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Dieting: Facts for the figure By
Jennifer Brennan
College students can give many reasons for not living a healthy lifestyle, but the fact is that even when the body is young, it must be kept healthy. Balance and moderation are the keys to building a healthier lifestyle, said Amy Harris, registered dietitian/certified dietitian at Brigham City Community Hospital. The word "diet" is misleading; the proper term is weight management, which involves lifestyle changes and behavior modification, not just weight loss, Harris said. Aside from weight loss, people need to be aware of more serious cases that can result from not living a healthy lifestyle. "We should be living so we don't get heart disease or cancer," said Brooke Parker, registered dietitian at Utah State University. Parker sees about two to three students a day who have eating disorders or need help managing a healthier way of living. She also teaches an evening class called, "USU's Healthy Weigh," which focuses on nutrition and exercise. The biggest myth with dieting is that food is either good or bad. "Food is inanimate object," Allen said. It is the choices that a person makes that are either good or bad. The way a person is raised will have a huge impact on his eating habits, Cynthia Allen, health educator, said. Understanding the myths of nutrition can also help a person take the right steps towards dieting. The truth is that thin does not mean healthy, and fat does not mean unattractive, USU dietetics students said. There are a number of myths that haunt our conscience into feeling guilty about food. One myth is that eating after 6 p.m. will make you gain weight. The reality is that skipping meals and slowing the metabolism will make you gain weight. The following are various examples of normal eating behaviors according to USU dietetics students. • Being able to use some moderate constraint on your food selection to get the right foods, but not being so restrictive that you miss out on pleasurable foods. • Trusting your body to make up for mistakes in eating. • Being able to eat when you are hungry and continue eating until you are satisfied. • Being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it, not just stop eating because you think you should. • Giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad, bored, or just because it feels good. After identifying with some of these habits, changes in lifestyle may be a result of leaving one's home cooking. Drastic changes in lifestyle that cannot be maintained permanently can be dangerous. Fad diets, like the popular Atkins diet, may show results fast, but can be harmful to the body. Worldwide, 20 million people have followed the Atkins diet, according to the Atkins Diet Web site. The Atkins Diet restricts food high in processed/refined carbohydrates, including breads, pasta, cereal and starchy vegetables. These nutrients make up 50 percent of many diets, according to the Atkins Diet Web site. The diet works off the idea that a person who wants to lose weight must drastically reduce this 50 percent, but that's not healthy, Harris said. "First, our body requires certain nutrients and uses these nutrients from food. Second, When you cut down carbohydrates, you are eliminating vitamins and minerals that you need," Harris said. The American College of Sports Medicine, the American Dietetic Association, the Women's Sports Foundation, and the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research have released as statement on high protein diets in the Tufts University and Health and Nutrition Letter, entitled, "High-Protein Diets Panned by Major Health-Promoting Groups." "High protein diets are neither the answer for weight loss nor for athletic performance and can cause harm," the groups said. High-protein regime is often referred to as the 40/30/30 plans. This plan entails that the recommendations are 40 percent of calories from carbohydrate, 30 percent from protein, and 30 percent from fat. The high-protein diet suggestions are in contrast with most health groups in the country, that recommend 55 to 60 percent of calories as carbohydrate and about 10 to 15 percent as protein. "The only reason they help some people lose weight is that the diet plans in popular high-protein books provide so few calories," the Nutrition Letter said. The letter included, the false promises are also caught up short for being based on anecdotes and unpublished testimony rather than hard proof. Another Nutrition Letter entitled, "Entering a high-protein twilight zone," addresses the body's need for carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are detrimental because they secrete a hormone, insulin. Insulin is a crucial hormone that helps transfer sugar from the bloodstream to the body's cells, where it's used to fuel all of our activities. This important element is being decreased through high-protein diets. Aside from high-protein diets, weird food combinations can alert a person that the diet may not be the best way to achieve a healthy lifestyle. Diets promoting weird food combinations or avoiding certain food groups should set off warning bells, Harris said. Diets that emphasize foods high in protein, which are often also high in cholesterol and fat, are harmful to the heart. The body doesn't need that much protein. It makes the body have to work harder than it should, Harris said. Cardiovascular diseases are the No. 1 killer of women and men. Two of every five Americans will die of heart disease, claiming the lives of more than half a million females each year, according to the American Heart Association. Ten million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, up from 1.6 million in 1958. The main cause of these startling statistics is due to overweight and physical inactivity, according to the Nutrition letter. Parker said the Atkins diet is just one more "yo-yo" diet. Diets that claim to offer instant enzymatic process or quick results with no exercise or put restrictions on foods cause the body to lose both water and muscle mass and decrease metabolism, Parker said. There is a fear of hopelessness or failure when on a diet. Fad diets can discourage and lead to self-condemnation, depression and anxiety, Parker said. "High-protein diets are a good example of food fads that, upon closer examination, don't make the grade," the Nutrition letter concluded. Aside from fad diets, another fad is water pills, diuretics and laxatives that can help one lose weight. Taking these will just make you sick, weak, and lose a lot of water. No weight can be lost with these types of pills, USU Dietetics Students, said in a pamphlet, entitled "Nutrition Myths." After knowing what techniques to avoid, it is beneficial to know what is healthy for the body. Exercise should compliment good eating habits for successful weight management. Exercising not only benefits the body, but also can help a person's sleep and study habits and decrease stress. Building muscle mass helps a person become more metabolically active, Harris said. Simply eating healthy foods in moderation and exercising can result in a loss of 1 to 2 pounds a week. The best method is to start with nutrition classes to learn the basic facts. Anyone serious about changing a lifestyle should see a nutritionist, Parker said. There are some cases where it would be best not to diet, according to USU Dietetics Students. Some of the reasons out of the ten they listed included the ideas that dieting can cause fatigue, lightheadedness and can drain you energy and strength. Binging, over eating, and chaotic feeding patterns can be disrupted by dieting. Dieting can increase one's food preoccupation, so that most of the day is spent worrying about what to eat or avoid next. Self-esteem and well being could suffer, when one is wrapped up in their diet. After studying and understanding the implications of dieting, than a people should choose whether or not a diet is best for them.
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