Clear Answers for Common Questions

The yo-yo diet is one type in a class of many extreme fad diets. Also referred to as "weight cycling," the diet is characterized by a cyclical pattern of repetitious loss and gain of body weight. Some of the ways people choose to do this include skipping meals and ...

Zig-zag diets are a different approach to losing weight that discourages avoiding many foods that conventional diets claim to be out of bounds. Essentially, the zig-zag diet is all about portion control and alternating consumption of different types of foods. The idea behind this rotation or zig-zag ...

A candida free, or yeast free, diet is one that emphasizes reducing or completely eliminating foods that will cause growth of natural yeasts in the body. There are several reasons why people may turn to a yeast free diet. They may have a difficult time with yeast infections (like thrush ...

The jungle effect diet refers to the theories of Dr. Daphne Miller, as mentioned in her 2008 book The Jungle Effect and especially to her theory that diets relying on moderation and localized but not very many ingredients often result in healthier people. Miller takes an anthropological and medical perspective ...

The Hot Latin Diet is a different approach to healthy living. Developed by Dr. Manny Alvarez, the concept is touted as more than simply another fad diet. While the plan does center around the inclusion of what is referred to as seven Latin power foods in the daily diet, the ...

Dieting can be both stressful and a challenge for many people, especially when there are so many diet plans, many of them fad diets, from which to choose. The alternate day diet plan, also commonly referred to as the Johnson upday downday diet, is a popular dieting option with dieters ...

Detox diets are specially prepared diet plans that are designed to aid in removing toxins from the body. Diets of this type are often recommended in order to address a particular ailment or assist in weight loss efforts. The idea behind a detox diet is to rid the body of ...

Calorie shifting is an idea espoused in several books and diet programs, particularly the Idiot Proof Diet. This diet in particular suggests that people tend to be able to lose weight on other diets, by reducing carbohydrates or calorie intake, but then quickly gain the weight back because the metabolism ...

A low-fat diet is more complicated than many people realize, because many people mistakenly believe if they eat only foods labeled low or reduced fat that they are following a low-fat diet. In reality, less than 30% of a person's total caloric intake should come from fat ...

An elimination diet is a type of restrictive diet which is used to identify food allergies or intolerance. Typically, patients embark on an elimination diet under the advice of a doctor, although some people may experiment with such diets on their own to see if they can identify the root ...

The low glycemic diet is a change in eating habits that is aimed at promoting a desirable level of good health through the use of wise choices in the foods consumed. Essentially, the diet makes use of what is known as the glycemic index, a resource that provide information about ...

The collective cuisine and nutritional trends of Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Greece are known as the Mediterranean diet. Nutritional analysis of the Mediterranean diet suggests that it may be a healthy and balanced source of nutrition for the body, and some organizations, as well as doctors, recommend that ...

There are a few diet plans that may be referred to as the "Cookie Diet." In general a cookie diet uses hunger-controlling cookies to replace meals as part of a low calorie diet. Cookie diets are typically very low calorie and designed for significant weight loss, often over a ...

Vinegar diets are dieting plans that involve the consumption of vinegar during or before each meal. One of the best examples is the apple cider vinegar (ACV) diet, which urges taking two to four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar with water a half hour before the meal. Generally, the idea ...

The banana diet is any one of several eating plans that promise weight loss and energy boosts with the consumption of numerous bananas each day. Most health experts consider these sorts of plans to be “fads” that are popular for a short time but aren’t backed by science or ...

The peptic ulcer diet may help reduce some symptoms of indigestion, but it cannot cure peptic ulcers or prevent them from forming. While in the past it was thought that peptic ulcers were mainly the result of diet or stress, medical professionals today point to an entirely different cause, the ...

The lemonade diet, also called the maple syrup diet, the lemon diet, the lemon cleanse and the lemonade cleanse, refers to the detoxifying diet created by Stanley Boroughs in 1941, called “The Master Cleanse.” This diet fell off the radar for a number of years until raw food enthusiast Peter ...

It’s important to understand how an imbalance of calories versus energy expenditure leads to obesity. Every time you eat, each calorie from carbohydrates, proteins and fats is converted into energy to fuel the body. If you consume more calories than are needed to sustain a healthy weight for your ...

