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Example research essay topic: The South Beach Diet Fad - 2,809 words

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The South Beach Diet Fad According to contemporary industry and market trends as well as some studies conducted by various organizations of food industry low-carbohydrates diets became extremely popular. According to analysts there are several answers to explain these trends. Primarily, the diets seem to produce quick results. Secondly, they are apparently easy to follow and, thirdly, they allow people to eat foods that have previously been considered forbidden. Not surprisingly, though, when one stops to think about it, the reasons for popularity and success are somewhat more complicated.

After much study into why low-carbohydrates diets work, the short answer seems to be that their high protein recommendations result in people feeling full after consuming less food than they might otherwise. This, in turn, means consuming fewer calories than might normally be the case. Furthermore, reducing carbohydrates apparently reduces the spikes in blood sugar which make people feel hungry more frequently. The idea that low-carbohydrates diets are easy to follow derives from its advocacy of eating as much as one wants of approved foods. No weighing or measuring is necessary as long as individual eats what is allowed and avoid what is not allowed. Finally, there is the excitement of being allowed, nay encouraged, to devour favorite foods in limitless quantities.

One, perhaps surprising, quirk is the number of people who are now convinced that they should maintain a low carbohydrate lifestyle for health reasons even if they do not especially want to lose weight. Considering that virtually all the medical proponents cite the reason for losing weight as reducing the risk of developing a range of potentially serious illnesses, a general perception that carbohydrates equate to poor health is something of a mutation in the original principle. Dr. Arthur Agatston claims that a person who performs a lot of aerobic exercise and who does not have a weight problem has no reason to be on a carbohydrate-restricted diet.

If this is the case, then how have so many people acquired the idea that it would be generally more healthy to restrict their carbohydrate intake even if they are not trying to lose weight. From the critical point of view, this belief was propagated by both Atkins Nutritionals and Agatston's South Beach Diet. Another thing that Atkins and Agatston have in common is a less than wholehearted belief in the wisdom and necessity for low-carbohydrate snacks despite the fact that Atkins Nutritionals markets them and Agatston is considering a line of his own. Atkins successor as medical director of Atkins Nutritionals, Dr. Stuart Trager, was quoted by just-food. com in April 2004 as saying, If youre just lowering your carbs with many of the new food products that are now hitting the market without correctly following a healthy low-carb lifestyle, you could easily get into trouble (just-food.

com). Meanwhile, Agatston told the New York Times that people may make their whole diet on low-carb processed foods and miss the nutrients from whole food. It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to suppose that food manufacturers and retailers are in it for their shareholders benefit more than their customers' one. Apparently the vast majority of people admitting to following a low-carb lifestyle are designing their own diets, combining the foods they believe are good for them with conveniently reformulated versions of the foods they love. They are also making changes to where they eat when away from home. But, according to NPD Groups report on Carbohydrate Consumption Patterns, most people who claim to be reducing their intake actually have little or no understanding of how much they are eating and are consuming an average of 128 g refined carbs per day rather than the 20 - 50 g recommended for weight loss (Dupont, 71 - 72).

NPDs report was based on studying 11, 000 people between 2001 and 2003 (Dupont, 72). Complaints by people who cannot understand why they are not losing weight reveal that they may be eating excessive quantities of recently introduced low-carb bars and snacks. Examination of labels can reveal high calorie counts from alternative ingredients used to make the products palatable. Not to mention the psychology of dieters not realizing - or not accepting - that they must still restrict their intake. When even those on a maintenance regime may be advised to eat fewer than 20 g per day, every little bit counts.

And while counting may be easier than weighing, estimating can lead to excess. As Andrea Mondello, editor of web told USA Today, If a candy bar has two carbs, that doesn't mean you can have ten a day. However, from critical point of view, the core of the dilemma of low-carbohydrate diet approach is that it is not effective for weight loss, or even if some studies reveal that it actually is, it is not healthy, safe, and thus constitutes a great myth. Contemporary society should be aware of the fact that because something sells well it does not mean that is actually worth buying, though the flawed logic above prevails. Many analysts believe that the major reason for The South Beach Diets success is that Rodale Publishing has spent in excess of one million dollars per month to promote this book.

Official marketing budget of the book startles with the seize, and further opportunities of its successful implementation. Moreover, according to various reports contemporary situation with total marketing spending and sales derived from the book is that Rodale has taken a loss on The South Beach Diet. However, from the critical point of view, in the long run its investment will probably result in favor of expanding publishing empire. Dr. Agatston promotes the concept that has being long recommended and detailed in various nutrition books and dieting programs. In particular, there are good carbs that individual should be consuming and bad carbs that should avoided.

