Doctors warn that unhealthy fad diets are actually contributing to the obesity epidemic.
Professor Chris Hawkey, president of the British Society of Gastroenterology, claims that the promotion of unhealthy foods and diets contributes to overeating and increased pathological attitudes towards food, including anorexia, bulimia, and malnutrition.
He advises people to avoid any diet that places heavy restrictions on what you can eat, such as the Hallelujah Diet, which is restricted to fruits and seeds, or the Hollywood Grapefruit Diet, in which dieters can eat just 800 calories and one grapefruit per day.
The boredom associated with restrictive diets can prompt a return to unhealthy eating habits once someone loses the desired amount of weight. "We need to do away with quirky diets and get people to realize what will keep them healthy," says Dr. Hawley.
David Haslam, chairman of the National Obesity Council, agrees. "Diets don’t work," he says. "The most effective way is making sustainable changes to reduce dietary intake and increase physical activity."
To read the full article, please visit Could fad diets be making the obesity epidemic worse?
Was this article helpful? If so, comment below and let other users know what you think.
Resources
To learn more about obesity and nutrition, check out these titles on Amazon.com:
Breaking Free from Emotional Eating, by Geneen Roth
Eating Well For Optimum Health: The Essential Guide to Bringing Health and Pleasure Back to Eating, by Andrew Weil
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
