Raw Life Coaching

I was surfing the web the other day and found a link that caught my eye:  5 Bogus Diets That Will Do More Harm Than Good.  In the days since January 1st I’ve seen so many links on yahoo or msn that have been promoting “diets” as people try to shed holiday pounds or stick to a New Year’s resolution.  

This article picked 5 diets that  the author decided were harmful, when really it’s the article that is bogus.  (A link to the article can be found at the bottom of this post).  I should admit that the article was written by StyleCaster just to give you an idea of the level of credibility here (many of this writers other blogs are about clothes and fashion).

The five diets that StyleCaster picks out that do more harm than good are: the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, the Hallelujah Diet, the Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet, and the Apple Cider Vinegar Diet.

I agree that the Cabbage Soup diet is probably a little dangerous as it limits the variation of foods you can eat which limits the vitamins and nutrients you can receive.  Probably not the best idea.

The Grapefruit diet says that most people will lose 10 pounds in 12 days.  They allow dieters to eat three meals a day, plus a bedtime snack, and you follow each meal with half of a grapefruit or grapefruit juice.  Their premise is that combining grapefruit with protein (meat at every meal) helps burn fat.  StyleCaster says:  “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 regiment to follow.”  Dehydration might occur because the diet recommends drinking plenty of black coffee (and water) throughout the day, something StyleCater forgot to mention. I don’t know about you, but every time I eat grapefruit I always feel hydrated–but then again, I don’t drink coffee.

I’ll admit, I’ve never heard of the Martha’s Vineyard Detox Diet before.  They say that you’ll lose 21 pounds in 21 days by drinking “highly nutritious cocktails,” eating a limited amount of raw vegetables and some soups.  The main goal of this diet is to flush the body of toxins.  I’m not a taker for the “highly nutritious cocktails”  but I do think it is a good idea to flush the body of built up toxins.  This diet is extreme, but if you followed the instruction and were able to purchase all of the supplements I doubt it would be dangerous.  I wouldn’t recommend it though.

The Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) Diet.  StyleCaster says: “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.”  Some mornings I’ll take an ounce of ACV and mix into my glass of water, no damage done.  It might take a while to get used to the taste, but really it’s not all that bad and most likely will not make you “so sick that you don’t want to eat anything at all.”  I doubt that StyleCaster has ever tried ACV before.  WebMD points to a study done in 2005 on 12 people.  They “found that those who ate a piece of bread along with small amounts of white vinegar felt fuller and more satisfied than those who just ate the bread.”  So, a diet with vinegar might help, but not enough studies have been done.  I’ll keep drinking my ACV in the mornings and will let you know if I encounter any problems because of it.

And finally, the Hallelujah Diet.  First, what StyleCaster has to say: “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.”

Isn’t the title of this article “Diets that do more harm than good”?  So, just because this diet is “hard” that makes it harmful?  Hum… I’m not the only one that thinks this is illogical.  StyleCaster is misleading the public in more than one way saying it’s both dangerous and hard.  And honestly?  I find the raw food diet (similar to the Hallelujah Diet) to be easy.  If you get hungry while you’re out you can pretty much pick up a few pieces of fruit from just about everywhere, including gas stations (go for bananas and oranges if you are picking up fruit from a gas station though, don’t eat their apples because chances are they are not organic).  Lets get this whole lack of meat equals a lack of protein thing straight.   Your body does not get protein from protein, your body takes that protein and breaks it down into amino acids, so just go straight for the amino acids instead, you’ll find them in fruits and vegetables. There are 8 essential amino acids (meaning that our body does not make them and we need to ingest them).  The following fruits and vegetables contain all 8: bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, okra, peas, summer squash and kale.

The Hallelujah Diet is a good way to begin incorporating more raw foods into your diet.  They promote a mostly raw, vegan diet, allowing for one cooked meal a day (compared to the other diets, how is that hard?  Fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch, then whatever for dinner as long as it’s vegan).  They promote the use of drinking barley grass, which is really good for you and you don’t have to buy it directly from their website, a lot of places promote barley grass now.   Apparently I wasn’t the only one who found fault with StyleCaster’s choice of “bogus” diets.  Many people went off about the inclusion of the Hallelujah Diet.

“I have been on the Hallelujah Diet for a little over a month. I went into it not just to lose weight, but to improve health. I not only lost the weight, I have energy, blood pressure is normal, and a gallstone is gone. To lump this program with the others is folly. The author should have done better research,” one person wrote.  Another person commented, “I very much disagree with the Hallelujah Diet being labled “bogus.” Even the author admits it’s not an issue of being unhealthy, it’s an issue of being ‘restrictive and hard to live on.’  Well, DUH. ALL diets (even those that aren’t “bogus”) are restrictive in some way–either in calories, or portions, or what you eat. That’s rather the point, isn’t it? And if any diet were easy to stick to, obesity would be obsolete.”

Want to read the original article that StyleCaster wrote?  Check it out here.