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Diets, Diets and More Diets!
Health | January 16, 2015
Recently I listened to a hilarious and thoughtful interview with Rebecca Harrington, author of the book, “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” In the book Harrington examines and explores a bunch of celebrity diets and actually commits to all of them for period of time.
Many of the diets border on the absurd while others require a top chef to be considered palatable. For example, The Five Hands Diet championed by Victoria Beckham only allows five small handfuls of food – usually nuts or some lean protein – a day. The famous designer Karl Lagerfeld insists on only drinking Diet Coke with an odd nightcap of roasted quail.
Some of the diets actually followed thoughtful planning and execution, but were also expensive if not tedious. Gwyneth Paltrow’s diet, though effective, cost, on average, $200 a week – For many that’s an entire month’s worth of groceries for an entire family! If that wasn’t expensive enough, Jackie Kennedy’s diet consisted of caviar and baked potatoes.
The more successful diets followed by Beyoncé and Madonna were so strict that they bordered on torture. Committing to them long-term seems next to impossible. Madonna’s diet and workout program in particular seemed to be put together by the Gulag.
The huge takeaway from Harrington’s book is that extreme diets, even the ones promoted by celebrities, are simply not beneficial or effective. Sure they may slim us down for a period of time, but in terms of our overall longevity and health, they are pretty much a waste of time and money, not to mention nutrients. So many of these diets amount to just a fancy way of starving ourselves in a most unhealthy manner.
A big factor that seems to dictate a lot of these kinds of diets is an inherent lack of patience. Perhaps the constant spotlight doesn’t allow them a whole lot of time or wiggle room, especially when the media can be quite cruel. The expectations put upon their appearances by themselves and others are often next to impossible to maintain hence all the radical diets. While this may be understandable, as far as their health is concerned, it’s almost tragic. Fitness and wellbeing begin from the inside out. I can’t emphasize this enough. It’s most definitely not about being at the mercy of other’s expectations all the time. Looking good is great, but feeling good is so much better!
Have any Warriorz out there had any luck or experience with a celebrity diet? Any funny stories?
Private Member |
los angeles, ca, usa
I never believe them!!! For me, you want to feel good, looks good, you gotta earn it, right? We’re not celebrity who have lots of money to buy those diet foods to be delivered right to your door nor hire your personal nutritionist or personal trainer. It’s all about lifestyle, discipline, power of your mind and most importantly your heart into it + effort. It’s not easy at first but if you are doing your physical fitness regularly and be mindful to your food, it becomes a habit and turn into lifestyle. I also believe celebrities tend to accept to endorse products into public, why? It’s income for them. Most of them are bogus and hype. Sorry, but it’s in my opinion. By the way, I love the plate. Who designed that you, Z or Jesse… It’s funny and it’s so creative!!! 🙂
Private Member |
My celebrity diet is being a ZGYM member and following Zuzka Light nutrition guidelines 😉 The experience is, I am stronger, have more energy and loosing weight is a nice side effect 😉
Private Member |
los angeles, ca, usa
Im with you, Martina. Zuzka is my celebrity, zgym is our portal to her. Every workout she shared are all true because she’s doing it herself. Z is real unlike celebrities on TV majority of them are fake.
Private Member |
I just try to eat real food, (meat, poultry, porks, fish, all kind of vegetables, fulll fat dairy, legumes, whole cereals and fruit), no processed crap And I maintain a low carb intake, I eat a small portion of carbs in ever meal And a moderate to high amount after workout. I also care about glucemic index. The only diet I think is based on some science is montignac. I have read bulletproof diet book And a paleo diet book And almost everything the authors say about health is no sense And a result Of deep misunderstood Of the Human body, specially what they say about their weird concept Of ” inflamation”. Most important thing is that your diet supplies you with enough nutrients and make you feel good and healthy. Apart from that, bulletproof coffee is great as a preworkout snack 😉
Private Member |
I forgot to say that in my opinion, zuzka diet is healthy and I also follow many of her advices and I am getting great results. I can almost see a six pack in.my belly, even though I don’t really care much about that, and having a six pack has never been one of my fitness goals.
Private Member |
Hum, six pack belly? IMO, that’s a consequence of a good diet first, not gym, even with no isolated workout by Zgym which is very smart.
best,
L.
Private Member |
czech republic
I feel quite touched by the statement about Madonna 😀 She is an icon for me and she has been on macrobiotic diet for …. I cant even remember how long. Seems like ever… she is super fit and she is where I would like to be when I am almost 60… I mean with her body, wish I could visit one of her Hard Candy Fitness centres.
Private Member |
In the past I have tried being extremely strict, counting my calories, and obsessing about how long I was at the gym. I found that all this did for me was make me upset. I was completely obsessed with my weight, it was consuming and I wasn’t happy. Leading a healthy lifestyle, opposed to extreme dieting has made all the difference for me and has allowed me to maintain my health and fitness, instead of being satisfied short term. I do believe these extreme diets are both, physically and mentally unhealthy. Zuzka, I would still love to learn even more about your diet, ” a day/week in your life”. Even though I know you lead a healthy lifestyle, you look so amazing it’s surprising you do not follow an extreme diet. Are you going to post diet tips along with workouts for the new “weight bet” starting next week? That would be awesome! As always, thanks for all of your inspiration…you keep me going!
