Fad diets are the "in thing" at the moment for our teenage girls and this can be very worrisome.
With so many different diets out there, all promising instant weight loss and loss of inches or centimeters without the hassle of changing anything in your life. Our teenagers grasp at this promise as they are impatient when it comes to weight loss, and like to try anything that is quick and easy. Instant gratification has become the norm in today's modern world.
So as parents we need to ensure our teenagers are taking good care of themselves. Watch out for those fad diets that target the youngsters with false promises. Ensure that if they do need to lose weight ten we assist them with the right choice of diet. Help them to avoid the diets with promises of immediate weight loss. We also need to find the time to supervise the diet, and ensure that they are eating the right foods and at the right time.
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Diet pills are currently one of the most popular fad diets. These pills range from being worthless to dangerous, and can have a very high price tag on the ones that claim to be "miracle" pills.
Teenagers help the weight loss companies make millions of dollars due to these fad diets, and society push them to believe that being thin is beautiful at the cost of the youngsters health.
Teenagers being teenagers already have a low self image, and even the most attractive of them feel they are overweight. Heading straight for a fad diet. It doesn't seem to matter how they lose the weight as long as it happens. Parents need to nip this in the bud, if possible, as the weight that they - the teenagers -lose fast, comes back faster.
Remember not all diets are fads, and that there are some good weight loss programs out there, like weight watchers etc. People actually have a good success rate from many of these programs. But, teenagers tend to rebel against structure and that is why the "quick fix" fad diet attracts them. They want instant weight loss, not a time taking routine to lose the few pounds of weight that they think they need to lose. Patience is one of the virtues that teenagers only get much later in life.
Parents need to instill healthy eating habits in their teenagers. We cannot control what they eat when they are not at home, so we need to control what they do eat when they are at home. If a teenager is taught healthy eating habits throughout their formative years we would not need to worry about fad diets as much.
Teenagers who think they have a weight problem should avoid ineffective and unhealthy ways to lose weight, as their body changes in many different ways during these years. Good health is imperative at this time to ensure healthy development.
A diet which involves a drastic reduction in calories is very unhealthy and dangerous among teens. It can instead lead to weight gain, as after a initial period of weight loss the body then slows down to conserve what calories it is getting. A "drastic reduction in calories diet" needs to be supervised by a doctor and only in the case of severe obesity.
This slowing down of the body is a defense mechanism, designed to conserve what little food we eat. Your body sees the low calorie diet as a food shortage. A teenager already having a few symptoms (like tiredness and lack of energy from this low calorie intake) then further encountering a combination of hunger, moodiness and cravings at this point, may begin to binge eat. Alternatively, due to the lack of weight loss they might abort the diet and start overeating.
Continuous attempts at weight loss can cause the metabolism to be lower than normal, and make it even more difficult to lose weight. Often resulting in a see-saw effect for the moody teenager, and making it even more difficult to maintain their normal weight.
Another problem with the drastic calorie reduction diet is that the weight the teenager looses is not fat at all. Instead it is lean tissue. This means the body is actually burning up its own muscles, as it takes fewer calories to maintain fat than it does to maintain muscle. The body therefore has to balance out the calorie intake to the detriment of the lean tissue.
All is not doom and gloom though. There are many very safe methods for teenagers to loss weight properly.
The most effective way is to have a healthy balanced diet, and to take regular exercise. The sad reality though is that most teenagers ignore this method, and go instead for the instant weight loss, which typically causes ill-health (and of course weight gain.
If you are really overweight, talk to your parents or doctor. Most doctors refer you on to a qualified dietitian. An expert who will give you a healthy calorie-controlled diet, and advice on how to increase your exercise level.
The bottom line is - lose your weight sensibly, and look after your health in the process.
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