FREE ESSAY ON HEALTH AND DIETING

HEALTH AND DIETING

The Truth on Dieting and Weight Loss About one-third of Americans are extremely
over-weight, which may be why crash dieting is beginning to plague America. It's
estimated that Americans alone spend 80-100 billion dollars on weight loss tactics.
People go on these diets to get quick results but are these results hurting them more
than helping? The answer is Yes! The safe and effective way to lose weight is through
old-fashioned exercise and the right diet. You cannot successfully lose weight by simply
cutting food from your diet or taking some pills; it is necessary to work for your
results. Without depriving your body of necessary nutrients through dieting, you can lose
fat and get the body you've always dreamed of, or at least one you're more comfortable
with. The quote The effects of the current obsession with dieting can be devastating,
said by Mr. Woodworth, a long time exercise and nutrition expert, summarizes the dangers
of dieting. The many dangerous methods of losing weight: so called dieting or
starvation/fad diets, pills and drugs, over-exercising, surgery, and eating disorders,
have taken many casualties. Many people go on diets, a word so commonly misused, to get
quick results of weight loss. Perhaps the most common is minor starvation and fad
dieting. This method is when people become over concerned with calorie intake. Many
deaths have been associated with low calorie diets. By trying to shed pounds simply by
cutting all fat from the diet greatly increases the risk of getting cancer, heart
disease, and other health problems. That low-fat trap gets people hooked on reduced-fat
snacks or possibly not eating at all. So now the body is being deprived of necessary
nutrients not available in any pill or liquid form. Yes cutting fat and cholesterol
reduces the risk of heart disease and diabetes, but nutrient poor diets have an even
larger risk of getting those diseases along with many others. Of course a large percent
of dieters will lose weight but they will feel depressed afterward and gain back even
more than before they started the diet. The reason they are losing healthy weight along
with the fat they were hoping to lose. In an infomercial with Tony Little, he showed a
graph of what the body loses when someone goes on a diet. By cutting back on foods, the
body becomes deprived of very important nutrients. Then when it seems you are losing
weight, what you are actually losing is fat AND MUSCLE. Many times, more lean muscle than
fat will be lost. And although they may look slimmer because their size is smaller, they
are actually weaker and more susceptible to injuries due to losing healthy weight.
Healthy weight is muscle and bone weight, the things that support your structure and
enable you to perform rigorous activities. A lot of the time healthy weight is
misinterpreted, especially in females. Which leads to an amazing fact that 62% of women
and 44% of men that are dieting aren't even overweight! But they are misled when they
step on the bathroom scale and My God looks at what it says! They are not realizing that
muscle outweighs fat over 2:1. Therefor, many people may think they are fat even though
they may be healthy. I myself am an example of that. On a height and age chart it says my
ideal weight for my height is 155 pounds. I am 168, so does that mean that I am
overweight? Not necessarily. Charts and stuff are made for averages and trends because
when doing a body fat testing I had only 10.8% body fat which is below the average for
people my age and size. So the bathroom scale scares many people into believing that they
need to lose weight when it may not be necessary. On top of overweight people dieting we
also have healthy people dieting, both of which are extremely dangerous. Thus, the fad
diet/starvation method should be completely avoided because simple dieting is just a
stepping stone that may lead to much more serious things that become life changing or
life threatening. It starts as a simple diet progressed into another dangerous way of
losing weight with the help of pills or drugs that lead to eating disorders. How
wonderful it would be if we could all take a couple of pills a day and not worry what
else we may eat all while obtaining that body we yearn for. Unfortunately, we don't have
that pill and probably never will so avoid the dangerous imitations out there. What is
not told about these miracle pills that make you have the body of your dreams is that
they cause fatigue, hyperphagia, insomnia, mood changes, irritability and if really
abused psychosis. While claiming to boost your metabolism, reduce fat, and suppress your
appetite they may become addicting and your body may eventually depend upon them. Many of
these pills contain untested chemicals and slip by the FDA by claiming that they are food
supplements not drugs. And while each year many deaths are due to these products they are
still being used by seven percent of adolescent girls in the U.S. and thirty-four percent
have at least tried them. Furthering the risk of complications in life and leading many
times to death along with dieting. People with eating disorders are believed to be the
result from the 70 million Americans who diet each year, lose the weight, regain the
weight, and then diet again. They, instead of going back to dieting once more, become
anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. Anorexia is when an individual is more than 15
percent under expected weight, fears gaining weight, females have amenorrhea (males lose
sex drive) and abnormal eating habits. They simply restrict food because the pleasure in
eating food is overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety. About 1 in every 100 girls between 12-18
years of age are affected. The complications of anorexia are dehydration,
gastrointestinal bleeding, chest pain, low heart rate, abnormal temperature, bone growth
retardation or osteoporosis, infertility, dry skin and hair, constipation, epileptic
seizures, the list still goes on. An awful lot just to lose some weight don't you think?
Many people who simply use the fad diet method get the urge to lose more weight and that
is when they resort to the life threatening disorder of anorexia. Approximately one-third
of anorexics become bulimia nervosa. There are people who binge eat and then purge
themselves by vomiting. They become isolated and depressed and have a low self-esteem.
