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If you are
getting married, going on holiday, or coming back from holiday, losing a
few pounds will be on your mind. More worrying though is the long term
battle of the bulge. I was shocked to find out about the rising levels of
obesity in Britain especially amongst children. Junk food, highly
processed foods, frozen ready-made meals have all contributed to the
nation??™s poor health.
To combat the
nation??™s increasing waistline, people have become more and more desperate
to lose the weight by drastic measures such as the Atkins Diet. When
doctors condemned Atkins and other high protein diets as being dangerous,
we all threw caution to the wind, and jumped on the low-carb bandwagon.
Over a year ago, it seemed that everyone was on the Atkins and even
supermarkets had to stock low carb options. Now, certainly the mood
amongst the media, and my family and friends, is that high protein diets
are unrealistic and unsustainable and don??™t deliver the results.
A recent American
survey showed that the low-carb diets are declining in popularity.
Results revealed that less than 10 percent of Americans are on some form
of high protein diet such as Atkins, South Beach and The Zone. Another
survey of 500 Americans showed that less than one out of five people would
purchase a low-carb product considering them to be unsafe.
High protein
diets don't work for two-thirds of the population because of their genetic
make-up so a low-carb diet is unhealthy and unsatisfying for them. Recent
research shows that carbohydrates are needed to manage your mood, as many
release the feel-good substance, serotonin. Many on high protein diets,
even if they achieved their desired weight loss, felt miserable most of
the time, because of the lack of carbs. These moods will defeat the object
of the exercise, which is to stick to the diet, and dieters will revert
back to their habits before they started the diet.
Overall, it is
best not to follow any faddy diets at all. In general, the only pounds you
lose are the pounds from your wallet for all the books, special foods, and
other marketing goods. Diets are big business, designed to exploit your
weaknesses and make you feel inadequate whilst making the diet industry
richer.
I have always
kept an open mind about food, and have always believed in a varied and
healthy diet. Carbohydrates are not the enemy, it is the white, unrefined
carbohydrates which cause havoc with blood sugar levels that are the
problem. The medically approved Mediterranean diet with plenty of fresh
fruit, vegetables, yoghurt and quality protein is in my opinion, the
healthiest. You have only to look at how long and healthy Mediterraneans
live to see that!
Above all, enjoy
your food and your life!
Read my article
about my book Natural Beauty in August's issue of Natural Health and
Wellbeing out now. You will also be able to buy a copy in September's
edition.
Log on to my
website
www.sidrashaukat.biz for other articles or email me at
am-2@sidrashaukat.biz for
your views.
(c) Sidra Shaukat
2004 |