However, on the simplest levels, Agatston gets the good carbs wrong, including promoting both whole grain breads and fruits as good carbs. This advice can seriously affect the health of the millions of people across the globe with subclinical gluten sensitivity. It also can be considered as a serious threat for the large number of people who have high carbohydrate sensitivity and struggle with controlling their insulin. Dr. Agatston recommends fish, indicating absolutely no understanding that nearly all fish from every type of water source now contain dangerous levels of mercury and PCBs from generations of water pollution from coal plants and other sources. Mercury and PCBs can lead to all kinds of very serious disease including neurological disorders.

The dangerous level of toxins in fish is a warning that has been conducted by many health practitioners and major health and government agencies. Either Agatston is not informed of this important issue or decided not to cover it. Practically, it possible to avoid safely the mercury and PCB in fish while still getting proper omega- 3 intake, by substituting clean sources of bottled or capsule fish oil is by far the wisest option. From the critical point of view, a recent USA Today report suggested that it would cost over $ 90 a week to practice the misguided fish intake recommended by The South Beach Diet. Dr. Agatston freely advocates commercial pasteurized milk.

Agatston is obviously unaware of the major problems many people have with pasteurized casein and its prevalence as one of the most common food allergies (further, as he introduced himself as a dietary expert, he should be aware and note that many people are not informed they have this allergy). Though consuming raw (unpasteurized) milk is still considered to be a controversial and debated topic, for some people many of the problems they experience with pasteurized milk disappear when they consume clean milk in its raw state (Iacono, 217). However, even in a clean, raw state many still are unable to tolerate it, thus should avoid milk altogether. The point is that none of this essential information that impacts many people is covered in The South Beach Diet. Although Dr. Agatston does not allege that eggs are bad, but he remains under the delusion that saturated fat is bad for everyone.

Like carbohydrates, though, some high quality saturated food is not merely appropriate but should be part of a truly healthy diet. Simultaneously what matters, as with carbs and all micronutrients, is that individual is getting saturated fat from a clean and healthy source such as organic virgin coconut oil. From the critical point of view, though NutraSweet / aspartame has been indicated in many studies as being dangerous, linked to a wide range of diseases such as cancer and diabetes and various emotional disorders, Dr. Agatston encourages its use in The South Beach Diet. In the early 1970 s several important tests were conducted in order to establish the safety of various products.

While a Public Board of Inquiry set up by the Food and Drug Association to address the question of aspartame's safety actually recommended that aspartame should not be approved until further tests had been done to test a possible link between aspartame and brain cancer. Despite numerous objections, the FDA Commissioner approved aspartame. Eighteen years later, the tests on brain tumors are being conducted, but by independent researchers at Kings College London, revealing the existence of that possible link. Moreover, diabetic patients should be particularly concerned about the aspartame.

It can intensify and stimulate diabetes and its complications, specially eye problems and neuropathy. Practically, aspartame disease can simulate diabetic retinopathy or peripheral neuropathy (dAnnunzio, 301). As numerous studies reveal when patients discontinue these products, they usually get better. In terms of intensifying diabetes, consuming aspartame either can produce diabetes clinically or can lead to insulin resistance, which would lead patients to take oral drugs to increase the amount of insulin required. Dr. Agatston's most significant inadvertence is his lack of understanding of trans-fats.

Early in the book he states that trans-fats are considered to be dangerous and should be avoided, yet he alleges that French fries and potato chips are healthier choices than baked potatoes because of the fat in which theyre cooked (Agatston 54). It is extremely dangerous misinformation Agatston leading his trusting audience into, since French fries and potato chips are profoundly high in trans-fats and recognized as ones of the unhealthiest foods. Many analysts perceive this statement as indisputable evidence of Agatston's nutritional ignorance. Medical professional and practitioners with even a minimum amount of nutritional biochemical education must not make a recommendation like that. Although Dr. Agatston is a cardiologist as Dr.

Atkins was, he was never participated in the pioneering group of physicians who understood nutrition as it relates to health. Further displaying his lack of knowledge on fats, Dr. Agatston encourages the use of synthetic margarine's like I Cant Believe Its Not Butter (versus the healthier choice, real butter). Again he does not have enough expertise to examine this notion and to learn that the process of creating this type of margarine completely distorts the physical structure of its fats, making it nearly as dangerous as margarine's that have trans-fats.

