Bogus Diets

I'm very careful when I use the word "diet." For some, a diet is a temporary restriction of foods, which in some cases helps you lose weight. But these diets below are bogus! People think that cutting out all types of foods and drinking strictly lemon juice or eating strictly cabbage soup is going to do the job. FALSE! It will only cause your body to store the fat because it thinks it's starving...which is completely true! Our bodies are smart. It goes into survival mode if we deprive it from nutritious and wholesome foods. Forget diets, forget the latest fad. Simply just make a change in your eating habits and increase your daily activity and you will see your weight loss results come quickly. This is the only way weight loss and weight management will be successful.

So, stay away from these bogus diets:

1. The Cabbage Soup Diet

The title is self explanatory: the dieter's survival is based on a constant intake of cabbage soup. Even on the Cabbage Soup Diet website, red flags are evident. The first being the opening words on the homepage, warning that the diet should not be used long term and that followers of the Cabbage Soup Diet have felt light-headed, weak, and have suffered a lack in concentration. The second red flag appears in the suggested seven day menu. Each day, the dieter is instructed to "stuff themselves" with a different food group. How about a little "moderation?" The third warning lies in the "Health" section of the website, warning the dieter that the diet lacks "complex carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals," all of which are necessary for your body to function properly.

2. The Grapefruit Diet

The Grapefruit Diet functions the same way as the Cabbage Soup Diet; both are only successful because they deprive the body of calories, but at the same time leave out essential nutrients that keep you alive and healthy. The Grapefruit Diet claims to allow the dieter to eat a wide array of foods that they would not think possible, but as long as you follow your meal with half a grapefruit, you will lose weight. This claim is both startling and far-fetched. As predicted, and mentioned on the website, the Grapefruit Diet is dangerous. The Grapefruit Diet website suggests that the diet may lead to dehydration due to the low amount of calories and high levels of caffeine involved. The restrictions in this diet also make it an incredibly difficult and unlikely regimen to follow.

3. The Hallelujah Diet

Developed by Rev. George Malkmus, the Hallelujah Diet is mainly comprised of organic raw fruits and vegetables, and the miracle worker of this diet: barley juice. Because the Hallelujah Diet strictly prohibits meat and dairy, the barley juice is meant to fill that vitamin and protein void with its high nutrition content. While not necessarily depriving the dieter of essential nutrients, the Hallelujah Diet's highly restrictive nature makes this diet hard to live on and therefore, not ideal.


4. The Martha's Vineyard Detox Diet

The regimen alone explains why this diet is both dangerous and bogus. The diet is meant for the short term, "lose 21 pounds in 21 days," where the dieter survives on highly nutritious cocktails, a short list of raw vegetables, and soup. According to the itinerary for the Martha's Vineyard Detox Diet Retreat, dieters enjoy a breakfast of "detoxification cocktails." Hourly cocktails follow until lunch where an assortment of raw juices are available. Dinner is slightly more filling, with the option of nutritious soup. What can be described as a mild eating disorder, surviving on nutritious cocktails and juices will only deprive your body of nutrients and the minute you begin to eat normally, the weight will pack back on.


5. The Apple Cider Vinegar Diet

Once used as a cure for Scurvy amongst American soldiers, apple cider vinegar is now used as an appetite suppressant amongst dieters. According to various evaluations of the Apple Cider Vinegar Diet, the diet touches that fine line between a dangerous and regular diet. The most dangerous part is the apple cider vinegar itself, which when taken in the recommended doses of 3 tbsp gets dangerously close to the point of damaging your stomach due to its high acidity. However, the diet's regimen includes eating in moderation and daily exercise, which is most likely why people lose weight on this diet, not the apple cider vinegar. It is still unclear as to whether or not the vinegar actually assists you in losing weight at all, apart from making you so sick that you don't want to eat anything at all.

The Importance of Breathing

"Don't hold your breath!" "Keep breathing!" I say this quite often to my clients. I kind of laugh too because it's funny that I have to remind my clients to breathe.

Anyhoo, exhaling while performing a concentric movement (muscle shortening) and inhaling on the eccentric movement is so important. If you care to learn the logistics, then read on. If you trust my statement, then you're good to go. Just remember to breathe.

Here's why maintaining patterned breathing is important:

Breath holding during training is called a Valsalva maneuver. It involves the closing of the glottis (the flappy-type thing that controls air into the vocal cords), an increase in intra-abdominal pressure, and an increase in intra-thoracic pressure (chest cavity). This causes the air trapped in your lungs to become quite pressurized, and it restricts venous blood return. This, in turn, decreases the cardiac output (the amount of blood the heart kicks out in a minute), and subsequently creates an increase in blood pressure. All of this can contribute to that dizzy feeling you get after finishing an intense set, and thus, des no good whatsoever. So simply stated, don’t do it.

Something that can be considered opposite to a Valsalva maneuver is hyperventilation. Hyperventilation can be induced by exercise anxiety or respiratory disorders, which create an increase in breathing that is well above what the body needs. This causes carbon dioxide levels to drop significantly, which can lead to light-headedness or unconsciousness.

Carbon dioxide levels are tightly regulated within the blood, so the body responds in different ways to even the slightest variations in these levels. An increase in carbon dioxide (which creates increased acidity in the blood – bad), with no adjustments made by the body creates that panicky feeling of being short of breath. This is referred to as dyspnea and can be caused by poor respiratory muscles.

Well that’s all fine and dandy, but why is it that we stress exhalation on the concentric phase (muscle shortening)? There are very few studies on this (in fact, I couldn’t find any). The best explanation that I can think of would be that is simply feels more natural. If you were to inhale when you were supposed to exhale, blood pressures would not differ, but your heart rate response would increase as compared to exhalation. In addition, it’s easier to grunt out that last rep when you’re exhaling. But for now, it’s just best to listen to your trainer. Happy grunting!

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ERIN!!

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