Diet crutches: What works, what doesn't

I so agree with the comment - "put the fork down". There is no mystery about losing weight. The more you eat - the more you must exercise or you will put on the pounds. There is no magic bullet!
We live in a country where we must have whatever we want, whenever we want it. Same with food. There are only a special few who can indulge themselves without gaining weight. The rest of us just have to be reasonable in what we eat and get plenty of exercise. I used to be quite over weight but I took control of my self (and my emotions) and started to eat right and walk everyday. I have taken off pounds and inches and have more energy now than I ever had! Try it - you'll like it.

ScareCro- You think it's all about Excercise....I'm not saying it's not...but it is not always the fix...many people have medical conditions (i.e. the thyroid, insuling resistance, metabolic disorders and nurtrient difficiencies) that despite they're best efforts of excercise...doesn't work. I can attest that I was working with a nurtritionist and a personal trainer...12 weeks strait 4-6 days a week and I lost a whopping 4lbs....4 POUNDS!!!! I worked my butt off, watched what I ate (which I always did anyway) but medical conditions made my energy and metabolism a big fat ZERO. You my smart alek friend do not know what you are talking about.

alot of wrong data here! ketones are NOT harmful to the brain...indeed, its a PREFERRED brain fuel. KETOACIDOSIS is bad. and don't be so convinced that whole grains are good for you; from an evolution perspective...cereal grains weren't even a part of the human diet until 7-10 K years ago. now they're 30-40 %!! cereal grains are loaded with anti-nutrients like lectins and protease inhibitors. and the glycemic index of a slice of bread isn't much better than a tablespoon of sugar---whole grains aren't much better. investigate a primal or a paleo diet.......its eating as humanity was designed.

People who promote colon cleanses, etc., always claim that there is something adhered to the walls of the colon that can only be removed by a toxin flush, or something of that sort. I know people who have had colonoscopies even when they did NOT follow the cleansing regiment and all they saw was clean colon mucous membranes with loose peas and carrots from their dinner of the night before. If all this mucous, etc. were really there, SOMEONE would have seen it on a colonoscopy by now.

Um yeah, the kidneys and liver cleanse the body but what cleanses the kidneys and liver??? LIVER, KIDNEY AND BODY CLEANSES. What kind of idiots did yahoo talk to about cleansing?? It is VERY important to cleanse or purify your liver and kidneys. Would you NOT change your oil filter because it cleans your car's oil? NO, you would change your oil filter so it can continue to filter your car's oil so it's also necessary to cleanse your body's filters unless you want to install new kidneys and liver. I'd rather cleanse my kidneys and liver instead of letting them get gunked up with the toxins they filter.

i lost 50lbs by eating less and moving more. Weird right? And people ask me how I did it, they say I "must be taking something because you cant lose all that weight" by just eating from the earth and moving your ass off the couch. . .

Most of that makes sense but some of it is pure crap. Under Packing in the Protien ... ketones aren't going to hurt you. Any time you are losing weight (the ultimate goal, DUH) you body will be in ketosis ... burning fat! Switching your metabolism from burning carbs to burning fat isn't going to hurt you as long as you don't go to deeply into ketosis. And if you're not diabetic, you would probably have to try pretty hard to get there (too deeply into ketosis).

And when it comes to Cutting Carbs, we would all be a heck of a lot healthier if we cut back on our staches (bread, pasta, potatoes), one kind of carb. Keep the fruits and veggies, but it's the processed starches that are piling the pounds on most of us! Just try cutting back to one starch a day (but make sure you're clear on what a starch is) and otherwise eat when you're hungry and I bet a lot of people would be amazed at what happens. The problem is that it's really hard for us starch addicts to stick to that.

Oh.....the 4 tablespoons to mix (sorry) is water with Epsom Salts......helps cleanse the Colon to prep for the Grapefruit/Olive Oil treatment.

