FREE ESSAY ON THE TRUTH ON DIETING AND WEIGHT LOSS

THE TRUTH ON DIETING AND WEIGHT LOSS

The Truth on Dieting and Weight Loss
About one-third of Americans are extremely over-weight, which may be why crash dieting is
beginning to plague America. It's estimated that Americans alone spend 80-100 billion
dollars on weight loss tactics. People go on these diets to get quick results but are
these results hurting them more than helping? The answer is Yes! The only way to safely
and effectively lose weight is through old-fashioned exercise and the right diet. You
cannot successfully lose weight by simply cutting food from your diet or taking some
pills, it is necessary to work for your results. Without depriving your body of necessary
nutrients through dieting, you can lose fat and get the body you've always dreamed of, or
at least one you're more comfortable with. 
The quote The effects of the current obsession with dieting can be devastating, said by
Mr. Woodworth, a long time exercise and nutrition expert, summarizes the dangers of
dieting. The many dangerous methods of losing weight: so called dieting or starvation/fad
diets, pills and drugs, over-exercising, surgery, and eating disorders, have taken many
casualties. Many people go on diets, a word so commonly misused, to get quick results of
weight loss. Perhaps the most common is minor starvation and fad dieting. This method is
when people become over concerned with calorie intake. Many deaths have been associated
with low calorie diets. By trying to shed pounds simply by cutting all fat from the diet
greatly increases the risk of getting cancer, heart disease, and other health problems.
That low-fat trap gets people hooked on reduced-fat snacks or possibly not eating at all.
So now the body is being deprived of necessary nutrients not available in any pill or
liquid form. Yes cutting fat and cholesterol reduces the risk of heart disease and
diabetes, but nutrient poor diets have an even larger risk of getting those diseases
along with many others. Of course a large percent of dieters will lose weight but they
will feel depressed afterward and gain back even more than before they started the diet.
The reason why is because they are losing healthy weight along with the fat they were
hoping to rid of. In an infomercial with Tony Little, he showed a graph of what the body
loses when someone goes on a diet. By cutting back on foods, the body becomes deprived of
very important nutrients. Then when it seems you are losing weight, what you are actually
losing is fat AND MUSCLE. Many times, more lean muscle than fat will be lost. And
although they may look slimmer because their size is smaller, they are actually weaker
and more susceptible to injuries due to losing healthy weight. Healthy weight is muscle
and bone weight, the things that support your structure and enable you to perform
rigorous activities. A lot of the time healthy weight is misinterpreted, especially in
females. Which leads to an amazing fact that 62% of women and 44% of men that are dieting
aren't even overweight! But they are misled when they step on the bathroom scale and My
God look what it says! They are not realizing that muscle outweighs fat over 2:1.
Therefor, many people may think they are fat even though they may be healthy. I myself am
an example of that. On a height and age chart it says my ideal weight for my height is
155 pounds. I am 168, so does that mean that I am overweight? Not necessarily. Charts and
stuff are made for averages and trends because when doing a body fat testing I had only
10.8% body fat which is below the average for people my age and size. So the bathroom
scale scares many people into believing that they need to lose weight when it may not be
necessary. On top of overweight people dieting we also have healthy people dieting, both
of which are extremely dangerous. Thus, the fad diet/starvation method should be
completely avoided because simple dieting is just a stepping stone that may lead to much
more serious things that become life changing or life threatening.. 
What started as a simple diet may have progressed into another dangerous way of losing
weight through pills or drugs and eating disorders. How wonderful it would be if we could
all take a couple of pills a day and not worry what else we may eat all while obtaining
that body we yearn for. Unfortunately, we don't have that pill and probably never will so
avoid the dangerous imitations out there. What is not told about these miracle pills that
make you have the body of your dreams is that they cause fatigue, hyperphagia, insomnia,
mood changes, irritability and if really abused psychosis. While claiming to boost your
metabolism, reduce fat, and suppress your appetite they may become addicting and your
body may eventually depend upon them. Many of these pills contain untested chemicals and
slip by the FDA by claiming that they are food supplements not drugs. And while each year
many deaths are due to these products they are still being used by seven percent of
adolescent girls in the U.S. and thirty-four percent have at least tried them. Furthering
the risk of complications in life and leading many times to death along with dieting.
People with eating disorders are believed to be the result from the 70 million Americans
who diet each year, lose the weight, regain the weight, and then diet again. They,
instead of going back to dieting once more, become anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.
Anorexia is when an individual is more than 15 percent under expected weight, fears
gaining weight, females have amenorrhea (males lose sex drive) and abnormal eating
habits. They simply restrict food because the pleasure in eating food is overwhelmed by
guilt and anxiety. About 1 in every 100 girls between 12-18 years of age are affected.
The complications of anorexia are dehydration, gastrointestinal bleeding, chest pain, low
heart rate, abnormal temperature, bone growth retardation or osteoporosis, infertility,
dry skin and hair, constipation, epileptic seizures, the list still goes on. An awful lot
just to lose some weight don't you think? Many people who simply use the fad diet method
get the urge to lose more weight and that is when they resort to the life threatening
disorder of anorexia. Approximately one-third of anorexics become bulimia nervosa's.
