Zee Media Bureau\Philaso G Kaping
London: Keeping in mind the coming festive season, and the onslaught of excessive eating and drinking at parties, the British Dietetic Association (BDA) has come out with five worst celebrity diets to avoid, if you decide to act upon your New Year’s resolution to lose weight.
Breatharian Diet
Dieters following this regime do not eat food or drink any liquids because they believe that they can achieve sustenance through meditation from air and/or sunlight alone.
“There is nothing good we could ever say about the Breatharian Diet. You can be sure of weight loss if anyone attempted to ‘exist’ on this diet but this would also be accompanied by, dehydration, malnutrition and risk of death!,” said BDA.
Actress Michelle Pfeiffer revealed in an interview that she was once part of a cult that followed this diet.
Biotyping
According to this diet, there are six different hormone types and body fat accumulation in different zones. By choosing certain foods, adding a training programme and taking supplements, it promises to reduce body fat.
“This diet relies too heavily on supplements and pseudo-science with only a selective grain of robust science (that hormones are involved in fat metabolism) and does not even mention visceral fat (internal fatty tissue). Many people will lose weight on this type of approach because it restricts certain foods,” said BDA.
Earlier this year, Culture Club singer Boy George showed off his new physique which he claimed was achieved with “portion control, 5-hour gaps between meals, no coffee or tea, except at meals, no bread or sugar and no water and fizzy drinks between meals.”
Gluten-free diet
Gluten is a protein found in foods processed wheat, barley, rye and oats. This diet is medically recommended only for coeliac disease patients. However, people following this diet avoid it believing it can lead to weight loss.
“Many believe, wrongly, they can eat as much as they like of gluten-free substitutes like biscuits, sausages and beer. Gluten-free does not mean calorie free,” asserted BDA.
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is one of the celebrities who follow a gluten-free diet although she mentioned in an interview that everyone in her family is intolerant to gluten.
Alcorexia/Drunkorexia diet
You can pretty much make out from the name that this diet is based on alcohol and little else.
According to BDA, “People eat very few calories during the day/week and ‘bank’ these ‘saved’ calories (kcals) in order to binge-drink alcohol over the weekend, usually.”
“Alcohol has little nutrition other than calories. This is a worrying ‘diet’ that could end up causing immense damage to the body.”
Top models allegedly follow this diet.
Dukan Diet
This four-phase diet includes food with high protein content and no/low carb for rapid weight loss.
“The diet works by restricting food, so restricting calories,” revealed BDA. “Even the creator of the diet, Pierre Dukan, has warned of associated issues with the diet such as lack of energy, constipation (due to lack of fibre/cutting out food groups), the need for a vitamin and mineral supplement (due to lack of variety/cutting out food groups) and bad breath.”
Carole Middleton, Jennifer Lopez, and Gisele Bundchen follow this diet.
