The Top Five Dieting Methods Explained

Let’s face it, finding the perfect diet plan can take a very long time. And good healthy weight loss can be achieved effectively only when you find a dieting plan that fits perfectly into your lifestyle. There are many weight loss plans to choose from and it’s important that you use a plan that you feel comfortable with because you want something that you can stick with for a long period of time, Well atleast a couple of month because solid results won’t be visible straight away. And when you’re done with that diet plan you can try other things.

I do a lot of research on dieting and exercising and I have found a lot of dieting plans proposed and/or promoted by different people. For example, there is the 5-Factor Diet, South Beach Diet, Bob Greene's Best Life Diet, Atkins Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, Detox Diet, Anne Collin’s diet, Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, and now there’s the Size Zero Diet, DASH diet and Fat Smash Diet and …. Well it goes on and on! But we should narrow down the dieting plans to the top five popular diets that are mentioned a lot in the media.

Cabbage Soup Diet

This dieting plan was favoured by a lot of people when it was first launched because of its utter simplicity. Proponents of Cabbage soup diet claim that by only consuming a low calorie cabbage soup for a short period of 7 days (1 week) you can lose up to 10 pounds of weight, that’s not bad for 7 days. So the cabbage soup diet is only a short term program for good reasonable weight loss. However according to nutritional experts it’s highly unlikely for your body to lose up to 10 pounds of fat within a short week.

In fact the only thing you’ll lose with this diet plan is body water. This is bad news because when you think about it, this diet plan will be highly detrimental to your health. That’s why it’s considered by most experts as a fad diet. However, on the other hand there are people who still believe in it and there are many variations of this plan being used by people. If you’re thinking about doing this diet, I would recommend you consult your doctor first to ensure you won’t face any health risks.

Fat Smash Diet

Dr. Smith’s Fat Smash Diet is an approach to weight loss not considered to be a quick fix solution but instead as a lifestyle dieting plan. It gained a lot of popularity because of the Celebrity Fit Club TV program where people could see it first hand being put into practice. It mainly consists on healthful diet, filling foods, and lots of exercising as a necessary addition. It focuses on low calorie content of the diet which is easy to incorporate. And this plan doesn’t make any ridiculous claims of fast weight loss. It can be implemented whether you’re looking for a short term or a long term weight loss.

The Fat Smash Diet is a 4 phase plan, the first 3 phases extending to about 2 months and the fourth phase being a lifetime phase. This plan lays as much stress on regular exercises as on proper diet control. So it’s going to take hard work and determination to see good results.

Atkins Diet

Dr. Atkins diet consists on the premise that the key cause of obesity is because of eating refined carbohydrates, particularly sugar, flour, and high-fructose corn syrups; and secondly, the fat from hydrogenated oils and not the saturated fat are a problem. The Atkins dieting plan was based on very low carbohydrates. However medical experts aren’t really fans of this diet, they’ve been very critical and condemning it as “the most dangerous to the public if incorporated for any period of time." And due to the negativity the Atkins diet is now considered as a fad diet.

South Beach Diet

The South Beach dieting plan was created by Dr. Agatston for his heart patients and its launch for weight loss was nothing but a spin-off. This diet focuses on the consumption of "good carbohydrates" and "good fats". "Good carbohydrates" are rich in fiber and they’re digested and absorbed by your body slowly. "Good fats" are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, especially the ones that contain omega-3 fatty acids. And when you look at saturated and trans fats, those are the bad type of fat which makes you gain weight. And this diet plan has in fact been perceived to be good and successful for weight loss.

DASH Diet

This dieting plan is mainly for patients that suffer from high blood pressure. It focuses on following a diet which is low in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol, and is high in low-fat dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables. This plan involves a lot of magnesium, potassium, and calcium, not forgetting protein and fiber. Since it’s similar in terms of choices of diet which are used in case of weight loss diets, it‘s successful for weight loss also, and it doesn’t have any bad reviews. It’s supported by a lot of good health organisations such as NHLBI, etc.