Private Member |
moscow, russia
Celebraties are gone crazy. Beyonce’s body is like jelly.. She needs to go to the gym or change her trainer and her freaky diet. It’s funny how people with “no tonning body” likes to talk about diets and how they eat. So what? They look awful and unhealthy. Victoria Beckham looks like dried fish. I wonder how she was able to have a baby.. I don’t like diets. I train a lot, eat a lot (I make healthy choices), and my body is changing for the better. Thank you, Z! 🙂
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
😉 dried fish…I was thinking chicken wings..kinda skinny tendonish…. seems like the new thing…I don’t like it at all.Angelina Jolie used to be a beautiful woman, she is so depressingly-sickly skinny now! I don’t mind an ittybitty layer of padding fat as it makes us look rounder and healthier over our zgym muscles! If it wasn’t too much around my navel I would “stop” where I am , but I want to go a few more pounds down to feel good and confident …looking fwd to DietBet. I have done a couple of big chunks of fatloss e.g. 2-3 weeks bootcamp (was way easier when I had 20 kg post-pregnancy to loose- fine-tuning 1-2kg when already slim is way harder!)
Private Member |
moscow, russia
Good Luck to you! You’re on your way.)) I want to gain weight a little bit. Because I’m too skinny. (
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
that’s awesome Lisa! gaining weight may look easier than it is , but it is hard to find the right balance too! pitfalls are there too.
Private Member |
A Zuzkalight-diet would be fun! For me the easiest diets are those who tell me exactly what I should eat and when, not the ones that tell me what I should NOT eat. So I would be really happy to have some schedules for e.g. one week exactly what to eat and when! Normally I eat quite clean, but too much and very random without any planning.
Private Member |
I’ve tried a lot of diets over the years in an obsessive effort to keep my weight down. It all led to not only a poor relationship with food and with my body, but I’m sure that erratic eating habits and stress contributed to a candida infection that has affected my digestion in a huge way, that I am now just getting a handle on by eating a very clean, zero sugar diet. I have looked great and fit for a long time, but since discovering Zuzka’s workouts, I have discovered how great exercise is not just for how I look but for maintaining my energy and general sense of well being.. and now this diet tackling candida has also been life changing. I would never say there is one perfect diet for everyone, but it’s true.. life is too short to be on ridiculous diets. The most important is to eat in a way that makes us feel healthy and energetic. As I am on the road to recovery with all my digestive ailments, I feel that I’m starting to realise what a waste all these diets have been. It is much better to be kinder to ourselves, live and eat well for the most part, and to enjoy the rest.
Private Member |
I did the Master Cleanse (before Beyonce did it) and I lost 10 lbs in 9 days. I stopped after that because I didn’t feel it necessary to go the full 2 weeks which is what the creator of that diet suggests as the minimum requirement to be fully “cleansed”. I went vegan after (which is the point of that cleanse) and I kept the weight off. In fact I lost another 15 lbs before balancing out after gaining back about 5lbs. I started at 125lbs which is chunky for me. I am only 5’2″ (157cm) tall. After the cleanse I went down to 115lbs and then ended up going down to 100lbs before stabilizing at 105lbs. On the cleanse I felt energized and happy, however the colour in my cheeks turned very pale and my boyfriend was worried about me. He said I looked sick which was weird because I was bouncing off the walls! I made sure not to work out during this period which is strictly stated due to the lack of calories you take in during each day. I had no cravings at all and overall I felt this diet was a success. I went to an art opening at a fancy hall on day 9 and there were trays of food everywhere (even ones with beautiful fresh veggies on them) and I didn’t feel like I wanted to eat ANY of it! It was crazy. Even though this diet was successful for me I would not recommend it to anyone. It is very strict and very difficult for most people to sustain. It is certainly not something to take lightly. You have to follow very strict guidelines and if you don’t you could have major problems. I don’t feel the Master Cleanse is necessary to attain your goal. I would suggest simply following Zuzka’s workouts and not eating junk food. Going vegan was very easy for me and it made me balance out to my natural weight. I also have food intolerances and veganism helped cure those. A vegan diet is hard for some people to maintain, although I think it is the best lifestyle anyone could ever choose. If you ever do try this cleanse just note that if you need to fart at any point DON’T DO IT! it’s not a fart haha!!! Make sure you have some time off work while you do this cleanse because you need to be near a bathroom at all times 🙂 I have been vegan for 5 years now and I still hover somewhere between 105-109lbs which I am more than happy with. I also don’t own a scale. I only weigh myself at other people’s houses and don’t take the number seriously. It’s just for fun 🙂