Baby-food dieting

I recently surfed WebMD — a great website for my bouts of hypochondria — to see what was new in the world of dieting. The usual stories popped up about food allergies, calorie-busting workouts and scary summer foods that pack on the pounds.

Frankly, photos of ice cream don’t frighten me. They have quite the opposite effect.

After salivating for a while, I came across a gem of a diet plan. The director of nutrition for WebMD, Kathleen Zelman, wrote that celebrities are substituting one or more of their meals every day with baby food.

The diet created by celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson is similar to any other diet in that calories must be accounted for. Eat less, weigh less.

The more I read, the more I saw how anyone could be sucked into the plan. Baby food has lots of nutrients and is low in fat, sugar, salt and preservatives. The small portions make it easy. What’s not to crave?

A lot. Try explaining to friends and family why, as a young adult with no children, you’re carrying jars of baby food around for a snack.

“No, girls, I swear it works. Try my pureed broccoli!”

No thanks. We aren’t babies, and the nutrients we need can’t be found in baby food.
Zelman also wrote that it’s highly unlikely for you to tolerate the diet for more then a few days.

How could you possibly eat baby food forever? It’s not sustainable, and it’s not healthy.

Even if the jars fit so easily in your dorm room cabinet, it doesn’t mean it’s right. Babies grow out of it, and so would you.

This isn’t the only crazy diet — many are used for quick weight loss, but all they amount to is starving your body of what it really needs.

Take the Special K Challenge, for example. Eat Special K products — a bowl of cereal, protein bar or shake — most of the day, then have dinner as you normally would.

Kellogg claims on its website that you can lose up to six pounds, but not forever.

Soon, you’re back to the same bad habits and gain the weight once again.

The best way to lose weight and keep it off is by talking to your doctor or nutritionist first. Each body is different, and these specialists know what will work for you and how to make sure you don’t do anything irrational.

Exercising and eating a well-balanced diet are the key ingredients to losing weight permanently.

Losing weight, whether to address a serious health concern or to drop a dress size, shouldn’t be done on a whim. It’s time to view weight loss as a lifestyle change, not just a two-week binge on baby food.