A Balanced Diet

THE HOT DOG DIET:

"Criticized as one of the more bizarre fad diets around, The Hot Dog Diet is a three-day diet that is rumored to help you lose up to 10 pounds. If you think you’re going to be scarfing down chili dogs for lunch and frankfurters for dinner though, think again.
The Hot Dog Diet is a strict eating plan that allows you to eat just a few hot dogs over the course of the 3 days in addition to ice cream, peanut butter and eggs. These foods are believed to increase metabolism so that you burn calories more quickly and consequently lose weight."Read more: The Hot Dog Diet - Diet Review http://www.dietsinreview.com/diets/the-hot-dog-diet/#ixzz15Q0EnP4d

Not kidding- this is a diet that some people use. Yes, you may see weight loss since you are only eating 600 calories, but let's be honest... yuck, and your heart will hate you!

I hear about all sorts of new diet fads that my clients all tell me about, or ask me if I've heard about this diet, or what I think about that diet, etc.

In college, I took many nutrition classes and physiology classes to know what foods do to your body physiologically. While some high protein-really low carb diets will definitely help you see weight loss, your body will not be getting the proper nutrients, antioxidants, phytochemicals it needs.

Protein- do we need it? YES! In excessive amounts? NO! One of my professors in college asked our class one day, "What is one of the strongest animals? What did we use to pull wagons?" We all answered with, "A Horse!" My professor then asked, "And what do horses eat?" We all said, "uhh, hay" and he said, "There you go! My reason I am against high protein diets!"

Carbohydrates- do we need them? YES! What kind of carbs should we eat? Most of your carbs should come from Fruits, Vegetables and WHOLE grains.

Fats- do we need them? YES! Some fats (polyUNsaturated and monoUNsaturated) lower our bad cholesterol (LDL's) and raise our good cholesterol (HDL's). Saturated and Trans Fats increase our bad cholesterol, and decrease our good cholesterol.

Polys and Monos: nuts, seeds, olive oil, canola oil, avocados, peanut oil, salmon, flax seed

Saturated: Animal products: meat, poultry, eggs, butter, creams, cheese, (coconut and palm oils act as saturated fats even though they aren't animal products, try to avoid these).

Trans: Anything that says "partially hydrogenated",most margarines, commercially baked goods- cakes, cookies, crackers, shortening, most fried foods from restaurants.

We do need a balanced diet in order to ward off certain diseases and cancers, and we can't cut out one of our fuel sources (proteins, carbs, fats) and call our diet balanced. Yes, you may lose weight by cutting out a fuel source, but weight is a lot different than warding off certain cancers and heart diseases. If we keep a healthy, balanced diet, that is low in calories, you can still see weight loss without having to give a fuel source completely.