Losing weight is on a lot of people's minds. Some people need the structure offered by programs while others can manage on their own. Some people simply do better when they have weight loss programs to follow. Marketers are taking advantage of this need so the diet industry is exploding. There are endless fad diets claiming to be the best way to lose weight. These diets can do more harm than good, however. Of course, not all diet programs are fads. Some can actually help you without harming you. Are you searching for a program to help you in your weight loss journey? The following are some popular programs, with some warnings.

You may have heard of Slim Fast, a diet drink, this is no longer the case, it's quickly become a full fledged diet program.

This program began as just a drink, the slogan, a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a reasonable dinner is quite popular in the western world. We can't really endorse a program that advocates replacing two meals with diet shakes, but lots of people swear that it works. They have taken the initiative now to add food and nutrition bars to the program.

There is yet another up and coming program called Dean Ornish's Eat More Weigh Less that is gaining momentum.

When this article was written consumersearch.com had it ranked among it's top weight loss programs. This has been listed as one of the best programs for vegetarians who want to lose weight. It has been clinically proven to be a good diet program. The only downsides seem to be that the program is very strict and that the menus and food plans don't have a lot of variety. One of the biggest benefits to this program is that it is good for the heart.

The Mediterranean Diet is rarely found at at the top of any lists like other weight loss programs. With all that said, the diet remains quite popular. Greece, Western Europe and other countries around the Mediterranean sea follow a diet similar to this one. The idea is that the people living in these areas eat this particular type of diet every day and are thinner, healthier and live longer than practically anybody else in the western world so they must be doing something right. This is certainly the best diet for you if you don't want to severely limit your favorite foods.

There is a wide variety of different programs designed to help you lose weight. How can you be sure you've picked the right one? If you aren't sure if you even need a weight loss program, talk to your doctor first. Your doctor will help you put together a diet program that helps you lose weight and keeps you healthy at the same time. Reaching your goal weight will require a little work but be patient and you will reach your goal weight.
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For those who have tried more than once to reduce weight, you are aware how much of a mentally challenging struggle this can be. There are a multitude of reasons for this that an entire book could be written about it, if it hasn't been done already. Nobody is immune from developing habits, and anybody who would need to slim down have their own reasons and eating routine. As soon as somebody begins another diet, a portion of the problem is caused by switching eating habits which are currently deep seated behaviors. We are dealing with behavior modification in this scenario with weight loss, which is what we will discuss further.

The main issue that so many individuals who are trying to get in shape cope with are food cravings. Frequently somebody encounters situations that work to trigger the cravings for that most desired unhealthy snack. As you can imagine, eating too much of certain foods is normally the primary reason for the weight problems. Generally you could possibly be responding to your mental states whenever these cravings take place. That's the reason why it can be particularly helpful if you give consideration to your own psychological and eating behavior patterns. In the event you already have a perception about your emotions which will ignite food cravings, you'll be able to use that to your benefit.

We highly recommend you give your attention to modifying these particular behaviors to guarantee your success. So in addition to acknowledging the need to transform your habits, or behavior, your success will be helped along with a deeper understanding of your own motives for over-eating. There are many strong and persistent feelngs that may result in over eating for instance depression, moodiness, chronic personal issues, and so on. You will become more energized when you are first in a position to identify your own patterns of thinking and behaving.

A suggestion would be if you take issues systematically and stop overloading yourself. These are deeply ingrained habits, and they cannot be modified rapidly. Choose one specific emotional state that historically triggers you to overeat. What you want to do is to figure out a positive response to that trigger that will replace it. Your aim is instead of eating, or gorging yourself, you are going to put this different response into action. Do this gently, after which merely do it since sometimes that could be all it comes down to. Make your self accomplish this, and continue to keep doing it until the urge, or craving, moves on.

You want the food craving to go away while you are engaging in this new behavioral remedy. Your main aim is to entirely eradicate this trigger, and at the very least you want to reduce its effects. If your initial endeavors at this are not as much as you imagined, then that is all right and just keep moving to where you want to be. You must already know that modifying behaviors does involve time. The starting is the most difficult part whenever you try out a new challenge such as this so simply take it one day at a time but stay positive.
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Some of the latest research shows that people who follow a traditional diet tend to be healthier than those who have adapted to a more modern, Western-style diet. It has been shown that better health outcomes and lower risks of chronic, degenerative disorders such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, osteoporosis and metabolic syndrome prevail.

It seems that the Western dietary 'experiment' of the last 50 to 100 years has come full circle. Traditional diets contain many benefits. Foods that are heavily processed, laden with artificial ingredients, grown in soils that are striped of nutrients, and are loaded with fats and sugars to stimulate cravings are clearly only benefiting those that manufacture and sell them, not those that consume them.

The impact of agriculture
Anthropological records show that agriculture (ie the growing of crops such as grains) and animal husbandry only began around 10,000 years ago in what is now the Middle East, and spread to the rest of the world over the subsequent several thousand years. While 10,000 years is a substantial period, from an evolutionary point of view it only represents approximately 300 to 500 generations, which is too short a time on an evolutionary scale for substantial adaptation to take place at a genetic level. It is suggested that time spent consuming the modern agriculture-based diet represents less than 1% of total human evolution, with 99% being devoted to hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

Agricultural techniques and differing growing conditions can lead to the production of various subtypes of proteins such as gluten which have the potential to have widely differing levels of immune response. Many gluten intolerant individuals have had the experience of traveling to Europe and consuming gluten-based products which do not trigger their usual intolerance symptoms.

Grains were rarely consumed as year-round staples by hunter-gatherer groups. Another important difference is that prior to the industrial revolution all grains were ground with stone milling tools and generally contained the entire contents of the cereal grain (germ, bran and endosperm). From the second half of the 19th century, milled grain was derived mainly from the endosperm.

Modern diets – the rise of chronic, degenerative diseases.
More recent evidence also suggests that insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia (high insulin levels in the blood) - as a result of a Western diet - is also a major trigger of many other common Western diseases that are also rare or absent in more primitive societies.

Studies have shown the traditional Paleolithic hunter-gatherer diet to:
- Reduce weight
- Reduce BMI
- Reduce waist circumference
- Reduce systolic BP
- Improve glucose tolerance
- Improve insulin sensitivity
- Improve lipid profiles (including increase HDL – good cholesterol)
- Reduce fasting and 2 hour glucose and fasting insulin
- Improve glycaemic control
- Improve cardiovascular risk

The above results were even seen when the Paleolithic diet was compared to the Diabetes and Mediterranean diets.

As we have moved away from the diet and lifestyle that our ancient genes expect, we have suffered the progressive disease and disability that this mismatch engenders. You can now see how abnormal and unnatural the current Western diet really is.

At Body Balancing Nutrition we help educate you to make the right food choices that are best for your body.

Find out more about how to fast track your weight loss at Body Balancing Nutrition

Vicki Witt
Clinical Nutritionist
Body Balancing Nutrition