The Mediterranean Diet, the South Beach Diet, Atkins diet, and waves more have flooded the shelves of stores in recent years.
These diets have enticed scores of people combating obesity. However, many of these people are under a pre-conceived notion that these diets are a safe and fast way to achieve their weight loss goals.
“Diets don’t work, period,” said Leah Carter, a dietitian and professor at Bakersfield College, “People need to look beyond just the diets, in order to lose weight.”
According to Carter, the basic types of diets (high protein and high carbohydrate diets) can lead to deficiencies and disease such as heart disease.
When people are on high protein diets, they take in all the saturated fats and cholesterol while leaving out all the nutrients contained in high carbohydrate foods such as fruits and vegetables, added Carter, when people are on high carbohydrate foods, they tend to leave out all the protein that helps build strong muscles.
“It’s all about the calories,” said Carter.
In order to lose weight, people must expend more calories through activity than they take in and by following a balanced diet they can achieve good health.
“There is no magical food out there that has just the right combination of fats, carbohydrates or proteins,” said Carter.
Not only can some diets leave people desperate for nutrition, they can leave people feeling unsatisfied.
According to Dr. Robert W. Griffith in an article, a study on 160 people divided into four different diets showed that there was over a 50 percent drop-out rate on each of the four diets.
“People need to understand that when they’re trying to lose weight it’s not a temporary deal,” said Carter, “They have to pick a diet that they can live with forever.”
According to Carter, diets are helpful with initial weight loss, but efforts are wasted when people stop and gain the weight back.
People know how to lose weight, said Carter, “but they don’t take the steps necessary to make that happen. They don’t change their diet. They don’t exercise.”
Even though 58 percent of Kern County adults are overweight, according to Carter, people are surrounded by too many foods convenient to their busy lifestyle to change the statistics.
“I think people are aware,” said Carter, “but being aware does not translate into action.”
Because of people’s busy lifestyles, they often turn to diet and nutritional supplements as well.
“Supplements, I think are people’s easy way out,” said Carter, “People want to take pills to cure everything.”
According to Carter, people do not realize that supplements can also be dangerous because different supplements can have unhealthy interactions with each other and they do not contain all the nutrients contained in foods.
Instead, people should take only one vitamin or mineral supplement under the assumption that supplements do not substitute food.
“Billions of dollars are spent every year to make us lose weight, feel more better, and have more energy,” said Carter, “but there is no substitute for food.”
Victor Herbert and Tracy Stopler Kasdan agree by saying in an article that “the public must learn that if the book or guru promotes pills, powders, and potions instead of food, they cannot be trusted.”
According to Herbert and Kasdan, nutrition claims are either “genuine,” “questionable,” or “blatantly fraudulent” and people must know how to differentiate between the three.
“It’s not just about weight loss, it’s about health as well,” emphasized Carter.
Another point emphasized by Carter, is that obesity not only affects older adults and children, but it also affects college students as well.
“College students think they are invincible many times,” said Carter, “so they think they can eat what they want and worry about their diet when they get old.”
According to Carter, the many obstacles that students face are class schedules, convenient foods, alcohol, inactivity, social pressures, inexperienced meal planning, and lack of nutritional knowledge.
“There is so many myths out there that college students don’t understand and not only college students, but I think people as a whole don’t understand,” said Carter.
Carter believes that nutrition should be taught and learned by every college student in order to prevent health problems in their future.
“There is no easy way out,” said Carter.
“It all boils down to putting effort into eating right and having an active lifestyle, period.”