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DEL.ICIO.US9 Red Flags to Look for before Going on a Diet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You already know that I am no fan of any diet, in the “four” letter sense of the word. If diets worked, then there would be no reason to have to invent a new diet it seems like every year. The other day on my show Fitness Mythbuster (at RadioSandySprings.com), I interviewed Ilana Katz, R.D., L.D. She is one of few R.D.’s that I have met that understands the role of supportive nutrition and implementing a sound exercise regime (not just walking) of resistance training and progressive cardiovascular exercise.
During the interview, she gave me a list of 9 Red Flags to look for before going on to any diet. Funny thing is, every diet imaginable has one or more of these red flags.
- If the recommendations promises a quick fix.
- Dire warnings of danger from a single product.
- Claims that sounds too good to be true.
- Simplistic conclusions drawn from complex studies.
- Recommendations based on a single study.
- Dramatic statements that are refuted by reputable organizations.
- Recommendations made to help sell the product. (Did you see the recent expose about LA Weight Loss recently? They’re all about upselling products that include food, pills, and powders).
- Recommendations based on studies published without peer reviews (in other words: appealing testimonials of few people’s success, appearing in “trendy” magazines rather than scientific journals)
- Recommendations from studies that ignore differences in individual groups .
Once again, what I want you take from this is not to go on a search to see if there is a diet that doesn’t have any of these red flags. As I said, most “diets” will have these red flags and none of them are for everlasting change. If I were to make any recommendation it would be to follow Eating for Life (which is a spin-off from Body for Life). Though it could be portrayed as a diet, Eating for Life is about how you’re suppose to be eating and it is something you can stick to.
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