Page 21 - Florida Sentinel 5-5-17

Health
Twinkie Diet
For 10 weeks in 2010, a Kansas State University nutrition professor cut down on his daily calories and ate mostly Twinkies, powdered doughnuts, and other junk food. He lost 27 pounds. This may
sound crazy, but he showed the basic rule of weight loss: Burn more calories than you eat, no matter what that might be. Bad news for junk food junkies, though. The lack of nutrition in this diet makes it a lousy idea for your overall health.
Cotton Ball Diet
Yes, some people have actually tried this: Dip a few cotton balls in your favorite juice and swallow them. The idea is that they’ll fill your stomach so you eat less and lose weight. What could possibly go wrong? Choking, intestinal blockages, and eating harmful chemicals, to name a few. Seriously, don’t do this.
HCG Diet
This combines severe calorie cuts with a drug mainly used to help women get pregnant: human chorionic go- nadotropin (hCG).
Studies show it doesn’t help you lose weight, and it can have side effects. It might make you feel super tired, grumpy, restless, or depressed. It could also lead to fluid buildup in your body and even blood clots. Need more reasons to skip this? Doctors say drastic calorie cuts can be bad for you.
Apple Cider Vinegar Diet
Some people say they sip a bit before meals to curb their appetite and burn fat, but there’s little proof it works. It’s mostly harmless, but it could stop insulin and some blood pressure meds from working the way they should. Plus, all that acid can be bad for your throat.
Caffeine Diet
Guzzling gallons of coffee may curb your appetite and help you burn a few more calories, but not enough to make you lose much weight. Plus, too much caffeine can boost your blood pressure, make you sick to your stomach, and keep you up all night. The result: Those extra pounds come right back. And some caffeinated beverages, like
soft drinks and special coffees, are high in calories, fat, or both.
The Cabbage Soup Diet
The soup you’d eat two to three times a day in this diet is relatively healthy. But you have only the soup and a few other foods, depending on which day of the plan you’re in (for example, fruit on the first day, and beef and vegetables on the fifth). You get as little as 1,000 calories a day. Any fewer than that will put your body in “starvation
mode,” which can slow your metabolism. That won’t help you slim down.
The Raw Food Diet
Most of us could stand to eat more fruits, vegetables, and nuts. But this diet lets you eat only plant foods that haven’t been heated to more than 118 F. People who eat exclusively raw end up with low levels of important nutrients like vitamin B-12. It’s also hard to get the calories your body needs. You may lose weight at first. But
you’re likely to feel less than your best.
FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 9-B