Agatston is apparently making this recommendation because of his phobia of saturated fat, without realization that, as mentioned above, some saturated fat - such as healthy saturated fats that are found in raw organic butter and coconut oil - are extremely necessary for optimal health. Moreover, he classifies all unsaturated fats as healthy, objectively lacking expertise that the high omega- 6 unsaturated fat that causes a distortion of the omega 3: 6 ratio is one of the major contributing factors to most chronic degenerative diseases. Dr. Agatston continues to display his lack of nutritional expertise by advocating peanut butter as a good source of monounsaturated fat and the poly phenolic bioflavonoids, resveratrol (Agatston, 49). Practically, it is very important to pay attention to the quality of the peanut butter, and the type of peanuts in general. He does advise to avoid peanut butters with added sugar and to use only all-natural peanut butter.

However, Agatston should have expanded on the fact that peanuts are probably the crop most heavily sprayed with pesticides in the world. Moreover, he fails to mention one of the most serious medical problems associated with peanuts, thus make recommendations accordingly accordingly: most peanuts are very susceptible to contamination by aflatoxin, a carcinogenic mold spore. Dr. Agatston is still absolutely unaware of the power of an optimized diet to normalize levels of cholesterol. Taking a statin drug himself in order to control own cholesterol levels, Agatston is apparently unaware of the many dangers associated with statin drugs (Illingworth, 1389). Practically, it is possible to avoid statin drugs intakes and supplements to normalize cholesterol levels by following an adequately balanced nutrition program.

The South Beach Diet is a one-size-fits-all diet that completely neglects the fact that people have different genetic requirements for optimal health. The majority of dietitians affirm that one-size-fits-all diets never work for all. Due to their biochemical factors, some people actually need a high carb diet (with limited or no grains), while others require the low-carb, high-protein diet that Dr. Atkins advocates. This theory is usually called metabolic typing, and explains why one person will lose weight on a low-carb diet while another person will not lose any on the identical diet. The South Beach Diet also contains a serious lack of adequate guidance on the Glycemic Index.

Dr. Agatston utilizes the index as a tool in weight loss, but analysts have found it inaccurate, as it contains too many exceptions to be of any value. A classic example is fructose, which has a very low glycemic index yet has been clearly established as a major reason why many people are overweight. It also relates to some of the low glycemic index foods like chocolate, cherries, and apple juice, which scientists believe should be avoided if individual wants to lose weight, yet would seem to have nearly unlimited access to if they follow The South Beach Diet. Exercise constitutes a critical part of any permanent weight loss regime, but Dr. Agatston's advice on exercise is highly debatable.

While the majority of scientists absolutely agree with his central thesis that people do not need to train like an Olympic athlete and that 20 minutes a day is considered to be sufficient, this advice is only for people who are already in shape. Most and likely even a higher proportion of those reading a weight loss book, have developed a serious exercise deficiency and will need far higher levels of exercise to make a significant influence on up-regulating the bodys metabolic mechanism to burn fats continuously, especially while one sleeps. The Agatston's book is subtitled, The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss, however from the critical point of view, many people buying the book care much more about the weight loss aspect than the healthy aspect. Practically, described diet approach has very little to do with improving individuals health, and can lead many people in the opposite direction. Even in regard to weight loss, though, the book might succeed for some in the short-term like many fad diets, most will not lose weight on continuous basis. Agatston even notions to this in the chapter entitled Why Do People Occasionally Fail on This Diet?

Practically, the main reason most people will eventually fail at losing weight permanently on this diet is because no real solutions have been offered for the emotional challenges that accompanying dieting and those challenges constitute the biggest challenges of all. There are practical solutions to the emotional challenges such as cravings, food addictions, self-image issues and the other self-sabotaging behavior, however Dr. Agatston's program and these issues were not covered effectively. Even if The South Beach Diets nutritional recommendations and strategies were solid without covering the emotional component, adherents to the diet are left with a void. Agatston's South Beach Diet can surely help individuals to shed a few pounds in the short-term, and will surely assist them in adding those pounds subsequently. Being inconsistent with contemporary science, South Beach Diet constitutes another heavily marketed fad diet book, which promises the world but delivers dust.

Bibliography USA: Atkins warns consumers about low-carb product frenzy: web - web Agatston A. South Beach Diet, Rodale Books, 2003 Hickey CA. Sociocultural and behavioral influences on weight gain. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2000 May; 71 (5) Iacono G, Cavataio F, Montalto G. Intolerance of cows milk and chronic constipation. New England Journal of Medicine, 1998 Oct 15; 339 (16) Dupont C, Heyman M: Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome: laboratory perspectives.

Journal of Pediatrics and Gastroenterological Nutrition, 2003; 30 (9) d'Annunzio G, Malvezzi F, Vitali L. Study on diabetic retinopathy in patients diagnosed in childhood and treated with conventional therapy. Diet Medicine, 1997 Nov; 14 (11) Illingworth DR. Management of cholesterol. Medical Clinics of North America, 2000 Jan; 84 (1)


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