By Catherine Adcock
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Spring Break is upon us, and soon after, thebrsummer and all of its swimsuit-and-sunbrglory. If your bod isn't quite ready, don't sweatbrit. The $20 billion weight-loss industrybrcontinues to churn out products and fads to overbr100 million dieters across the United States. Youbrcan even draw inspiration from another weight-lossbrreality show, “My Diet is Better Than Your Diet,”brwhich premiered on ABC in January.br
Surely, you would think, with all our advances in technology, human genome mapping andbradvanced understanding of our basic biology, webrwould know what diet was the best for us. Thebrtruth is there is no one good or bad diet, saysbrKimberly Maus, M.S.N., NP-C, a local nurse prac-brtitioner. “The concept of a diet that works forbreverybody is as ridiculous as a shirt or hairstyle thatbrwould look good on everybody,” she says.br
Maus helps her clients change their nutrition habits for the better as one part of a holisticbrapproach to healthy living. Looking to improve yourbrnutritional health or lose a couple of extra pounds?brMaus recommends first taking an honest look atbryour eating habits—and your motives.br
“Time permitting, I ask patients to come to theirbrfirst appointment with a diet log for the past week,”brshe says. “I look at the baseline habits, healthbrhistory and motivation for change.”br
For Maus, simple is better. “If somebody whobrneeds to lose 10 to 15 pounds is drinking three tobrfour sodas daily, I'd focus on that first. There's nobrsense in making things more difficult than theybrneed to be,” she says.br
But sometimes those simple changes are notbrenough. “When a client hits a plateau, it's timebrto make additional changes to achieve results,”brshe says.br
Are you at a plateau yourself? Constant on andbroff dieting, something many of us are guiltybrof, is bad in the long-term. As Maus explains,br“Every time we jump on and fall off the fadbrdiet bandwagon, it costs us both physiologicallybrand psychologically. Each failed diet makes itbrthat much more difficult to believe that this is abrbattle that can be won.br
“The better way is to find new lifestyle habitsbrthat we can stick to for years to come. But oncebryou find the combination of healthy diet andbrexercise that works for you and your lifestyle,brthe results are worth it,” says Maus. “When youbrmake reasonable changes and can actually seebrand feel the benefits, the process becomes self-brmotivating.”br
Many of us know this in our hearts, but itbrdoesn't keep us from trying one of the manybrpopular diets out there. Ten years ago Atkinsbrand South Beach swept the country, but today,brPaleo, gluten-free, cleansing diets, and that onebrwith the coffee and butter are gaining steam.br
Trying to wade through these diets can quicky become a confusing jumble of health terms likebrglycemic index, omega-3 fatty acids, saturatedbrfats and so on. But most experts agree that thebrway to lose weight involves cutting calories, in-brcreasing exercise and maintaining a healthy diet.br
We've done some research, and with Maus'brhelp, took a look at a few popular diets to seebrwhich ones might aid you on your health-kickbrgoals. Summer might be your initial motivation, but think bigger—these diets just maybrtransform your life.
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BULLETPROOF DIET THE GIST: This diet is the brain-brchild of Dave Asprey, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur andbrinvestor who calls himself a biohack expert. He spentbr15 years and $300,000 to develop what he callsbra “high-performance executive diet.” Throughbrthis diet, he says he lost 100 pounds with-brout excessive exercise, increased his IQ andbrlowered his biological age. The focus is onbrso-called green foods and less on tox-bric foods and a high amount of fat.brIt also includes something called Bulletproof coffee.
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THE COFFEE: You've surely heardbrabout this Dr. Oz-touted coffee.brIt consists of a blend of grass-brfed organic butter, coconut oilbrand organic low-mold coffee.brThese all-natural additivesbrshould help sustain youbrthough the diet's recommended periods of fasting—usually in the morning before lunch. “Butterbris admittedly a guiltybrpleasure of mine, but Ibrcan't get behind adding it to coffeebrto stave off hunger'' Maus says. Asbrfor the fasting, shebradds, “I'm pretty committedbrto the small-portions-oftenbrschool of thought. Skip thebrbuttered coffee and have an egg or two.”
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THE DIET: Slightly similar to thebrPaleo diet, the Bulletproof version recommends cutting out fruitbrand wheat, and substituting lots ofbrunprocessed vegetables, red meatbrand, strangely enough, white rice. Thebrideal Bulletproof diet consists of up to 70brpercent healthy fats and 20 percent protein, with vegetables making up the rest.
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THE VERDICT: There are elements of the dietbrthat are excellent, particularly the limiting of grainsbrand cereals. “Nobody's running around with a starchbrdeficiency, and if sugar and flour were to be completely eliminated from our diets, we'd be a muchbrleaner and infinitely healthier society,” Mausbrsays. While the diet would certainly lead tobrweight loss, many caution that you shouldbrbe wary of the high fat levels of the diet,brwhich can impact your cholesterol. Also,brbe aware that by cutting out entire foodbrgroups—like fruit—you could be missingbrout on important nutrients.
