Ten Diets to Help You Lose the Weight

Its that time of year again, and personally I hate it. I starts off right before Thanksgiving, you know the commercials featuring the B list actors who gained a ton of weight since their last hit show and now seemingly lost it all just in time for their Hallmark Channel Christmas special debut. It's the time of year where big traditional meals are served every month but we all are forced to feel guilty about enjoying them.

Like everyone else I want to be that person that doesn't have to worry about my weight. I mean I would even send someone money every month and attend weekly meetings so a smiling face with a nutritionist degree can stay employed and worry about my weight for me. You know we all have to rebuild the American economy one job at a time.

But seriously, maybe I will try something different in 2010. Maybe one of these great programs will help me not like to eat. The worse that could happen is I would have to get my stomach stapled; everybody is doing it so the pain can't be that much. So as we delve into the new year here is a brief look at some of the more popular and unusual diet fads available.

Atkins Cure
Lets begin with the ever popular Atkins Diet. To me and my carnivorous nature, this diet is most appealing. Who would not want to devour large quantities of meat all day. Steaks, ribs, chicken, beef, they were all "in" foods. Even restaurants started to get in on the deal and offer their value meals sans bread and veggies. I could go into a Hardees and get a double Angus steak burger in a light tortilla wrap and it was all good. I'm living healthy, it taste great and loosing weight in the process. What could be better?

In the end Atkins Diet was most likely brought down from its meteoric high by its owned weight and controversy. To be fair Dr.Atkins did make it a point to write in the book prior to his death that the Atkins Diet is "not a license to gorge" as portrayed in the media along with detractors of the diet. Also the "all-the-steak-you-can-eat" concept is greatly overstating the process that the Atkins diet was founded on.

In my opinion the diet probably lost popularity just based on the cost of the upkeep. Forbes.com did an analysis on the cost of Atkins in 2005 and concluded that the cost of maintaining the Atkins diet was around 80% higher then the American average food consumption cost. While the cost was less expensive then Jenny Craig it put it in a higher cost structure then the popular Weight Watchers.

More information on the workings of the Atkins diet can be found here.

Vegetarian and the Vegan Way
The Vegetarian diet is what I consider Vegan Light. While this diet has been popular throughout the ages, I always use to think twice when I ran into that rare person who was heavier then me but swore up and down they would never eat another living animal in their lifetime. It has help me to draw the conclusion that eating your veggies will not necessary make you thin.

The Vegetarian diet consist of foods that do not contain poultry, fish, seafood or meat. In general, byproducts of animals such as milk and cheese are allowed.

The Vegan Way is more of a lifestyle then a diet. A vegan diets bans all meat included in the vegetarian list along with any form of meat byproducts. In some cases practicing vegan members even refuse to wear clothes or products where animals contributed in their making. So don't expect to see a Vegan walking around in leather boots and a wool sweater.

Interested in going Vegan? Read about Evan's Hutchinson first month experience here.

Weight Watchers
The Weight Watchers diet is literally a household name. The program has reinvented itself over the years to keep up with the diet culture. Currently Weight Watchers flagship product is the "Momentum" program. The Momentum program helps classify foods into a point system; letting you choose what you want to eat as long as it is within your daily point budget. In addition to the point system many of the foods are coded for their perceived effect. For instance foods with a Green Diamond label are considered "Filling Foods" that help you to feel more satisfied throughout the day.

In a study comparing Weight Watchers with other programs, it was ranked third in terms of overall average weight lost during a set period of time. If you are looking for more information on Weight Watchers comprehensive weight loss and fitness program Christine Cadena has written a great article covering the subject.

Jenny Craig
We all seen the commercial featuring Phylicia Rashad, Queen Latifah, and Kirstie Alley swearing how much the Jenny Craig program changed their life. Jenny Craig has even become relevant in pop culture with controversial rapper Tupac Shakur immortalizing the company in his famous verse where he fantasized on putting a hit out through Jenny Craig against one of his detractors.

Their primary plan consist of following a regime of prepackaged foods that either can be pickup up at local sites or shipped directly to the consumer. Also they have made select foods available in stores to help make following the program easier and convenient.

One of the difference between Jenny Craig and other similar programs is that they prepare their clients to maintain their health on their own accord. Once a client has reached their desired weight lost goals they should understand enough on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In short they will not necessarily need to eat Jenny Craig's perfectly manufactured proportioned foods for the rest of their life but will be able to make good eating decision with the foods they come into contact on a regular basis.

Read about a family's success with the Jenny Craig program in this thoughtful article.

South Beach Diet
The South Beach diet is another popular method that gained popularity around the start of the new century. South Beach defines their approach as simply replacing "bad carbs" and "bad fats" with "good carbs" and "good fats". What is interesting about this diet was that its inventors Arthury Agatston and Marie Almon patented the diet as a way to help prevent heart disease but the side affect of loosing weight boosted its popularity.

Acai Berry Diet
The Acai Berry Diet can be considered as one of those "AS SEEN ON TV" diets as it was promoted on the Oprah show by Dr. Perricone. While there has not been any solid research on the effectiveness of this diet for weight lost, studies have proven that the Acai Berry is fortified with minerals, essential fatty acids, vitamins, antioxidants and amino acids which cause it to be considered a "super food". Oprah's golden touch helped propel this diet to nearly a house hold name.

NutriSystem
We all seen the commercials from actors to sports personalities testifying on how fit they became using the NutriSystem diet. NutriSystem states that there goal is "to provide a weight loss program based on quality foods and a nutritionally balanced meal plan." NutriSystem offers prepackages meal plans to help keep its participants on track with their weight loss goals. One of their main selling points is that the cost of their plan has traditional ranked the lowest priced by the National Business Research Institute. The research showed that when compared to the first month cost on other pre-packaged meal programs NutriSystem price tended to be priced hundreds less then other comparable programs.

Raw Food Diet
An interesting fad that seems to be gaining in popularity in our move to a more organic lifestyle is the Raw Food diet. The raw food diet consist of uncooked fruit, dried fruit, seaweed, nuts, grains, seeds, and sprouts. The main principle of the Raw Food diet is that heating foods over 116 degrees Fahrenheit can break down vital enzymes that assist in the natural digestion of the food and also diminish its nutritional value and "life force".

Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is a regional diet based off of traditional foods from Italy and Greece. The main aspects of the diet is high consumption of olive oil, legumes, raw cereals, fruits, vegetables, cheese, and fish. Mean and meat products are consumed at a minimal. While the weight lost benefits have not been scientifically proven for this diet, due to its high olive oil content, it has been shown to provide positive heart health benefits along with reducing cholesterol.

The Cabbage Soup Diet
In my opinion the cabbage soup diet is a extreme offshoot of the vegetarian diet. For whatever reason this diet has remained popular to try but I haven't really met anyone who could sustain it for long periods of time. The Cabbage Soup Diet works just as it sounds. It is based around the consumption of cabbage soup over seven days. While their have been many testimonial about the weight lost using the diet much of the research shown that this is usually water weight and not a reduction in fat.

Sources:
http://atkins.com/
http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_Watchers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Craig,_Inc.
http://www.southbeachdiet.com/sbd/publicsite/index.aspx
http://www.masbatx.net/
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-nutrisystem-diet
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mediterranean-diet/CL00011
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-cabbage-soup-diet