cells where it is needed.

Zone Diet

Advocates a diet of 40% protein and 30% carbs and 30% fat.

• The Good Side: Excellent for a proportion of the population
• The Bad Side: Does not work for the majority of people who's nutritional requirement varies from the recommendations.

Mediterranean Diet

Based on what is commonly consumed in the south of Europe. The emphasis is on consuming unsaturated fats and carbohydrates.

• The Good Side: Can work well for certain people.
• The Bad Side: Does not account for the variability between different people's body chemistry.

Glycemic Index (GI) / Glycemic Load (GL) Diets

Makes nutritional recommendations based on the ability of the food to raise or lower insulin within the body (glycemic index/load).

• The Good Side: Aims to reduce the high glycemic foods which will benefit almost everyone.
• The Bad Side: GI is only one minor factor amongst other variables and thus should not be used to determine what to eat. Does not account for individual difference in food requirements or the other contributions and factors in nutrition.

Vegetarian Diet

Often touted as healthy and very popular for both ethical and lifestyle reasons. It advises elimination of some or all animals produce.

• The Good Side: Can work well for people suited to a low protein diet.
• The Bad Side: The diet can be disaster for people with normal or high protein requirements. Also, many vegetarians fail to adequately replace the meat proteins through using complementary proteins, e.g. legumes and grains.