BYU NewsNet - The do's and don'ts of dieting

Life as a college student is not always the healthiest; fast food and no time for exercise are often a part of daily life.

Students may want to go on a diet to lose unwanted pounds, but some dieting techniques are unhealthy as well as ineffective.

Fad diets such as the popular high-protein diet, grapefruit diet and liquid diets all have one thing in common said a local dietician.

All of these diets restrict a person to a certain type of food and will not result in long term weight loss, said Freda Anjewierden, a certified dietician.

"It gets to be very restraining and monotonous,” she said.

The initial weight that may be lost from fad dieting will come back quickly because most people will not continue to eat according to diet guidelines for the rest of their life.

Diet pills are not the answer either.

"Pills always scare me," Anjewierden said.

All fat-burning pills are identical, she said. The consumer will only lose water weight and will experience unpleasant side effects which include bloating, bladder and bowel problems.

So, fat-burning pills and fad diets are out, is there a way to quickly and effectively lose weight?

Anjeweirden said the best way is to go back to the basics of exercising along with following the food guide pyramid, which can be found at www.usda.gove/cnpp/pyramid.tif

It is better to lose weight slowly, about one pound per week, because otherwise it is difficult to keep the weight off, she said.

“Basically you need to cut 3500 calories to lose one pound of body weight,” she said.

Cutting 500 calories per day out of a person’s diet is a good way of doing this. Low-calorie treats such as fruit can substitute desserts.

Although dieters compulsively count calories, she said “counting calories is not the way to go, counting servings is.”

A common misconception is that it would be difficult to consume the amount of food suggested in the food guide pyramid. When people understand what constitues a serving, they may be surprised to learn that they consume far more than the suggested serving sizes, she said.

The lsit below from USDA.gov explains serving sizes.

Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese

1 cup of milk or yogurt

1/2 ounces of natural cheese

2 ounces of process cheese

Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts

2-3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish

1/2 cup of cooked dry beans, 1 egg, or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter count as 1 ounce of lean meat

Vegetable

1 cup of raw leafy vegetables

1/2 cup of other vegetables, cooked or chopped raw

3/4 cup of vegetable juice

Fruit

1 medium apple, banana, orange

1/2 cup of chopped, cooked, or canned fruit

3/4 cup of fruit juice

Bread, Cereal, Rice, and Pasta

1 slice of bread

1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal

1/2 cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta

Source: http://www.nal.usda.gov:8001/py/pmap.htm