 |
|
|
What's the science of celebrity diets?
Celebrities are obsessed with the perfect body and most of them love to diet. From Atkins, Zone and South Beach to Cabbage Soup and GI, there are a lot of diets to choose from. So which one does science choose? Claire MacEvilly, a nutritional scientist, tells SCOPE about the different diets and that they all have one thing in common. "They all restrict calories compared to your normal diet, but in the long term they are extremely difficult to stick to," she says. Atkins The Atkins Diet was huge a couple of years ago, and Jennifer Aniston is one of its biggest celebrity fans. Atkins works by excluding carbohydrates from your diet, but Claire says, this can be detrimental to your health. A nasty side effect of the diet is bad breath. South Beach The South Beach diet originated in the US city of Miami in the mid-1990s. Some people claim it localises weight loss, so for example you could slim down your waist but not anywhere else. However Claire says that no diet can lead to weight loss from a specific area of the body. "They will lead to changing your body shape, but you can't guarantee it's from the waist or the thighs," she says. Blood type The blood type diet advises people to eat foods suited to their particular blood type, to lose weight. Celebrity fans include Liz Hurley, Courtney Cox and Martine McCutcheon, however the jury is out on this one. "There is no science to substantiate it," says Claire. Cabbage Soup The Cabbage Soup diet is popular with celebrities like actress Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). "It's low calorie, compared to what your normal diet would be, so yes, it will lead to short term weight loss," says Claire, "but you're not going to be able to stick to this for more than a few days." GI Diet The GI (Glycaemic Index) diet is based around foods that release sugar slowly into the bloodstream, supplying a steady supply of energy with no unruly peaks and troughs. Foods are measured against the index, which scores glucose at 100. Refined, highly processed, sugary foods have a high GI and the aim is to eat low-GI foods. Scientific choice No matter how many diets there are, it's not easy to lose weight. With many of the diets, people follow them successfully but then go back to their old habits and the pounds pile back on. The secret of success is to change your lifestyle. Claire says that to lose weight successfully, you need to eat a good balanced diet and take more exercise. Tips for healthy weight loss include:
See nutrition advice from irishhealth.com Get recipes and healthy eating tips at Bord Bia Learn more about human nutrition research Look at the home pages of the Atkins Diet and South Beach diet |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
