Weekly Health Chat

Hello and welcome to my Weekly Health Chat! I am excited to share with you each week some "Food for Thought" to help you with your health journey. As we are about to start the 2020 year, I hope you find this blog helpful of research that I will share concerning our health and how we can reach our goals together this year. 

As my first blog, I would like to share with you some information I found from various health websites concerning "fad diets." The reason I am interested in such research is because one of my main goals in 2020 is to help you reach your health goals whether it be losing weight, gaining weight, putting on muscle, lowering your blood pressure, getting your cholesterol numbers under control, or just staying active. I see a lot of people these days trying such fad diets, and I want to help people determine what diet might be best for them. I know that I am not an expert on such topics by any means, but I have done some research I want to share with you in a hopes that it gets you started in doing your own research and talking with your doctor about what you should do to reach your health goals. 

To start with, let's find out what a fad diet means. The definition of a fad diet, or novelty diet, is a diet that is popular for a time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often promising unreasonably fast weight loss or nonsensical health improvements. There are many fad diets out there that have come and gone. There are also many that some call fad diets, but they have been around for some time. I am going to list several below for you to read about and hopefully help you decide what type of health journey you want to start in 2020.

Before you start any diet, let's take a look at what the American Heart Association suggest you have in your daily diet. It suggests a diet filled with fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, low-fat dairy, lean meats, and fish. To read a great article by the American Heart Association that gives you the suggested servings, click on this link. 

South Beach Diet: The first book describing the diet was created in 2003 by cardiologist Arthur Agatston. The diet has three stages, and gradually increases the proportion of carbohydrate consumed as it progresses while simultaneously decreasing the proportions of fat and protein. It includes a number of recommended foods such as lean meats and vegetables, and has a concept of "good" (mostly monounsaturated) fats. It makes no restriction on calorie intake, includes an exercise program, and is based around taking three main meals and two snacks per day.  To learn more about a summary of this diet, click on this link to read an article from the Mayo Clinic.

Keto Diet: I found many sites that talk about the Keto Diet and how it is a good way to lose weight quickly. For an interesting article by Women's Health on the History of the Keto Diet, check out this link. You can also find out more information on the Keto Diet by clicking on this link to an article from the University of Chicago Medicine. 

I found another informative article from the Mayo Clinic staff that gives you a short summary of how several fad diets work, the upside, the downside, and their overall opinion. The diets they discuss in the article are the Whole 30, the Ketogenic Diet, Anti-Inflammatory Diet, and Intermittent Fasting, You can find that article at this link.

Please know, it is not my intention to tell you what diet you should try or not try. I simply would encourage you to do your research and determine what diet is best for you. I would also recommend talking with an expert such as a nutritionist or dietician that can help you determine a plan that is best for you. 

Whatever your health goals are for 2020, I wish you much success! You can do it!