As
far as fads go, even diets cannot hold their own against the
fickle entertainment world. One minute everyone is fat-per-gram
conscious, and then the focus has moved to our starchy friend,
the carbohydrate. Wading through all the info on fad diets is
hard, but should you be on a diet without consulting a doctor
and should you diet at all? Three experts give us the lowdown
on why not to diet.
Terri
Sonnabend
Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist
Once you start to “diet,” there is a preoccupation
with food instead of the idea of healthy eating. You need to
be more aware of nutrition and proper food options. If you restrict
the amount of calories consumed, you don’t get the proper
nutrients needed for growth and development. Sometimes, you
may use dieting to cope with pressures felt from society and
peers, which can lead to a food fixation and eating disorders.
Healthy weight can be measured by the Body Mass Index, which
takes into account both height and weight. Twenty to 25 on BMI
is a healthy teen. A lot of teens may appear to be thin or in
good shape, but their eating habits are poor, which affects
health in later life. So you should not be counting calories,
but instead you should be aware of healthy
nutrition — brown bread instead of white, high fibre,
less sugar, etc. The Canadian Food Guide is a good starting
point for making more informed eating choices.
terri@fitnessinstitute.com
Dr.
Dorothy Ratusny
Psychotherapist
No one should be on a fad diet, the term fad meaning temporary
and new. Media perceptions play into idealizing the unattainable
body type. Not all prescribe to it, but some do. So now there
is a preoccupation with achieving this standard. And as girls
want to be skinny and boys, muscular, these perceptions cannot
be achieved without drastic measures. You are setting yourselves
up to fail, and it perpetuates the diet cycle. What you should
focus on
is whether your perception of self and being is really true
and clear. During puberty, girls tend to gain weight, their
bodies reshape, and boys have a sudden growth spurt, so you
become selfconscious of these changes and can have feelings
of inadequacy if you are developing at a different rate than
your peers. After puberty, the body will adjust itself to the
proper weight set point. There is a need to refocus on what’s
beyond the surface, no matter what initial appearances dictate
— what’s inside a person is important.
www.dorothyratusny.com
Rebecca
Kellerstein
Naturopath
Healthy foods act as healing medicines in the
body and are essential for proper growth and development. If
you do not eat enough calories, you will wake up tired and not
have enough energy to function throughout the day. Eliminating
all fats from a diet can be catastrophic. Certain fats are essential
to develop the sex hormones: estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
Without these hormones, a teen’s body does not mature
or develop properly. Fats are also important for healthy brain
and nervous system maintenance. Eliminating ALL carbohydrates
can also pose a problem because carbs are the body’s immediate
fuel source used to make energy. If we do not eat carbs, our
bodies will start breaking down fat to use as fuel. Once the
fats are used up, our bodies start breaking down proteins to
get energy. The problem is that metabolic byproducts of protein,
which are toxic, need to be detoxified by our liver and kidneys.
This puts a heavy burden on these organs, and over time, this
will stress out the organs, causing irreversible damage. Rapid
weight loss and gain also puts tremendous burden on the heart
and causes serious cardiovascular problems later in life.
www.rknaturopath.com
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