As we are exploring the most famous diets, I have spoken about 4 diets in the Part 1 of this article.Now, let’s move on to the other diets and understand what is what and should we even be going ahead blindly with any diet that any one recommends. Know this – only because everyone does or knows it, does not make it right.
- HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) Diet
The HCG diet is a very low fat, very low calorie diet. It is said to be an extreme diet causing fast weight loss of about1-2 pounds(0.5-1kg) per day.
Image Credit: http://crossfitn6.com/1492-2/
- What is it?
HCG is a hormone found in humans in high levels during early pregnancy. This hormone is used in treating in various fertility cases. The HCG diet was introduced in 1954 by Albert Simeons for weight loss.
- How does it work?
The HCG diet consists of 2 main components.
- An ultra-low calorie diet
- Administering of HCG hormone
The diet is split into three phases. During the first phase, you take the HCG supplements.
During the second phase, you follow an ultra-low-calorie diet of only 500 calories per day, along with HCG supplement. The weight loss phase is prescribed for 3–6 weeks at a time.
In the third phase, you slowly increase your food intake and reduce the intake to zero of the HCG supplements.
- What do you eat?
High fat and high calorie food are suggested in this diet. All the suggested HCG supplements (drops, pellets, injections, sprays). Approved foods like lean protein, a vegetable, a piece of bread and a fruit are allowed. Coffee, tea and a lot of water is suggested
- What to avoid?
HCG diet restricts individuals practicing this diet from the intake of foods like
- Sugars
- Starch
- Butter
- Oils
- Who should avoid this diet?
HCG diet is an extreme diet and is not recommended for elderly individuals and pregnant women.
- Advantages
The HCG diet helps in rapid weight loss. Administering the hormone has no ill effects on the body or the appetite of a person.
- Side effects
HCG diet being a very extreme diet in nature is not considered safe by the FDA. The FDA has labelled this diet dangerous, illegal and fraudulent.
HCG diets can cause Headache, Fatigue, Depression
- Vegan Diet
The vegan diet has become a popular form of diet. Interestingly more people have decided to go vegan for various purposes like ethical, environmental or health.
Image Credit:https://www.ilovevegan.com
- What is it?
Veganism is a practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity of animals. A follower of the diet or the philosophy is known as a vegan.
- How does it work?
In a vegan diet, it is believed that the diet may lead to reducing the number of high calorie foods you consume. With this diet you may end up replacing such foods with high-fibre alternatives that are low in calories and keep you fuller longer.
- What do you eat?
The key to all diets is to focus on nutrients-dense foods versus empty calories.
And vegan diets include,
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Whole grains
- Beans and legumes
- Nuts and seeds
- What to avoid?
Limit or avoid vegan processed foods that contain these added ingredients
- Fats
- Sugars
- Starches
- Sodium
- Food additives
Thumb rule – No meat, fish eggs or dairy products.
- Who should avoid this diet?
The vegan diet is to be avoided by any person with any sort of allergic reactions to the vegan supplement foods like nuts, vegetables, legumes, etc.
- Advantages
A vegan diet can be one of the healthiest ways to live. Plants based diets contain plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds. Because vegan diets often rely on these healthy staples, they tend to be higher in vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fibre.
- Side Effects
It’s not always rainbows and butterflies once you decide you want to go vegan. There do exist a few side effects related to
- Energy and weight issues
- Having to cook and experiment
- Huge cravings
- Bad state of health
- Digestive problems
- Tough social life
- Zone Diet
Zone diet is a very popular diet that encourages individuals to eat certain amounts of proteins, carbohydrates and fats at every meal in order to reduce inflammation in the body, apart from other health benefits.
Image Credit:http://www.drsears.com/zone/
- What is it?
The zone diet suggests individuals to follow a specific ratio of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat.
According to this diet, carbohydrates have a low glycaemic index, meaning that they provide a slow release of sugar into the blood to keep an individual fuller for longer. Protein should be lean and fat mostly unsaturated.
- How does it work?
The Zone diet does not necessarily have a specific phase and so can be followed lifelong.