What's worse though is that physically these people seem healthy but if you look close
they develop finger calluses or lesions, puffy cheeks, and erosion of enamel on their
teeth due to the stomach acids so frequently eating away at it. It is in everyone's best
interest to avoid dieting and the other methods of losing weight that come with it
because there is a major difference between dieting and having a healthy diet (food
choice). To overcome these weight problems and lead a healthier life you need look no
further than a couple isles over from where you usually shop in the market and a little
bit of good old exercise. First off there is one important thing you must know abut
trying to lose weight the correct way, it's just like trying to become a millionaire, it
takes some work and some time. Losing weight the correct way will take longer than a
crash diet but it is a much safer method not to mention more permanent. This may be the
tricky part for most people, lying off the junk food. It is ok to have junk food
occasionally but making it an everyday thing will really lengthen the weight loss process
especially if you are older. The main entree needs to be starchy foods. It has been said
that breads are fatty but they contain no more calories per gram than lean meat. These
foods tends to expand once in your stomach making you feel a little more full and giving
you less of an urge to eat and really stuff yourself. When you stuff yourself your
stomach grows just like when you exercise a muscle, the next time you will need more food
to satisfy it. Avoid the breads made with lots of oil or butter and ones you need to put
spreads on for flavor. It is wise to include a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables
into your diet. Greener foods tend to help metabolism (the chemical that helps you break
down food) better and are recommended. Although McDonalds has America's favorite fries,
you better avoid that and any other type of fried potato including potato chips. Even
though they are vegetables they have been doused with fatty oils. Dairy products are
necessary foods so opt for the skim milk, nonfat yogurt, and low-fat cheese. You'll
acquire a taste for them and appreciate it in the long run. Protein is another necessary
food that you must watch carefully. Trim all visible fat off before steaming, grilling,
baking or poaching. Notice I did not say frying! Frying requires oil and oil is a main
ingredient you want to avoid. Cutting down on fats is the best approach when you are
attempting to make an appropriate diet. You do not want to eliminate all fats but
minimizing them helps. Calories are too often worried about. It's like saying, don't fill
up the car past ? of a tank because it might not run as well. Calories are energy and
energy is necessary. Now that doesn't mean fill up the car so much it starts spilling out
on the ground and flooding the parking lot. With the exercise you plan to incorporate in
this weight loss program you will use all of those calories and burn the existing fat
calories stuck on you body. By adapting this plan into your meal plan you are very
unlikely to put on any more weight unless all you do is sit on your couch all day
watching TV (it burns calories just not enough). Fat calories are the calories you want
to avoid. Any snacks that are high in saturated fat and have a lot of total calories from
fat. Now, to rid of your existing excess weight there is one and only one way, by
continuous aerobic exercise. In order for the body to begin burning fat calories, which
have a different make up of carbohydrate and protein calories, the body must believe it
needs to use the larger amount of calories. For most activities in life your body uses
calories from carbohydrates or proteins for quick energy. Once you have been performing
an activity using your legs like jogging, biking, and continuous swimming for 12 minutes
your body begins to use the fat calories to conserve on carbohydrates. Thus, after 12
minutes of aerobic exercise (which is defined as having your heart rate between 80-110
b.p.s) you begin to burn fat from your body and sweat it through your skin cells. So
recommended duration for exercise is 20 minutes for beneficial results. Performing this
activity once a day would probably show results more rapidly but it is recommended you do
it 3-5 times a week especially if you don't regularly exercise. There is a note of
caution for people who are extremely over weight to not try and over do it. Over
exercising can cause heart attacks so you should ease your way into exercising. Maybe
start just by walking, then a combination of walking and jogging, don't try and over do
it hoping to get results instantly. All good things take time. So with determination and
persistency you can be on your way to a healthier lifestyle by incorporating a healthy
and plentiful diet with essential exercise. Without dieting, you're capable of sculpting
a body more desirable for yourself and staying in good health. Without buying pills and
drugs and little gimmicks you can make it much cheaper to take of that unwanted fat. Take
yourself out of that statistic that one-third of Americans are extremely over-weight
driving them into crash dieting. Through daily exercise and the right diet gradually lose
the weight which doesn't put you at such great risks. The truth is dieting destines you
for death, while dedication destines you for doggedness. Bibliography WSOC Health Team 9
(1998, Editors) Dangerous Dieting 1998 The Associated Press on the web Retrieved 12-10-99
from World Wide Web http://www.gocarolinas.com/living/health/nutrition/_dieting.html
Lane, Theresa (1996) Foods That Harm Foods That Heal The Readers Digest Association
Limited, London Berg, Francis M. (1995) Health Risks of Weight Loss Hettinger, ND :
Healthy Weight Journal Little, Tony (Producer) (1997, May 24) Healthy Living w/ Tony
Little Infomercial on CBS Woodworth, M. (1998 Sept) [Speech by Mr. Woodworth] At Walled
Lake Central High