Obesity is an ever-increasing problem in affluent countries. But if you plan to lose weight and stay slim, there is only one answer. You need to find a healthy way of eating that becomes part of your life for ever, not just as a temporary diet. Along with building extra physical activity into your daily routine, this tried and tested approach is the one that works best.

Quick-fix diets
The main conclusions of research into the success or failure of diet products and weight-loss plans are sobering. They show that, after people stop dieting, most of them regain all the weight they may have lost, while some gain even more.

Glamorous brochures and promises of instant weight loss are undeniably seductive. But miracles do not happen in the real world: fast track diets are impractical and shortsighted. Many take the form of milk shakes, designed to replace one or more meals. The drinks contain a wide range of nutrients. But they have serious drawbacks:

They offer little or no education about making the gradual changes in eating and exercise routines that are necessary for successful long-term weight control.

They frequently encourage rapid weight loss, even though there is no healthy way to achieve this.

They produce a typical ‘dieting mentality’: using the products means that you are ‘going on a diet’ rather than  choosing a regular, healthy eating pattern. This attitude to food has its own psychological pitfalls and can be highly de-motivating.

They may be misused by people who are obsessed with being thin and who do not need to lose weight.

Yo-Yo dieting -Some diets do promote gradual, steady weight-loss. But others promise results within an unrealistically short time. This creates an endless cycle: sudden weight-loss followed by equally fast weight-gain. This ‘on-again, off-again’ approach can be harmful: fluctuating changes in weight put a strain on the heart. One study has shown that changes such as these during adulthood increase the risk of heart disease and cancer. Extreme dieting may also lead to irregular menstruation: this is especially the case in young girls, some of whom take dieting to such excess, they stop menstruating completely.

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