Serves: 5
Q: Can eating certain foods such as grapefruit, or certain combinations of food, burn fat?
A: There is no food that will cause fat to be burned away. Eat sensibly, exercise regularly and you will lose fat.
Q: Can eating certain foods, such as celery, use up calories in the body?
A: There are some foods that have very few calories, but none will actually burn up calories by themselves, no matter how hard we chew!
Q: If I starve myself for a week, could I lose ten or more pounds?
A: If no food is eaten, yet normal activities remain the same, about two to three pounds a week can be lost. Under starvation conditions, the body must break down its own protein to maintain enough energy to function, and protein by-products require an increase in water loss for excretion. Therefore, a very low calorie diet may cause temporary weight loss, which only amounts to water loss. The weight will be regained as soon as a more normal diet begins. It is extremely difficult to balance the necessary vitamins and minerals in a diet with fewer than 1,000 calories and almost impossible to do so in a diet providing fewer than 800 calories each day. Experts recommend not eating less than 1,200 calories per day.
Q: Do liquid diet supplements increase weight loss?
A: Liquid food supplements can be temporarily helpful in keeping calorie intake lower. If using this type of product, it is very important to maintain a balanced diet by eating at least one or two meals of "regular" food each day the supplement is used. Because the use of these products is short-term, you will eventually have to return to the normal food world. It is important to learn to choose, prepare and eat good food choices. A word of caution about very low-calorie liquid supplements: Because of the large amounts of water lost with these diets, when normal eating is resumed, the body compensates by retaining massive amounts of fluid, which can dilute the body’s potassium and cause abnormal heart rhythms.
Q: Are natural foods better for you?
A: Natural usually means that a food is taken directly from the food source, with no processing. It also refers to foods that have acquired a "healthy" label. Not only can the term "natural" be misinformation, but some foods that are considered natural can actually be less healthful. For example, raw peanuts contain toxic substances that are destroyed during roasting or cooking at high temperatures. The more important question is what kind of processing is involved and what the breakdown of ingredients is in terms of fat, protein and carbohydrates.
Q: Are diet pills safe?
A: Diet pills act by stimulating the "feeding center" in the brain to reduce the feeling of hunger. Unfortunately, the same stimulants act on other parts of the nervous system, typically causing insomnia, agitation and tremor at the doses required for weight reduction. Moreover, many of these stimulants carry the potential for addiction and abuse. Unfortunately, all of the existing medications are effective only when being maintained.
From "Betty Crocker's Best of Healthy & Hearty Cooking." Text Copyright 1998 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This Fact Versus Fiction: Diet Claims recipe is from the Betty Crocker's Best of Healthy & Hearty Cooking Cookbook. Download this Cookbook today.
"I must say this is the best recipe software I have ever owned."
-Rob
"Your DVO cookbook software saves me time and money!"
-Mary Ann
"Call it nutrition software, meal planning software, cooking software, recipe manager, or whatever you want. It is the software I use to stay healthy!"
-David
"Your software is the best recipe organizer and menu planner out there!"
-Toni
"Thank you so very much for creating such a wonderful cooking recipe program. I think this is the best recipe program there is!"
-Sarah
"I saw lots of recipe software for PC computers but I was having a hard time finding really good mac recipe software. I'm so glad I discovered Cook'n! It's so nice to have all my recipes in a computer recipe organizer. Cook'n has saved me so much time with meal planning and the recipe nutrition calculator is amazing!!!
-Jill
My favorite is the Cook'n Recipe App.
-Tom
