Woes of Dieting

Third, it would be advisable to take a multivitamin, especially if you plan to diet. Even unrestrained eaters do not consume perfect combinations of foods that ensure the intake of every single nutrient.

For dieters this task is even more arduous. Moreover, if your nutrient requirements are assured by a daily supplement, than you are at liberty to make food selections based on calories, without the added criteria of vitamin content.

Weight reduction pills are limited in their effectiveness and very often dangerous to your body. Most contain amphetamines, i.e., drugs that speed up your metabolism.

They increase the rate at which you burn calories and reduce the appetite. But, you can develop a tolerance to these medications and also cause collateral damage to your internal organs. Like most short cuts in life, diet pills come with hidden costs and don't produce long term results.

The bottom line is this. Losing weight and keeping the weight off means a continual process of curtailing calories while simultaneously maintaining a sufficient activity level. It's not so much the foods you eat per se, but the overall number of calories you are taking in vs.

The number you are burning. You could eat nothing but vegetables but if you were consuming more calories than you were expending, you would gain weight.

Nevertheless, most dieters seek to reduce their consumption of fatty foods. Fat is the nemesis because it has the highest calories per gram of the three main substances in food.

While carbohydrates and protein contain four calories per gram, fat contains a whopping nine. The problem is fat is what makes many foods taste good and avoiding it renders dieting so depriving and difficult.

It's a cruel and ironic twist of fate that the very substance that makes food taste juicy and delicious can also be so malevolent. Every good thing comes at a cost.

Alcohol by the way contains seven calories per gram. But I wouldn't be in a rush to forgo that glass of Bordeaux with dinner. There is a mountain of evidence to show that moderate alcohol intake reduces cholesterol and has other health benefits.

Moderate means no more than one or two drinks at a time. Go beyond that and the benefits of alcohol backfire. Skip the extra pat of butter and enjoy one glass of vino instead. (One tablespoon of butter has 100 calories and 11 grams of fat. One five-ounce glass of wine has approximately 120 calories and no fat).

Returning to the fat problem, the issue becomes twofold: 1) avoiding excess fat and 2) discovering alternative means to replace the lost flavor. Avoiding excess fat can be achieved by:

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