New Diets Hitting The Headlines

From celebrity diets to faux gastric bands – we look at the latest ways we are being encouraged us to ditch the kg

Alkaline Diet
This weight-loss plan hit the headlines thanks to its celebrity following. Gwyneth Paltrow, Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Aniston are all believed to be fans. The Honestly Healthy Alkaline Programme by nutritionist Vicki Edgson and organic chef Natasha Corrett says that by eating certain foods you can maintain the body’s ideal pH balance and your overall health will improve. You need to avoid such acid-forming foods as grains, pasta, wheat, beans, meat and shellfish, and ditch drinks such as tea, coffee and fizzy beverages. The result is that 70 per cent of your diet should be alkaline and 30 per cent acidic.
Expert diagnosis: British Dietetic Association spokesperson, Rick Miller says, “The body maintains its pH balance regardless of diet.”s However, he adds that the diet’s philosophy of increasing fruit and vegetables and reducing meat, salt and grains is what is considered as healthy eating anyway, so if you change to this way of eating you probably will ditch the kg.

Acai Berry Diet
This purple berry from the Amazon is being touted as the latest superfood to help you shape up. Sold as capsules, powders and frozen pulp, these antioxidant-packed berries are said to help you lose weight by speeding up your metabolism, and in the case of the 14-Day Berry Fruit Cleanse they say that the products aids weight loss by flushing out your digestive system.
Expert diagnosis: While experts agreed that the acai berry is vitamin-packed, that are still yet to be convinced it will help you lose weight. “There is not any single food that can provide the solution to weight loss,” says dietitian David Grotto, author of 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life. To lose weight, David says you need to control calories and enjoy a healthy lifestyle that includes physical activity, nutritious foods and plenty of rest. You can enjoy acai berries for the fruit that they are, but you could also chow down on raspberries and blueberries, which are cheaper and are also high in antioxidants.

Hypnosis Gastric Band Weight Loss
This diet uses hypnotheraphy techniques to make the patient believe that they have had a gastric band fitted. Patients who have experienced this treatment say that they remember being wheeled into the operating theatre, can still smell the anaesthetic and hearing the clink of the surgeon’s knife. Within five hypnotherapy sessions a patient will believe that they have had a gastric band fitted and they will feel their stomach start to tighten. Illuminations in JLT has launched Hypnosis Gastric Band Weight Loss in Dubai.
Expert diagnosis: Dietitian Jacqui Lowdon told the Daily Mail, that if it does work for an individual “it is important they are getting the correct dietary advice as well.”