Are you obsessed about losing all that excess fat but too lazy to work out and have fallen into
a trap of the ‘Diet’ word? you are not alone! Gayathri Menon assorts the truth behind all the popular diets and jots down three trending diet plans that are a huge rage among young fitness enthusiasts,
right now.
Dieting is something that every girl has thought of going on at least once in her lifetime. According to Nutritionist Kejal Sheth, Nutrivity.in, “Dieting is a mere word, eating a balanced meal is what is important. Following a healthy routine not only aids in weight loss, but also helps tone your body. When it comes to dieting, it is important to understand that just following a diet will not help us achieve our long-term goals, exercise too is a crucial ingredient.”
Having said that, let us take a look at the top three diets that are currently in the news with proven results.
DRY FASTING
Dry fasting is a diet trend that has gained a lot of popularity of late. Historically, this diet was seen in Russians during the early ages. As the name suggests, this diet involves the body to be kept dry, i.e. no food and water are involved in this diet. So, no energy is passed to the body externally. Our body processes the energy present inside throughout the fast.
According to Dietician Jasleen Kaur, Founder of Just Diet Clinic, “Dry fasting means completely avoiding food and water. You may experience a few short-term side effects such as headaches, light-headedness, low blood pressure, and fatigue. When you abstain from food and water entirely, you will be creating a specialized stress in your body, which comes from nutrients and water. Your body will then live on metabolic water i.e. the metabolizing fat tissue. Surviving solely through our body’s stored nutrients and water would erase the negative imprint your body has made before fasting, letting your cells go through a form of rebirth. It’s purely a cleansing method which eliminates parasites while helping you to regenerate healthy tissues. Through a dry fast, only healthy and strong cells survive, while your body gets rid of the bad contaminants in your body, including cysts and tumours.”
There are two types of dry fasting—soft and hard dry fasting. Soft dry fasting only prohibits the consumption of liquids while hard dry fasting is more extreme; you cannot even brush your teeth and wash. Soft method removes the ban on the lack of hygiene. You are supposed to keep your surroundings well ventilated alongside doing a lot of physical and breathing exercises. The body requires periodic physical activity and oxygen.
Dry fast dieting is not appropriate if you are a beginner. It can have adverse effects when the body is denied food all of a sudden. So, it is advisable to go through a water diet before trying dry fasting as it will train your body. This diet works by creating a chemical reaction inside the body. People with depression or any mental health issues should stay away from it. At a time, this diet should only be followed for three days and not more, as it can turn dangerous to health.
Works best for: Those in the 25-30 age group.
KETO DIET
The Ketogenic diet has taken the nutrition world by storm, ever since its advent. The Keto Diet essentially involves swapping out some of the carbohydrates on your plate for protein. This diet is not too extreme, but just bumping up the protein to two times more. Try shifting from carb-heavy sandwiches to lettuce wraps, adding more legumes to meals, and bumping up your portion of chicken or other lean protein at dinner to increase protein and cut out carbs.
Kaur explains, “The Keto Diet is basically a new name for all high-protein diets such as the Atkins Diet, a low-carb diet and more. It came into the limelight because people lost 6-8 kg of weight in a small duration of a month. The main benefit is a quick weight loss but the drawbacks faced by people are a lot more. People may feel less energetic, lazy, low in energy as the diet is low in CHO. CHO provides energy to the body. Any diet which is low in CHO can lead to nausea or low energy levels in the body.”
Elaborating on the ill-effects of the diet further, Dr Purwa Duggal, Head of Nutrition, Fortis Hospital, says, a high-protein, high-fat and low-carbohydrate diets may pose serious long-term health risks such as heart diseases, impaired kidney function, diabetes and even osteoporosis, due to increased calcium loss.
Remember: Making carbohydrates a villain is like repeating the same mistake of the past when we demonized fats. Fact is we need all kinds of nutrients for good health. Although the amounts can vary, the best diet for you is probably somewhere in the middle of the two extremes.
FLEXITARIAN DIETS
As the name suggests, a Flexitarian diet involves vegetable diets and eating flexibly. This diet focuses on plant-based foods than on animal proteins. So basically, it says that if you reduce meat from your diet you will lose weight. This lets you eat whatever and whenever you want but only vegetarian food. It includes fruits and vegetables, dairy, whole grains such as tofu, beans, lentils, and nuts instead of meat.
So, if you are a non-vegetarian, this might work wonders for you as there is a huge chunk of calories that will get cut from your daily diet.
Remember: It doesn’t do much to vegetarians though as it is nothing very different than what they eat otherwise. In fact the major drawback about this diet is that it has not categorized the amount of fat that should be taken in order to lose weight. There are also chances that you may end up eating more than required.
