Acai Berry Diet

Acai has been up played in the media as a super food with many health benefits. There are many products in the market advertising it's weight loss capabiliities. Some products include Monavie, Acai Berry Blast, and Acai Pure...there are MANY!!! The acai diet industry claims that acai supplements will increase energy, weight loss, metabolism, and fat oxidation. Some claim that acai supplementation will promote more weight loss than dieting and exercise combined. Weight loss claims vary from product to product.

Studies show that acai has huge amounts of antioxidants. Two most talked about compounds in acai and other berries are anthocyanins and flavonoids. Acai shows to have more antioxidants than all other berries. There are tremendous health benefits to consuming acai however, none different from other similar fruits. Follow the following links to learn more about studies on acai berries.

Link 1
Link 2

I felt that almost every cite that had information on acai berries and their health benefits promoted some type of acai supplement. It was difficult to determine which supplements were most reliable due to the each cite promoting top products. Top products being promoted varied from cite to cite.

Weight Watcher

Weight Watchers is a program that promotes eating the right foods along with regular exercise. They promote a lifestyle change instead of restricting foods and "dieting." They promote their products and recipes.

For the most part, Weight Watchers had positive reviews. Follow the following links to learn more about Weight Watchers.

Weight Watchers Webcite

Reviews

More Reviews

Increasing Weight in the US

I found it interesting that in today's time we have more and more people dieting in the history of time however, the rates of obesity and being overweight are now the leading causes of health problems (such as diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, and stroke)... so I wonder what's going on here?

In 1996 11% of individuals ages 13-18 were obese, 5 years later that number doubled to 22%.

Some more recent statistics of:

Individuals who are either overweight or obese

• Ages 20 or over, 67%

Individuals who are obese

• Ages 20 or over, 34%

Individuals who are over weight

• Ages 20 or over, 18%
• Ages 6-11, 15%
• Ages 2-5, 11%

Statistics from the CDC

Does it even make sense that we now have more and more people dieting and making an effort to get in shape, however that's clearly not that case? It doesn't to me. Why is that? I don't have the answer to that. However, there is a clear relationship between the public's source of motivation to diet and get into shape and the advertisements that the diet industry so heavily promotes. One possibility to look into is the the decreasing quality of our food supply and increase in processed foods. However, that's an area that I won't get into.

www.dartmouth.edu
www.nlm.nih.gov

Who's on a Diet?

An estimated 80 million people are on diets every year, spending $30 billion on products and programs annually. That's $375.00 per person each year!!!

Participate in the following survey... get an idea of where you're at in the dieting population!

Pick the statement that most describe your feelings with regards to dieting.
	Is on a diet
	Thinking about it
	Was on one, but it didn't work out
	I should be on a diet, but I'm not
	I don't need to be on a diet
View Results

Turkey Holiday is Over

Thanksgiving is over and so ... the rush to dieting begins. But hold your horses, check out this website listing humorous details on popular FAD diets...though it appears relaxed and blunt, a lot of the information holds to be true.

http://www.faddiet.com/
and
http://www.dieting-review.com/

If this is what diet programs are promoting....then you know it's definitely a FAD.











Just some fun images I found on the web

Grape Fruit Diet

Also known as the Mayo Clinic diet (NOT associated with the Mayo Clinic in MN!!!) and the Hollywood diet, this diet is based on the concept of consuming LOTs of grapefruit or grapefruit juice in conjunction with a low carb, low calorie, high protein diet. Many believe that this diet is all about eating GRAPEFRUIT and forget about the other components of the diet. Grapefruit is an important part of the diet however, that's not what it's all about. There are certain foods that can and can't be eaten. Here's a cite that gives a common grapefruit diet meal (grapefruitdiet).


Some claim that grapefruit promotes the fat burning process due to the beta carotene found in the tough outer layers that is typically not eaten. Others claim that the fat burning process is promoted through pectin found in grapefruits.

There haven't been any scientific studies done that have proven these theories however, it is suspected that something in grapefruit may decrease insulin levels in the body, which in turns may increase the feeling of fullness and decrease calorie intake. The meals promoted on this diet plan is very similar to other diet plans such as Atkins.

Follow this link to learn more about the nutritional take on the grapefruit diet---click here----

Media and Advertising

This video was made in 2006 and so the statistics are slightly off.

Here are some more recent statistics:

• 1 in 5 women suffer from an eating disorder
• 90% of those who have an eating disorder are women between ages 12-25
• The most common behavior that will lead to an eating disorder is early dieting.
• The diet and diet related industry is a $50 billion/year enterprise
• According to a recent study, over 1/2 of the females between ages 18-25 would prefer to be run over by a truck than be fat, and 2/3 surveyed would rather be mean or stupid
• 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet
• Time Magazine reports that 80% of all children have been on a diet by the time that they have reached the 4th grade

• If today's mannequins were actual human women, based on theoretical body fat percentage, they would probably cease to menstruate.

Information found at http://www.eatingdisorderinfo.org/Resources/EatingDisordersStatistics/tabid/964/Default.aspx

Many of the BEAUTIFUL flawless pictures that the media put on display are often the results of photoshop...making it unrealistic and impossible to reach naturally. Follow the link below to get a preview. For my classmastes...this link is the video that was shown in class.

The Perfect Lie

CONTROVERSY

There was a lot of controversy with regards to how diets were promoted. Up for discussion was the ethics behind advertisements. For example, The Ethics of Weight Loss Commercials provides good discussion and points out an interesting perception.