FAD DIETS: IMPLICATIONS

Weight loss diets abound, all with the promise of eagerly sought results. If any formularised eating plan is to be used, those working in fat loss need to:

1. Look to scientific research for the basis of claims, and ensure the eating plan is not actually a danger to health.

2. Sort through the claims and promises for the actual strategies required.

3. Assess if it requires anything special to make it work, including pills, potions or machdnes.

4. Assess its consistency with recommended food selection guides and the use of locally available foods.

5. Assess the promised rate of weight loss.

6. Assess the energy level and macronutrient composition and compare this with national recommendations.

7. Ensure that it is nutritionally adequate in micronutrients, and not reliant on supplements.

8. Assess the cost of the plan, particularly for long-term implementation.

9. Ensure that it is sustainable, incorporating commonsense food selection and regular, appropriately chosen physical activity.

10. Refer to an appropriately qualified health professional if unsure.

11. Reject any diet promoting a specific food or drink as a fat ‘burner’.

12. Consider only those eating plans which are likely to be adhered to for extended periods without alterations to physical nutrient profiles.

13. Be aware that liquid meal replacement diets without an accompanying activity program should only ever be used for the very obese and with appropriate professional supervision.

14. Discourage dieting in favour of healthy eating plans.

15. Keep in mind that diets of less than 1200kcals per day should not be used except under strict professional supervision and only in cases of extreme and life-threatening obesity.

Top Five Ways to Lose Weight Safely and Effectively

There are a lot of fad diets out in the market. However, those fad diets are anything but safe. If you are looking for safe and effective ways to lose weight, then keep on reading. This blog post will show you the top five ways to effectively lose weight safely.

1. Journal

It is always a good idea for dieters to keep a journal that includes everything that they eat and every physical activity that they do. It helps keep dieters more aware of how much calories they are consuming compared to how much they are burning.

2. Exercise Regularly

Exercising consistently will help make it into a habit. And it is a habit that is going to help you burn a lot of extra calories.

3. Eat Whole Grains

Replace all of the processed foods from your diet with some healthy whole grains.

4. Drink Water

Water will help to fill you up. Plus it is naturally free of fat and calories.

5. Only Eat When Hungry

A lot of people like to eat just for the fun of it. Unfortunately, that is not a healthy way of thinking about food. Instead, think of food as fuel for your body. Only eat when you are low on gas.

THE SELF-POISONER: PATTERNS OF SELF-INDUCED TOXICITY – HELEN-LOUISE’S CASE

Helen-Louise is a self-poisoner. To others in her world she is a "wonderful person"—always doing things for everyone. She is conscientiously and deeply devoted to her husband and three children.

As she walks into the office for her first consultation, Helen-Louise forces a smile that scarcely covers the pain and tension her wrinkled brow reveals. She sits down struggling to maintain her composure, looks at the doctor, forces another smile, and makes a trite joke about needing to talk to a head-shrinker. The doctor waits for her to proceed. The silence is too overwhelming; she cannot play her game any longer and bursts into tears. A few minutes later, she begins to talk.

H-L: "I can’t stand it any longer. I feel like I’m being used up by my family. They always want something from me. I never have a moment’s peace. Every time I talk to my husband, one of the children breaks into the conversation. They even barge into our bedroom and insist on being there with us. My husband feels too guilty to say anything about it. I can’t stand the looks on their faces when I tell them that their father and I want to be alone. My son is constantly demanding something. As soon as I do one thing for him, he is after me to do something else. They keep me so busy I no longer have any time to do what I want to do. My husband and I have no chance to talk, and I feel we are growing apart. Lately, I find myself resisting his sexual advances, and I don’t understand it at all—I love my husband. Yet I know I’m becoming increasingly irritated with him and the children. I feel very guilty when I find myself wishing the children were all grown up so that I could be alone with my husband. I know they love me, but I’m beginning to resent everyone and everything in that house—as if it were poison. Sometimes I feel as if 111 die if this keeps on."

The "problem" that Helen-Louise brought to the psychologist’s office is a case in point. While she lived within the potentially nourishing atmosphere of a family that loved and cared about one another, she poisoned herself by playing "victim” to the toxic manipulations of her children. The fact that she was unaware of the deadly games in which she participated did not make their toxic effects any less devastating to her well-being and her ability to nourish both herself and her family.

SURGICAL TREATMENT FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Methods of surgical treatment

History is littered with unsuccessful procedures intended to cause weight loss:

No further surgical treatment of obesity has apparently been attempted since the tragical fate of a German Duke who in order to get leaner had the fat cut away by a Doctor in Upper Italy, and naturally succumbed to the operation (manuscript communication from Professor Dr DeLagarde 23 February 1882)

Other obsolete methods of surgery include jejunoileal bypass and jaw wiring, both of which are described later in this chapter.

There are two commonly used categories of bariatric surgery – restrictive and malabsorptive – and these are used either alone or in combination. More recently, implantable gastric pacing devices have been introduced.

Surgical treatment of obesity is a vital facet of weight management and, in many, patients is the only effective method for losing weight. As in every other branch of surgery there have been massive technological advances in surgical procedures, resulting in safer, better and cheaper operations. The surgical option is limited to a few extremely obese people but for such patients it is an important means of significant long-term weight loss, and a huge improvement in health and quality of life.