This diet can be followed based on either of the methods –
- Hand-eye method:
This method uses the hand, fingers and eyes to determine the portion size, number of meals in a day and estimate portion on the plate. This method helps in determining the nutrient portions
- One- third lean protein
- Two- thirds carbohydrates
- A little fat
- Zone food blocks method:
Zone food blocks helps in personalizing an individual’s diet by calculating how many grams of protein, carbs and fat they can have in a day based on the weight, height, waist and hip measurement.
Example, the zones for a snack are made up on 3 blocks
- Protein block(7 grams)
- Carb block(9 grams)
- Fat block(1.5 grams)
A meal can consist about 3-5 zone blocks.
- What do you eat?
Zone block focus on proteins, carbs and fats foods.
Protein
- Vegetable protein, tofu
- Lean meat
- Egg whites
- Fish
- Low fat cheese and yogurt
Carbs
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Grains
Fats
- Avocado
- Peanut butter
- Nuts
- Tahini
- Oils
- What to avoid?
Zone diet strictly suggest to avoid
- High sugar fruits
- High starchy vegetables
- Processed foods
- Foods with added sugars
- Coffee and tea
- Soft drinks
- Refines carbs
- Who should avoid this diet?
The zone diet is a diet that is based on zoning of food supplements, individuals who need the extra supplements on a daily basis must definitely avoid this diet.
- Advantages
- No strict restrictions
- Appealing for people who struggle with food restrictions
- Health benefits through balanced diets
- Flexible diet
- Fat loss
- Side effects
- Not recommended for athletes.
- No scientific evidence for the claims of reducing inflammation
- GM Diet (General Motors Diet)
A well-known and very popular diet, GM diet is followed by a lot of people who swear by it. And also a lot of people who advice against it.
- What is it?
It is a 7-day extreme diet program that allows only specific foods to be consumed throughout the 7-day period. It is known to claim a weight loss of 3-8 kgs in these 7 days.
- How does it work?
Each day, you choose only a specific food group and eliminate all others. GM diet is said to work because most of the high carbs food are eliminated to include fresh fruits and vegetables that are calorie deficit, therefore burning more calories than consumed. Since this also has high water intake, it also claims to detox your body and enhance weight loss.
- What do you eat?
- Day 1 – Only fruits, except banana, mango and chickoo
- Day 2 – Only vegetables, avoid potato, colocasia, sweet potato
- Day 3 – A combination of fruits & vegetables except banana and potato.
- Day 4 – Only bananas (up to 6 large) and 3 glasses of milk (skim)
- Day 5 – 6 tomatoes and meat/egg/cottage cheese/ brown rice
- Day 6 – Increased water intake, mixed vegetables, meat/cottage cheese/brown rice
- Day 7 – Brown rice, fruits, vegetables
- What to avoid?
Thumb rule – strictly stick to the day-wise plan and foods prescribed. Avoid any type of junk food, rich in starch, sugar, fats or carbs.
- Who must avoid it?
You must avoid if you have – Diabetes, kidney disease, or any pre-existing liver, pancreatic or kidney issues or conditions, or are pregnant. Not advisable for people with extremely active lifestyle as you do not get the required carbs to give your body the energy it needs to function.
- Advantages
Significant weight loss, no restriction on the quantity of food you can have, cleanses the body and flushes out toxins, mood stabilization for a short period.
- Side effects
The sudden weight drop is mostly due to the water content loss from the body which comes back almost immediately after you get off from the diet. It is recommended to have a gap of at least 7-10 days between the diet cycles because the extreme diet can cause muscle loss as well in the long term. It may lead to body weakness and can also cause headaches. This diet doesn’t recommend any workout, so your workouts can get compromised as you feel exhaustion with this diet and this will leave you with little or no energy to work out. This also causes dehydration in the body and can slow down your overall metabolic rate.
With the eight most popular diets debunked, I hope your doubts about diets have been cleared. One key take away from this, as I mentioned at the beginning of Part 1, no diet is successful if it is not accompanied by regular workout. Fitness and nutrition work in tandem and are only beneficial when followed together! If there are any questions that are still unanswered, please drop a comment below and I will be happy to help you out.