Obesity in children is reaching epidemic proportions, with 15 to 30 percent of children in America now overweight.

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Searching the web for diet info? Here are the top ten diets being searched for on Google.

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The “most popular” list changes over time, but these are currently the most popular diet fads or myths out there. Much of this is based on the top searches in search engines.

•  I can eat all the fat and protein I want, and as long as I don't eat carbs I will lose weight. Most people who have done low carb diets will tell you that if you “overdo” the red meat, cheese, and bacon, you don't feel very good. Many people report hair loss and lack of energy as some disconcerting side effects to overdoing this type of diet. A healthy balanced diet includes carbs, and not all carbs are “bad.” Choose vegetables, fruits, and whole grains rather than processed foods. Avoid sugar since it merely gives you empty calories and high-sugar foods tend to be low-nutrition foods (cookies, cakes, candies, sodas) that put on pounds without giving you essential nutrients. A good rule of thumb is that if the food is close to its original state when it comes to your table, it's a better choice. For example, a grilled chicken breast is a lot closer to its original state then bacon and cold cuts (which have loads of harmful sulfites), and an apple is in its original state whereas an apple brown betty is pretty far from tree! Remember that a grain or carbohydrate serving is ½ cup of rice. Face it: most people pile up with 2-3 cups of rice at one meal (that's 70-80% of the recommended grain servings in one day!), it's not about carbs in general, it's about eating more than what is typically recommended for a healthy diet.

•  If I eat cabbage soup I'll lose weight. The cabbage soup diet folks at least have the good sense to tell you only stay on it for a week to kick start weight loss. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to this diet. You eat cabbage soup every day, with some other food selected to be eaten in obscene amounts, such as 8 tomatoes on one day with 20 oz of beef. Another day you can eat up to 8 bananas. Very weird. I suppose you lose weight because you are only allowed to eat, say 8 tomatoes and 20 oz of steak and more people will stop at 2 tomatoes and 12 oz of steak, so you don't eat much that day. Okay, any diet that says, “Eat this food until you are stuffed, stuffed, stuffed” is obviously about short-term results and not long-term behavioral and lifestyle changes.

•  If I eat A food with B food, and never eat A food with C food or C food with B food or D food, and wait 2 hours after B food to eat C food, I will lose weight. Relax. Food combining will most likely only work due to the amount of energy you consume trying to figure out what you can eat with what. There are some obvious bad combinations: milk and spaghetti with tomato sauce might have a rough landing in your tummy. However, special combinations do not magically boost your metabolism. If anything, food combining helps you slow down and eat smaller meals more often because of the wait requirements between certain foods. Eating smaller mini meals more often throughout the day rather than three huge meals has been shown to be a valuable weight loss technique for some people, in particular those who have low blood sugar issues.

•  If I fast for three days my body will be cleansed and will burn fat more efficiently. Or you will be weak with hunger, have a terrible headache, and eat on the fourth day, then eat a little more on the fifth day, then go nuts like a ravenous beast on the sixth and give yourself extra permission to pig out because, hey, you hardly ate anything the last four days!

•  Juice diets or the grapefruit diet: fruit is so yummy, isn't it? Until that's all you get for a couple of days. You will be irritable, cranky, and possibly get a good case of the runs. You will lose weight and possibly a few friends. These diets are again for short-term immediate results and quick awesome regain of weight. They will not put you on the road to long-term, reasonable, and healthy weight loss and maintenance.

•  Mr. and Mrs. Famous USA Diet! Yes, I know I have no qualifications, well, other than my amazing body! But anyway, I have just the diet for you. We have heard them all: celebrity diets come and go just about as quickly as the celebrities who create or endorse them. Do you remember the celebrity who told an audience of millions that you would know if you were on the right diet if your poop floated rather than sank? I suppose that's more scientific than most of them. Dr. Phil is on the bandwagon now, touting weight loss foods such as his diet candy bar loaded with corn syrup. Let's take it one step further and create the awesome Corn Syrup Diet! You can eat all the products you want that are loaded with corn syrup as long as you also eat your veggies! Many of these celebrities have no business telling clinically overweight and obese people how to improve their health through better eating. They are not qualified and they often oversimplify the process of learning how to permanently maintain weight loss. If the celebrity makes you feel like you are overweight because you are a lazy slob who doesn't care about themselves, run for the hills, as they clearly have no true understanding of the issues underlying this serious health epidemic in America .

Is My Teen Just Lazy?

Are overweight teens just excessively lazy? Do they give up too quickly compared to teens who do not have weight problems? The answer to both of these questions is a resounding “No!”

Lose 20 Pounds in 2 Weeks without Dieting! Without Exercise!