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MASTER CLEANSE
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THE GIST: You fast for 10 days and subsist on a sweet, peppery lemonade concoction—similar to The Juice Bar's Hottiebrjuice or Nekter's Skinny Lemonade. Thisbrhelps your body cleanse itself of the toxinsbryou've been putting in it for years. By thebrtime you're done, your entire body, frombryour liver to your pancreas, will function atbra higher level.br
THE LEMONADE: Yes, this is the dietbrwhere your main intake consists of a mixbrof lemonade, maple syrup, cayenne pepperbrand water. Maus says, “Sounds like something I would have tricked my brother intobrdrinking as a kid!”
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THE DIET: In addition to the concoctionbroutlined above, cleansers are to drink abrquart of salt-water in the morning and an herbal tea laxative at night.brIn other words, you will spend abrgood portion of this diet on your porcelain throne. Going into or off the cleanse,brdieters are recommended to be careful tobrslowly adjust their food intake since theirbrbody will not be accustomed to most food.
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THE VERDICT: A cleanse doesn't necessarily mean you're doing your body anybrgood. “Many of these cleanses include stories about intestinal sludge,” says Maus. “Atbrno point have I ever seen a single case ofbrthis impacted colon sludge that so many ofbrthese cleanses would have us believe we'rebroverflowing with.” Plus, going on this dietbrcould mean setting yourself up for losingbrmuscle weight, then quickly gaining it backbrin fat. “The single biggest problem is thatbrit is almost completely lacking in protein. Ifbryou're not getting adequate protein frombryour diet, your body will catabolize mus-brcle. This is definitely a quick way to takebroff some weight, and then put it back on.”
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GLUTEN-FREE THE GIST: Gluten, a proteinbrfound in wheat, barley and rye, causes realbrissues in people with celiac disease and thosebrwho have gluten intolerance. For them, gluten causes a severe inflammatory responsebrwith symptoms including diarrhea, indigestion, constipation, fatigue and more. In recentbryears, people with and without gluten sensitivity have flocked to the gluten-free life-brstyle—some simply because they perceive itbras healthier; others because they need it.
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THE PROBLEM: Celiac disease is real andbrunder diagnosed. The only way to find outbrif you suffer from the disease is to have abrblood test done by a doctor. To determine ifbryou have gluten sensitivity, you'll have to testbryour diet through a careful process overseenbrby a doctor. Plenty of people confuse glutenbrintolerance with symptoms from other issues.brFor instance, if your diet is high in bleached,brprocessed wheat, and you start eating gluten-free whole vegetables, such as winterbrsquashes and sweet potatoes, you will feelbrbetter, because the food you are eating isbrhealthier.
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THE DIET: If you truly are sensi-brtive to gluten or have Celiac disease, even tracebramounts of thebrprotein will cause an issue. So it's gluten-
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free or go home. This means cut-
ting out most breads, crackers, breakfast ce-brreals, conventionalpastas, pastry goods andbra wide range of processed foods made withbrsmall amounts of gluten. Try reading some labels and you'll be surprised how many timesbryou see the word “wheat.”
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THE VERDICT: Gluten-free diets are per-ceived as healthier, but unless you're careful,bryou could be eating a diet that is just as unhealthy as your diet before. “There are nowbrrows in many grocery stores dedicated to processed gluten-free food,” says Maus. “Whilebrthese options may be beneficial in terms ofbrmaintaining a gluten-free diet, they also makebrkeeping those extra pounds in place infinitelybrmore convenient.” These processed gluten-brfree foods can be higher in calories, sugarbrand fat than their conventional counterparts.
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Paleo Caveman
The Gist: Our bodies are notbrdesigned to digest processed, carb-based foods or certain groups of vegetablesbrand nuts. The logic? We began farming our food just 10,000 years ago. Thatbrmight seem like an eternity, but it’s not enough time for our stomachs to havebrevolved mechanisms for digesting these “newer” food sources. Paleo adherentsbrclaim that if we eat a diet that only hunters and gatherers (in other words,brcavemen) would eat, we’ll feel better, be healthier and lose weight.
The Science: There isn’t a whole lotbrof science backing up Paleo claims about what cavemen ate or didn’t eat. It’sbrhard to conclusively know what life was exactly like 10,000 years ago. And thenbrthere’s the issue where they also often didn’t live past 35, so there’s nobrtelling what long-term impact such a diet had on their health.
The Diet: Dairy? Soy? Wheat? Youbrcan forget all about them and start getting used to reading labels. You’ll bebrsurprised all the ways that these food groups sneak into your diet. Mostbrprocessed food will be out of the question, and you’ll be preparing plenty ofbrfood from scratch. If you like beans or legumes, they’re also no-go for Paleo dieters—andbrthis includes peanuts and peanut butter.
The Verdict: An excellent diet, saysbrMaus. “I wholeheartedly believe that sugar and starch are responsible for ourbrdiabetes epidemic. The food pyramid pounded into us as kids had that great bigbrbread/grains base—that was all wrong.” The problem is that it requires a lot ofbrfood prep—and that makes it hard to adhere to. “It becomes a part-time job. Forbrthe vast majority of people, eating this way isn’t sustainable long-term,” shebrsays. Paleo eaters should also be certain they’re getting all the necessarybrnutrients, including vitamin D and calcium, normally found in dairy products. SS