Some popular diets are good, some are not so good. Remember, something you can stick with over a long period is best.

Mediterranean diet
Excellent choice. Allows plenty of good food with healthy ingredients. People from that part of the world were known until recently for their general good health and longevity. The reason they don't do quite as well now as they used to is because of their importation of the more unhealthy U.S. and European eating habits.
It isn't a fad diet. It's well balanced as all proper diets should be and it is a complete diet, meaning it isn't specifically for altering body weight but that it's excellent for ones health in many ways. It can safely be adopted as a permanent change in eating habits for life.
Some of the long term benefits of this diet are a healthier heart and circulatory system, a weight that's correct for

you and the knowledge that you won't be doing yourself the harm that some of the more common ways of losing weight will.It involves a lot of olive oil whose health benefits are well known. If you're looking to lose weight quickly, don't bother. But if you are looking to slim in a gradual, healthy way, this is the diet for you.
Hay diet
This was formulated by Dr. William Hay who was born in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in 1866 and is based on the idea that certain types of food - proteins and carbohydrates - don't digest at the same speed and shouldn't be mixed at the same meal. In this diet fats and oils are considered neutral and can be mixed with any other foodstuffs. It wasn't devised as a weight loss diet as such but as a natural health diet, though it will help with any necessary weight loss.
It bears credibility when you consider the simple eating habits of most creatures.
What does your dog eat? Mostly meat. What do cows eat? Mostly grass. Note the simplicity of these diets and compare it to what we pile on to our plates at one sitting. Soup, meat and three veg, cheese and biscuits,
trifle and cream - and all this washed down with wine and coffee. Small wonder our digestive systems sometimes get confused and complain.
If you are suffering from any form of ill health the Hay diet can help, and even if you are not it's still a good

healthy way of eating. This is a diet that Sir John Mills the British actor followed for most of his life.
Atkins diet
This well known diet isn't particularly new - it's just basically a high protein/low carbohydrate diet. And it isn't particularly good either. True, you will lose weight but it's not to be recommended for long term use for various health reasons. Incidentally, one of the reasons it works is because it encourages a lot of high calorie foods. A program on BBC television - Horizon - drew the conclusion that it worked simply because it was so filling you simply finished up eating less calories while following it.
That may sound good, but remember those calories are nearly all from fats and proteins, which isn't so good.
Low carb diet
This is a diet similar in many ways to the Atkins diet and without modification it can't be adhered to for any length of time. Not without some detriment to health at any rate. Like the Atkins diet it produces a state of ketosis in which the body burns fat for fuel (because there is little in the way of carbohydrates for it to use).
As with the Atkins diet it produces acidity because of the large proportion of animal protein consumed. If you do choose to follow these types of diet then only consider them as a means of weight loss and don't follow them for too long.
Negative calorie diet
Just another word for low calorie foods. It's claimed that these foods burn more energy in the digestion of them than they contain which most people say isn't true. But having said that, they are generally good foods.
They include salad vegetables, and some fruits and are things that should be included in any healthy eating plan of any kind anyway as a matter of course. Where they mislead is in giving the impression that you can eat a high calorie meal and then 'neutralize' it by adding some negative calorie foods and, of course, you can't.
Herbal diets
There are no magic products based on herbs that will make you lose weight. Having said that, herbs are only plants like any other vegetables you eat and most of them won't do any harm. There is no benefit from making a particular issue of following a specific herbal weight loss program.
Detox diets
If you are trying to detox your body it's the quality of the food as much as the type of food you eat. There is little point in eating food that is riddled with pesticides etc. while attempting to cleanse your body with a separate regime. As we've mentioned before, go as much as possible for organic produce. Your body produces toxins in the natural way of things and it can handle their disposal quite adequately if you eat a healthy diet.
Zone diet
Another diet whose main component is the balancing of protein and carbohydrate and fats at each meal. It's other component is supplementation with fish oil and it claims to control insulin levels and stop fat forming at source and is a rather complex way of eating a balanced diet (a spreadsheet would be handy). And if you eat properly you will be eating a balanced diet naturally, without counting or measuring. A lot of people say it's so much pseudo science. You will lose weight on it but so will you on any other diet.
Fasting
Fasting is a good way of cleansing the body. Obviously if you're taking in nothing but pure water, or fruit juice, then you are taking in few poisons. Under these conditions your system is free to begin expunging itself of accumulated toxins that have built up over time. If you have a coal fire that is choked up with old ashes you don't revive it by adding more fuel. No, you spend time clearing out the old waste material first. This is in effect what fasting does.
Generally speaking, a regular - say weekly, or monthly - twenty four hour fast is a regime that can be safely carried out with benefit.
Fasting isn't really recommended for weight loss as such but more as an aid to general cleansing as stated above. As with many other matters involving diet seek the advice of your physician before fasting.

Below are a couple of recommended healthy eating plans that really can be followed on a long term basis with long term benefits.

Mediterranean diet As mentioned above, a well tried healthy way of eating that has been followed by people of that region for centuries. Great for the basis of a healthy life style

Eat your way to Health Naturally Interesting and unique tips on good eating habits. Again, not for weight loss as such but for health in general and a great aid to weight correction.

So, what to make from the above? Simply this, as we keep saying, if you want to improve yourself all round it starts with a healthy diet so miss out some of the more exacting regimes above and choose a way of eating that can be adopted on a long term basis.
Happy eating.

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