By Alex Baran,
Project Weight Loss Staff Writer
December 03, 2009 Usually women care more about their look than men do, so men tend to complain about them being “ratty.” Could it be true? If so, it applies to all diets?
Well, Mark Hudson from the Sun tested five popular diets, commented by nutritionist Amanda Ursell. So here’s what Sun’ study revealed:
The low-calories diet
Mark was told that with such a diet he will lose weight and get his “bikini body.” He had to stick to 1,500 calories a day, which was OK at first. Actually, in the first day he even skipped lunch. Things started getting ugly after the third day when Mark was hit by hunger and portions seemed too small. So, after four days he became snappy, lacking concentration, always thinking about food. “After just a week I feel sorry for the hell women go through,” said Mark. Amanda agrees this diet can make you think about food more than normal, but if a woman would follow “this plan, the calories would be adequate and it is unlikely they would feel as bad as a man,” she added.
The WeightWatchers Points Plan
Mark knows how it works – on this plan you have to give points to foods; low-calories foods have low values and the other foods have higher values. He started on the wrong foot – he skipped meals so he could “save points to get drunk in the evenings,” which happened quite quickly because he was eating less. Eating the same meals that have no points soon made his diet less varied, thus gave him less energy. Amanda thinks this diet is very effective and provides enough energy and nutrients for most people if (!) it’s followed properly, without skipping meals to get drunk.
The Caveman diet
On this diet people should eat only fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat – in other words fresh food, nothing processed. At first Mark was full of energy, felt great, until he started craving for sugar and carbs. Amanda agrees “the problem with this diet is it gets boring. And because you are denying yourself carbohydrates such as bread and pasta, you'll inevitably end up craving them.”
The Atkins diet
This time Mark was happy – this diet allowed him to eat lots of eggs, meat, cheese, cream, and fish; he couldn’t eat carbs. At least that happened until headaches appeared, leaving him with no energy for exercising. In case he tried to do it anyway, he ended up feeling worse. Amada says: “headaches in the first week of this diet are normal and occur before your body starts burning fat as a primary source of energy.” On this diet may appear the risk of dangerously high cholesterol on long-term because of too much dairy foods and fatty meat.
The Slimfast diet
For breakfast Mark had the SlimFast shake. He was allowed to eat fruit snack. For lunch he had SlimFast again and something savoury. The problem was he constantly thought about solid food. The difference is this time he had energy and he didn’t feel like a zombie no more. Amanda says: “the lack of real food can leave you mentally and physically craving food, as the actual mechanism of chewing helps to make you feel full.” An advantage brought by this diet is that it allows one real meal in the evening; also, the shake includes lots of minerals and vitamins important for the body.
After these experiences, both Mark and his girlfriend felt miserable. So yes, dieting can make people ratty. The good thing is that there’s no fun anymore in eating junk food. The secret in avoiding “ratty” moods is to include some of your favorite foods in your diet.
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Project Weight Loss. All rights reserved.
