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7 Dieting Trends That You Should Avoid

Going on a diet in order to lose weight and improve your health is a noble endeavor. For a lot of us, finding the right diet to shed those pounds is a constant struggle, and unfortunately, there are a whole lot of gurus out there who make matters worse by offering terrible dieting advice that simply doesn’t work. In fact, rather than making you a healthier person, some of these strategies can actually result in dangerous health effects. Here is a look at 7 fad diets that you should stay away from.

1. Coconut Oil Diet

Can a few spoonfuls of coconut oil help you lose weight? Research on this question is inconclusive. While it is a relatively healthy oil when used in moderation and might help you feel fuller, there’s no reason to believe it is a magic bullet that will help you burn those pounds. It’s a high-caloric food, which means you would want to avoid putting too much of it into your cooking. Another important point is that you should never rely on one single ingredient when trying to lose weight. Instead, focus on developing a balanced diet that contains all of the nutrition you need, including healthy fats.

2. Raw Food Diet

In principle, eating raw foods is not entirely bad. By its very nature, it eliminates any concerns that you’re eating processed food. It also means you aren’t consuming the saturated fats found in meat and dairy products. So, sure, if you eat raw foods you’re bound to lose some weight. But in the long term, you don’t gain any benefits versus eating cooked foods and the food choices are bound to get boring at some point. In our humble opinion, a dinner consisting of steamed vegetables, baked fish and a slice of wholegrain bread beats a bowl of baby carrots any day. Furthermore, the amount of nuts and legumes you’d need to eat in order to compensate for the loss of amino acids that you would otherwise find in meat is so high, you would end up gaining weight, not losing it!

3. Soup Diet

There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a bowl of soup loaded with beans, lean meat and vegetables as part of a diet. In fact, nothing beats a steaming hot bowl on a cold winter day. However, if you’re thinking about going on a diet that consists exclusively of soup, you are bound to run into problems. First, much of the weight loss will come in the form of water weight and lost muscle, which lowers your metabolism. In addition, soups tend to be high in sodium, which raises blood pressure and makes you feel bloated. Plus, if you’re going with those cabbage-only soups, you’re missing out on healthy fats and protein. Your best bet is to enjoy a cup of soup as a side while eating a more complete meal that includes, say, a grilled chicken fillet, brown rice and broccoli.