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The only way to do this is by adopting healthy eating habits, and not pursuing crash diets hoping to loose unwanted pounds in a few days.

Many of these fad diets, such as the notorious and outright silly Cabbage Soup Diet, will undermine your health, cause physical discomfort (abdominal discomfort and flatulence (gas) ) and lead to the yo-yo effect of gaining weight soon after losing it. In other words the risks aren’t worth the rewards.

Quick-weight-loss diets generally put far too much emphasis on one particular food or type of food. They violate the first principle of good nutrition which is to eat a balanced diet which should include different types of foods. If you are able to stay on such a diet for more than a few weeks, you may develop nutritional deficiencies, because no one type of food has all the nutrients a human being needs for good health. The Cabbage Soup Diet is an example. This so-called fat-burning soup is eaten mostly with fruits and vegetables. The diet supposedly helps heart patients lose 10–17 pounds in seven days before surgery. Even if the weight loss claim were true, all the damage due to a lack of many essential nutrients would far outweigh (pun intended) the benefits of losing the weight. There are no magic beans, or magic cabbages, or miracle foods when it comes to weight loss and good nutrition. That’s why you should eat moderate amounts from all the food groups rather than cutting out everything but a cabbage and water.

There may be no magic or miracle foods, but there are certain foods which contain more nutrients than others and it is wise to include them in your diet.

Among these are:

Beans (legumes),
Berries (especially blueberries),
Oranges,
Broccoli,
Pumpkin,
Spinach,
Tomatoes,
Nuts (especially walnuts),
Salmon.
Turkey,
Whole grains and oats
Yogurt
Green tea
Soy

You will note that it includes: Vegtables, Fruits, Proteins, Fats and Carbohydrates.

All crazy diets such as the cabbage one also violate another important principle of good nutrition which is that eating should be enjoyable. These diets are so monotonous and boring that it’s almost impossible to stay on them for long periods.

Imagine eating cabbage soup, nothing but cabbage soup, for even a few days much less for a whole week. By Wednesday you’d dread meal time, and by Friday you’d never again want to hear about a cabbage much less eat the soup. If you make it to Sunday you might die of a heart attack before you ever again tasted real food.

In Diet you were told that diet is what we habitually eat and not confined to weight loss. It is not just those who are trying to lose weight that follow unhealthy diets. Many modern diets based on prepackaged convenience foods which lack many vitamins and minerals, which can affect our mental capacities as well, and cause irritability, confusion, and the feeling of ‘being in a fog’ all the time.

Superfoods can be the basis of a sound, healthy, nutritious solution to curing many of these ailments and more.

Fad diets are bad in many other ways. Many don’t encourage physical activity, for example, walking 30 minutes most or alldays of the week. Physical activity helps maintain weight loss, while physical inactivity is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. When you hear a diet that mentions “no need for exercise” run for the hills, or at least run on a treadmill.

Quick weight loss sounds great. It is possible. Just don’t fall for tricks or gimmicks that might end up ruining your health.