Bizarre diets

Hollywood  celebs like Lady Gaga, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Cheryl Cole have reportedly used the baby food diet to slim down. Here's looking at the three craziest celeb diets. 

The Maple Syrup Diet 
Singer Beyonce used this diet to lose weight for her role in Dreamgirls.

The Kids' Cutlery Diet 
According to actor Liz Hurley eating on a nursery plate using children's cutlery is a great way of reducing food intake as she believes it tricks her into thinking she's eating more than she really is. Also, when she is trying to lose weight, she restricts her food intake to just watercress soup.

Raw Food Diet 
Actor Demi Moore swears by this diet; which even extends to raw meat.

Flat stomach food guide

Tired of not knowing what kinds of foods to eat? Not sure how much fat, calories and sodium you should be consuming everyday? All the tips you need are here.... 

In addition to regular exercise, you'll also want to add some fat burning foods to your diet to help trim your waistline.

Foods that are high in protein and fibre are the best kinds of food to eat if you want to burn fat around your middle.

Did you know that it takes more energy to digest protein than it does to digest fat? So the more protein you eat, the more calories your body burns.

Eggs 
Eggs are super high in protein and can help you burn that unwanted belly fat. They contain the vitamin B12 – a great supplement for breaking down fat cells.

You may have heard all the warnings about eggs and your health. That's because a couple of eggs will put you over the recommended daily amount of cholesterol.

Well, more recent studies have shown that dietary cholesterol has a minimal impact on blood cholesterol. Dietary fat is the real culprit. It's what raises your bad cholesterol levels.

However, if you're still worried about your overall cholesterol intake from eating too many eggs, you can remove the yolk and still benefit from the high protein contained in eggs.

Low fat dairy products 
According to an article in Obesity Research, women who ate low-fat dairy products, such as nonfat yogurt and low-fat milk, three to four times a day, lost 70 per cent more fat than low-dairy dieters.

In another study done at Purdue University those who consumed 3 cups of fat-free milk gained less weight over the course of 2 years than those on low calcium diets.

So, not only do dairy products help you strengthen your bones, they can also play an essential role in burning that unwanted body fat.

If you are a regular consumer of milk and other dairy products, that's great, just watch your proportions and perhaps switch over to the low or no fat varieties.

Beans 
While beans are often associated with the gastrointestinal disturbances they may cause, they are also very good sources of protein, fibre and iron.

Some of the best kinds of beans to eat are:
- Navy beans
- White beans
- Kidney beans
- Lima beans

And as always, limit baked and refried beans in your diet as refried beans contain tons of saturated fat, while baked beans are usually loaded in sugar. Sure, you'll be getting your protein but you'll also be consuming a lot of fat and sugar that you don't need.

Here's something else to remember. Be sure to cook your beans thoroughly because our digestive tracks are not adapted to breaking down some proteins that are contained in certain beans.

Tip: A vegetable called Edamame (pronounced ed-uh-ma-may) – an organic soybean in a pod often served at Japanese restaurants.

All you do is boil them for three minutes, add a pinch of salt and eat the soybeans out of the pods. They are surprisingly tasty and very good for you. One serving contains 10 grams of soy protein. The best place to find them is at a store that sells organic foods.

Oatmeal 
While it may not be the tastiest thing you can eat, oatmeal definitely has some great nutritional qualities.

You may have noticed that many of the oatmeal brands are now boasting that eating more oatmeal will help lower your cholesterol level. That's because oatmeal is loaded with soluble fibre which helps reduce blood cholesterol by flushing those bad digestive acids out of your system.

The best kind of oatmeal to eat is unsweetened and unflavoured. While it's tempting to select the apples and cinnamon flavour and load it with butter and sugar – you really lose out on all the health benefits. If you must sweeten your bowl of oatmeal, do so by adding fruit.

Or add a spoonful of honey (much better for you than sugar) and a handful of raisins or dried cranberries.

Oatmeal is also beneficial in fighting colon cancer and heart disease.

Olive oil 
Certain fats are good for you and your body needs them. Olive oil is one of those 'good fats'. In fact, it's so good that it helps you burn fat and keeps your cholesterol down.

Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, a type of fat that researchers are finding provide outstanding health benefits. One ounce of extra virgin olive oil contains about 85 per cent of the daily value for monounsaturated fat.

So instead of taking a swig of orange juice in the morning, many dieters are picking up a bottle of extra virgin olive oil.

Whole grains 
These days everyone seems to be screaming "No carbs!" It's as if the world has gone no-carb crazy and everyone is running from sliced breads and pastas.

Well the truth is, your body needs carbohydrates. If you go without them completely your body will start to crave them. So it's not a good idea to exclude all carbs because the right kinds are actually good for you.

It's the processed carbohydrates that are bad for you – the white breads, bagels, pastas, and white rice to name a few.

The above foods have all been processed, thus stripping out all the nutrients leaving you with loads of starch.

The key is to eat 'whole grain' foods because they haven't been processed and contain the fiber and minerals your body needs.

So don't be fooled by a loaf of bread labeled 'wheat'. Regular wheat bread is still lacking in vitamins and minerals. Manufacturers add molasses to it so it turns brown.

Don't let them trick you. The only kind of bread that's good for you is the kind that's labeled 'whole grain'.

Meat and fish 
Turkey and beef are great for building muscle and boosting the immune system, but as always you have to be careful as:

Basted turkeys are usually injected with fatty substances while beef contains saturated fat. If you are going to eat beef, be sure to consume the leanest cuts you can find by looking for 'loin' or 'round' on the labels.

Salmon and tuna are also good sources of protein. They both contain omega-3 fatty acids which may sound bad, but are actually healthy fats. These two foods are also good for giving your immune system a nice boost and should be consumed at least thrice a week. 

A do or diet situation?

By this time of the year, most New Year's resolutions to lose weight have long since bitten the dust. But if it was that fancy diet that did you in, fret not, as a recent study has proved that the prospects for successful dieting are never good. Out of every 100 people who diet, only four are able to both lose weight and maintain their post-diet weight. 

Dietician Gunasekaran says, "Women have a wrong conception about dieting. Dieting is not starvation — it is the increase in the intake of vitamin-rich food and reduction in the intake of carbohydrate-rich food."

Dieting is so popular that in the past 10 years, it's estimated that around 70 per cent of the adult female population and 30 per cent of all adult males have been on one. It doesn't seem to matter whether it's the Atkins diet or liquid diets; people will try almost anything in their frantic desire to shed a few pounds.

Here are some hard facts about dieting: 

Dieting makes you feel hungry and deprived 
Research shows that no matter what your size, dieting makes you hungry and creates powerful cravings for the very foods you are trying to avoid. Dieters also have to manage the feelings of deprivation. This kind of thinking is likely to lead to rebellious overeating.

Dieters lapse and collapse 
A diet only works for as long as you are on it. Most people get bored with rigid eating plans and go off the rails from time to time.The trouble is that, for many people, a lapse is a sign of failure. They tell themselves they've 'blown it' and experience feelings of inadequacy.

The lapse becomes a slippery slope and they end up eating anything that's not nailed to the floorboards because 'it's fine, I'll start again tomorrow'. Such people go from diet to diet, hoping to find the one that will stop them from failing. But such a diet doesn't exist!

Diets fail to address the emotional aspect of overeating 
People often overeat to deal with emotional problems, rather than because they're very hungry. This is normal, but some people gain weight because they turn to food for emotional comfort or to cope with negative feelings like anger or loss — for example, after a bad day at work, after a row with a loved one or as an end to a long week. "Each time I quarrel with my boyfriend, I end up hogging double the regular portion," says Krithika, a college student.

So it is the lifestyle and not the diet. In a world full of temptations, it's laudable to want to be a healthy weight and to manage your eating. However, dieting as we know it, is not the way to do it. "You can initially lose five to ten per cent of your weight on any number of diets, but then, the weight comes back," says Traci Mann, an associate professor of psychology.

People determine that someday they'll do the right thing, but for now, they're quite comfortable with where they are at. If you don't make the necessary changes now, it can show up later as a health problem. Changing the way you eat, the amount you exercise, or the way in which you live can make all the difference.