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Celebrity Diets
The media
is constantly bombarding us with celebrities promoting one diet or
nutritional program after another, but are these celebrity diets
effective, let alone healthy? Well it depends on which celebrity
endorsed program you are talking about and since there are so many it is
easy to get lost in the quagmire. Celebrity
Diets are nothing more than diets that are recommended by celebrities
and until you consult your doctor, personal trainer or certified
nutritionist you really shouldn't just jump into any new diet/weight
loss/nutritional program, even if someone like Oprah is endorsing it.
The basic theory embedded in all celebrity diets is the same – low
carbs/ low calories. Even though, this formula is effective in bringing
down your weight, in the long run, it is not at all a healthy
proportion. Food is fuel for the body and if you are denying your body
fuel then eventually it will cease to function properly. Not to mention
that everybody's metabolic type is different, which means that different
people require different diet plans. Some people need more carbohydrates
in their diet than others and some people require higher amounts of fat.
The most important thing to remember is that the body needs food to
survive and lower calorie diets do not provide your body with adequate
amounts of energy to sustain you.
In addition
to low/carb/low calorie diets, most of the so-called celebrity diets require a
stringent workout regimen to backup the diet plan, which unfortunately
may not be practical for each person's individual lifestyle, that alternates
between work and family. In other words, what is considered part of the job for a
celebrity, looking good, may not be so for everyone. However working out
is essential to losing weight and staying healthy, however spending 6
days a week, 3-4 hours a day working out, is definitely not advised.
Your body needs time to rest and recuperate between work outs. Muscles
are built during down times, just as much as they are during work out
hours, so give your body the time to build muscle on your days off at
the gym.
A few celebrity diets that
have made headlines in the past, but also had invariably invited the
disdain of nutritionists the world over include:
Oprah Winfrey's Cabbage Soup Diet, Gwyneth Paltrow's Zen Macrobiotic
diet, Rene Zellweger's the Zone diet, and Heidi Klum and Drew Barrymore's
low carb/low fat diet. These are just a few of the celebrity endorsed
diets that are out there, after all we are all aware of Kirstie Alley's
endorsement of Jenny Craig, but that's an entirely different article.
As, you continue reading, you will discover why it is not a good idea to
blindly embrace these diet plans.
The Cabbage
Soup diet prescribes alternating between eating one certain food all
day long, with a specially prepared high sodium content broth from cabbage, V8
juices, and onion soup. The disadvantages with this diet are that it is
calorie depriving as well as that it promotes a high sodium intake, both of
which are unhealthy to the human body over time. Besides who want to eat
just one thing a day and cabbage soup all of the time for months on end.
One of the other problems with this diet is that it deprives your body
of the many different vitamins and nutrients that you get from a well
balanced diet.
Gwyneth Paltrow's
Zen Macrobiotic diet, strictly prohibits the consumption of dairy,
alcohol, meat, caffeine, fish, and eggs, and promotes organic foods
instead. The cons with this diet are that it requires the dieter to
consume more raw food and it severely restricts calories. Also, the diet lacks in
B12, proteins, and essential fats, which could lead to dietary and other
health related issues. The same problem exists with Heidi Klum and Drew Barrymore's
low carb/low fat diet.
Another
reason why you should not trust celebrity diets is that these
diets, while perhaps endorsed by the celebrity are not always practiced
by the celebrity. Many of
them only lend their name to a diet plan, and they do so in exchange for
money, much the same way they endorse other products on TV. Remember,
these people are not experts in the field of health and nutrition, they
are not doctors, nutritionists or personal trainers. Their advice about
nutrition isn't any more valuable than your grandmother's or your next
door neighbor's and in some case their advice is worse. After all
celebrities aren't always known for being the healthiest people, a lot
of celebrities are accused of being anorexic or bulimic, or having
problems with drugs or alcohol. So it wouldn't be prudent to take their
advice, unless perhaps you want to know about acting or how to make it
in Hollywood.
So, which
is the ideal diet plan that does not hurt your body? It would be better
to follow a diet plan that focuses on your metabolic typing since each person's biochemistry
is
different from one another. Some people may need more fat and proteins,
while others require more vegetables and lean proteins. It just
depends upon your biochemistry. As a rule of thumb, find a diet
plan that is nutritious and well balanced, that meets your body's
requirements, one that includes lots of organic food, free range,
natural fed and wild meat sources (not low quality factory farm meat)
minus milk and dairy products unless you get it from a raw source. Also,
avoid all non-healthy processed and tin foods, even if it is meat.
Finally, if you are not able to chart a balanced diet plan as you would
want it to be, don't hesitate to seek the services of a professional
nutritionist or dietician.
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