I, as an RN....do NOT ever recommend some form of "miracle pill" cleanser. It can be deadly. I, however, recommend a natural cleanser that you can mix at home.....It can cleanse the liver and help excrete some gall stones from the gall bladder. It can be found through the Mayo Clinic and John Hopkins Web sites..
You mix 4 Tbsp to an 8 oz glass of water.....drink 3-4 of this starting in the morning. Then take 1/2 of white grapefruit, squeeze at least 3/4cup of juice, removing as much pulp/seeds as possible...mix 1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil into grapefruit juice....drink the mixture down at 10pm or before you go to bed.....in the morning, when you use the bathroom/have bowel movement....you will see "shiny pea size" stones....and furry sediment. AND you will feel a little weak from all the "pooping"....BUT, do NOT eat anything with fat for a few hours afterward. Gradually, increase you diet. By Monday....you will feel energized, and refreshed. I did it on a weekend.....It was amazing how great I felt when it was done. Maintain Potassium/Calcium/Magnesium/Sodium/Chloride levels by drinking natural juices while doing this procedure. This procedure is used for "Compromised Liver Patients" by Doctors. It is natural and healthy. Thanks!!

Anything done in extremes is bad, tell that to the pharmaceutical companies who sold and sell Ephedrine in tons to the consumers calling them fat and caused countless number of deaths by cardiac arrest and other pulmonary problems directly attributed to Ephedrine. Now if you starve yourself naturally to lose weight you are an idiot, and if you completely trust the pharmaceuticals you either own their stocks or you are brain dead.

Eating Before exercise = Death. Important enough to send a drill instructor to jail for doing this to recruits. Many 17-20 year olds have died from rigorous exercise within 40 minutes of eating. Takes the blood from vital organs to digest and robs lungs and heart. Military has had hundreds of years and millions of recruits to hone there exercise and training programs. I believe them, not Yahoo morons who gues and surmise with no real training. In the Marine Corps we trained to the limit and it worked just fine for us.

"The Institute of Medicine recommends women consume 2.7 liters and men 3.7 liters daily (about 11 and 15 glasses of water a day, respectively)."

You Idiots are going to kill somebody ! The Mayo Clinic recommends and average of 8x8 or eight glasses of water per 24 hour period. Hydrotoxicity is a major health concern.

Great movie that will inspire you and teach you how is "Fat,Sick,and Nearly Dead" and "FoodMatters". Bottom line, you are what you eat. The most effective way to get your micronutrients is through juicing. Fresh organic fruits and vegetables juiced up will go straight to your blood and bipasses the digestion process(therefore no bowel problems). Then your liver and cells have the fuel to cleanse your body.

We go back to the same issues on the subject of weight loss.......eat healthy and just less of it after you stablelize and may want to lose more. See a Dietician and learn how to eat healthy, moderate exercise. Joan

I've done the Master Cleanse a couple of times - just as a cleanse, not as a weight loss strategy. The longest I've done in one stretch was 16 days. I followed the recipe to the letter and experienced no ill effects. I did lose some weight, but it makes sense that flushing X number of pounds out of your gut is going to result in a lower number on the scale.

I think getting good quality grade B or higher maple syrup because it's got more nutrients in it than grade A, which is most commonly available in grocery stores. If you're using something that's essentially just lemons and sugar water, you probably WILL get sick.

Whether or not it's medically necessary - meh. It did clean a bunch of junk out of my gut that apparently wasn't coming out on its own. I had tons of energy. I felt fantastic. I slept like a baby. My skin glowed.

Clearly not everyone's had that experience, but I can't say enough good things about the experience I had with it.

Where's the rest of the freakin article????????????????/

Some of this I buy, but I don't buy the water piece. Does a 5'0" need the same amout of water as a 6'0" person? Or does a 130lb person need the same as a 280lb person? Defies logic. In addition, while drinking water before you eat might help make you feel full and could be helpful in that regard, you're probably better off drinking the water but it's not due to dehydration. If you're exercising and sweating, you need water. But if you're eating fruits, vegetable and other non-alcoholic liquids, you're still getting water. 64 oz of water is probably over doing it. Most medical journals are beginning to agree and say they don't know where this # came from.

dietitians. not doctors. remember that.

One thing the article gets right is that part about thinking you are hungry when you are actually just thirsty.

Losing weight is quite simple. Just takes the right plan and some strong mind-over-matter skills. Think about our ancestors! They only ate what they had to, they worked very hard to earn it. Hunting, gathering, fighting to survive. Everything is so easy today. From fast foods to prepared meals. Stop eating bad food, stop over eating, and drink water. I've lost over 100lbs, and 23% body fat just from eating natural foods and working out regularly. Stick with it, it wont happen over night. oh and LOL at the first person to post who was too stupid to scroll each picture.