Although most weight-loss diet plans advocate a reduction in calorie intake, a calorie restriction diet takes that advice one step further. A true calorie restriction diet actually emphasizes a longer and healthier lifespan, with weight loss as more of a side effect. The calorie restriction diet calls for a ...

Weight loss has become a national obsession in the United States where obesity is considered an epidemic. From the 1970s-1998, Fen-phen appeared to be the weight-loss answer for many. As a prescription diet pill that seemed like a wonder drug, it was taken by millions. However, it ...

The short answer is a resounding yes; it has been conclusively proven through extensive worldwide studies by independent, highly respected international health advisory boards that a vegetarian diet is significantly healthier than one which includes meat and animal products. This is true for all ages, infant to adult, and includes ...

Fat acceptance is a social movement which aims to eliminate discrimination and bias against fat people. As is the case with many social movements fighting discrimination, the fat acceptance movement has tried to reclaim “fat,” turning it into a simple adjective, rather than a derogatory word. Members of the fat ...

Most people who diet have to fight the battle of food cravings, those sudden urges to eat everything in the house — or restaurant, or movie theater. There are ways to fight these cravings and move past them without wrecking your diet, but you may need to try out a ...

The main concept of the volumetric diet is satiety or the feeling of fullness. The idea is that you'll eat fewer Calories if you eat foods that have higher water content. For example 100 Calories of pretzels aren't nearly as filling as 100 Calories of banana. At the ...

While many diet plans limit total caloric intake or emphasize certain types of foods over others, a radical food plan called the Shangri-La Diet places no such restrictions on a dieter's daily meals. Instead, dieters following the Shangri-La Diet can eat practically anything they want at regular ...

Negative calorie food is a bit of a misnomer. There is no food in existence that contains negative calories; every food has some caloric content, however minute it may be. However, certain foods, when eaten, require more energy from your body to digest than the calories that they contain. Negative ...

The Atkins Diet Plan, one of many long term plans on the market, offers a high fat, low carbohydrate meal plan designed to help you lose weight rapidly, while giving you all the energy you require. According to Dr. Atkins, the diet will assist you in managing numerous health concerns ...

The South Beach Diet is all the craze these days. Folks are using it because it takes a completely different approach to weight loss. The diet is not based on low-carb intake or low-fat intake. Rather, it relies on a mixture of the right carbohydrates and fats. The ...

Can foods really burn fat? While there is no magic answer to the weight loss fight, new studies suggest that certain foods can raise metabolism, helping the body get rid of calories faster and more effectively. Here are some examples of foods that are rumored to help with weight loss ...

In independent reviews, and in some medical reviews, research suggests that the only safe diet pills are the ones that don’t provide temporary results. Most diet pills, whether in prescription form or marketed as “nutritional supplements” work because they are stimulants, and thus do have appetite suppression qualities. They ...

The macrobiotic diet is high in natural, unrefined foods, low in saturated fats, and rich in essential fats. The term "macrobiotics" was first used in the writings of Hippocrates, with "macro" and "bios" being the Greek words for "great life." It is based on the Far-Eastern philosophy of holistic ...

Some individuals follow a raw food diet, incorporating only raw materials, for health or ethical reasons. This diet is often vegan, and incorporates only raw foods because adherents believe that cooking damages the essential enzymes in foods. This way of eating grew increasingly popular in the 1990s, with a number ...

Raw foodism is a dietary philosophy which focuses on eating only raw foods, or a higher percentage of such foods, depending on one's approach. Many raw foodists also believe that their food should be minimally processed and organic, and additionally, many pursue a vegan raw food diet, eating food ...

The 100 mile diet is a term used in American food activism to describe a diet which consists entirely of foods grown and raised within 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the dinner table. Followers of the diet often describe themselves as “locavores,” because they eat locally produced food. While following ...

Weight Watcher POINTS® are a food intake tracking system used by the weight loss organization of Weight Watchers®. Weight Watchers® was founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 1963 by Jean Nidetch and is now located in over 20 countries in the world. Members of Weight Watchers® ...