By Nina Burns, Editor
The holiday’s are near which means the same thing for most students. Time off with friends and family, no school work, and food. What some may not notice is most holidays are based around food. Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner, and New Year’s Eve appetizers. Its easy to get lost in the moment, not realizing how much food is really being consumed, which leads to weight gain. Some may experience an unnoticeable weight gain, while others may have packed on the pounds. When trying to fit into that pair of skinny jeans again, students could make the wrong choices in a desperate time. With millions of “magical” diets on the market, its easy to get swept up in myths. Below are the most common mistakes when starting a new diet plan, which almost everyone’s made at some point. Avoiding these mistakes will lead to a healthier, better body. But when thinking about weight loss, remember to never go on a diet. Change your lifestyle and focus on being healthy.
Myth:
A crash diet is exactly as it sounds. Most restrict someone’s calorie intack to under the bare minimum. Crash diets claim to shed the pounds in just days of following a plan, leading to a thinner body. Though a crash diet will lead to weight loss, the loss is completely water. For someone to lose actual fat, they would need to stick with the plan for a long period of time. Most do not have the will power to be on such a restricting plan for a long period of time, causing binging and suddenly stopping the diet. Going off a crash diet leads to rapid weight gain and can end in weighing more than before. A better option is to eat a normal amount of calories. Though it does take a longer amount of time, a healthy diet causes healthy weight loss and keeps it off for the long run.
Myth
Many people think skipping breakfast is the easiest meal to cut for easy weight loss. Though skipping the most important meal of the day isn’t as beatifically as one may think. A recent study showed those who skip breakfast crave unhealthy food and are more likely to over eat as the day goes on. Those who eat a well balanced breakfast report to have more energy, increasing likelyhood of working out during the day. They also report to have less food cravings during the day, decreasing the likeleyhood of overeating. Instead of skipping meals, try to eat food that is filling and high in protein.
Going on a liquid fast:Liquid cleanses have hit the weight loss market these past few years and have been picked up by dozens of celebrities. Blake Lively’s sworn a liquid fast helps keep her figure slim and flawless. A liquid diet is one of the biggest mistakes someone could make while trying to lose weight. A diet that consists of no food is not a safe or effective for long term. Liquid dieting, much like a crash diet causes weight loss rapidly. Because this it is a form of a crash diet, and most of the loss is water weight. A liquid fast consists of no solid food whatsoever during the plan. Consuming solid food after fasting will lead to major weight gain and starting back at square one. To avoid all of this always eat real, healthy food.
Myth:
Going vegan is a healthy diet plan:
A vegan diet consists of eliminating all animal products from your diet. This means no meat and dairy cannot be consumed. This is restricting because most products have a small trace of milk or eggs in as an ingredient, especially processed foods. This can be difficult to students who don’t have time to search for special vegan food or vegan friendly store. People who follow this lifestyle for animal rights find a way to get the nutrients in their diet with consuming tofu and supplements. When a student becomes vegan purely for weight loss they won’t have the motivation to stick with such a restricting plan, leading to bingeing and discouragement. The best route is eating all food groups and limiting junk, access fat and processed food.