These are people who binge eat then purge themselves by vomiting. They become isolated
and depressed and have a low self-esteem. What's worse though is that physically these
people seem healthy but if you look close they develop finger calluses or lesions, puffy
cheeks , and erosion of enamel on their teeth due to the stomach acids so frequently
eating away at it. It is in everyone's best interest to avoid dieting and the other
methods of losing weight that come with it because there is a major difference between
dieting and having a healthy diet (food choice).
To overcome these weight problems and lead a healthier life you need look no further than
a couple isles over from where you usually shop in the market and a little bit of good
old exercise. First off there is one important thing you must know abut trying to lose
weight the correct way, it's just like trying to become a millionaire, it takes some work
and some time. Losing weight the correct way will take longer than a crash diet but it is
a much safer method not to mention more permanent. This may be the tricky part for most
people, laying of the junk food. It is ok to have junk food occasionally but making it an
everyday thing will really lengthen the weight loss process especially if you are older.
The main entree needs to be starchy foods. It has been said that breads are fatty but
they contain no more calories per gram than lean meat. These foods tends to expand once
in your stomach making you feel a little more full and giving you less of an urge to eat
and really stuff yourself. When you stuff yourself your stomach grows just like when you
exercise a muscle, the next time you will need more food to satisfy it. Avoid the breads
made with lots of oil or butter and ones you need to put spreads on for flavor. It is
wise to include a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet. Greener foods
tend to help metabolism (the chemical that helps you break down food) better and are
recommended. Although McDonalds has Americas favorite fries, you better avoid that and
any other type of fried potato including potato chips. Even though they are vegetables
they have been doused with fatty oils. Dairy products are necessary foods so opt for the
skim milk, nonfat yogurt, and low-fat cheese. You'll acquire a taste for them and
appreciate it in the long run. Protein is another necessary food that you must watch
carefully. Trim all visible fat off before steaming, grilling, baking or poaching. Notice
I did not say frying! Frying requires oil and oil is a main ingredient you want to avoid.
Cutting down on fats is the best approach when you are attempting to make an appropriate
diet. You do not want to eliminate all fats but minimizing them helps. Calories are too
often worried about. It's like saying, don't fill up the car past ? of a tank because it
might not run as well. Calories are energy and energy is necessary. Now that doesn't mean
fill up the car so much it starts spilling out on the ground and flooding the parking
lot. With the exercise you plan to incorporate in this weight loss program you will use
all of those calories and burn the existing fat calories stuck on you body. By adapting
this plan into your meal plan you are very unlikely to put on any more weight unless all
you do is sit on your couch all day watching TV (it burns calories just not enough). Fat
calories are the calories you want to avoid. Any snacks that are high in saturated fat
and have a lot of total calories from fat. Now, to rid of your existing excess weight
there is one and only one way, by continuous aerobic exercise. In order for the body to
begin burning fat calories, which have a different make up of carbohydrate and protein
calories, the body must believe it needs to use the larger amount of calories. For most
activities in life your body uses calories from carbohydrates or proteins for quick
energy. Once you have been performing an activity using your legs, i.e. jogging, biking
continuous swimming, etc., for 12 minutes your body begins to use the fat calories to
conserve on carbohydrates. Thus, after 12 minutes of aerobic exercise (which is defined
as having your heart rate between 80-110 b.p.s) you begin to burn fat from your body and
sweat it through your skin cells. So recommended duration for exercise is 20 minutes for
beneficial results. Performing this activity once a day would probably show results more
rapidly but it is recommended you do it 3-5 times a week especially if you don't
regularly exercise. There is a note of caution for people who are extremely over weight
to not try and over do it. Over exercising can cause heart attacks so you should ease
your way into exercising. Maybe start just by walking, then a combination of walking and
jogging, don't try and over do it hoping to get results instantly. All good things take
time. So with determination and persistency you can be on your way to a healthier
lifestyle by incorporating a healthy and plentiful diet with essential exercise. 
Without dieting, you're capable of sculpting a body more desirable for yourself and
staying in good health. Without buying pills and drugs and little gimmicks you can make
it much cheaper to take of that unwanted fat. Take yourself out of that statistic that
one-third of Americans are extremely over-weight driving them into crash dieting. Through
daily exercise and the right diet gradually lose the weight which doesn't put you at such
great risks. The truth is dieting destines you for death, while dedication destines you
for doggedness. 
Bibliography
WSOC Health Team 9 (1998, Editors)
Dangerous Dieting
1998 The Associated Press on the web
Retrieved 12-10-99 from World Wide Web 
http://www.gocarolinas.com/living/health/nutrition/_dieting.html
Lane, Theresa (1996)
Foods That Harm Foods That Heal
The Readers Digest Association Limited, London
Berg, Francis M. (1995)
Health Risks of Weight Loss
Hettinger, ND : Healthy Weight Journal
Little, Tony (Producer) (1997, May 24)
Healthy Living w/ Tony Little
Infomercial on CBS
Woodworth, M. (1998 Sept)
[Speech by Mr. Woodworth]
At Walled Lake Central High School