Weight management - Popular diets

There are many different diets that help to assist weight management: These can be in the form of fasting, very low calorie, calorie counting groups, meal replacements, food combining and fat-burning supplements.

Fasting creates a negative energy balance which results in weight loss, it rest the digestive system and it also helps to detoxify many systems of the body.

Very low calorie diets often only consist of 800 calories a day, is fortified with the daily requirements of minerals and vitamins, is designed for obese people to achieve fast weight loss and doctors also supervised replacement bars and shakes.

Calorie counting groups help to keep the calorie intake controlled, has guidance of foods to eat which are provided and also group involvement creates accountability.

Meal replacements help to control the intake of food calorie counted shakes and meals, it removes any complexity of calorie counting for the consumer and it usually consists of 1200-1500 calories.

Food combining means that carbs are better digested in an alkali environment, proteins digest better in an acidic environment and all foods should be eaten at different times meaning they have to be separated.

Fat-burning supplements boost the metabolism which burns body fat and it also creates a thermogenic effect in the body.

However, there can be problems regarding each of these, they are:

With fasting, there is a risk of dehydration, there's a lack of energy as well as essential nutrients and it increases aches and pains, headaches, bad breath and also allergies.

Very low calorie diets create a low bioavailability of many fortified nutrients, brings on diarrhoea, constipation, nausea and fatigue and it's only a short term approach.

Calorie counting groups tend to only be a short term fix, a yoyo dieting cycle is common and the nutrient intake may be compromised.

Meal replacements bring on a lack of energy, low adherence, boredom and taste fatigue and there is a low bioavailability of many fortified nutrients.

Food combining means very restrictive meals, erratic blood sugar responses from high carbs to low carbs and it may lack vitamin A, D, B12, calcium and zinc due to the low animal consumption.

Fat-burning supplements may cause arrythmia, depression, nervousness, insomnia, or illnesses leading to strokes, seizures and heart attacks.

Exercise nutrition - Fueling aerobic & anaerobic sport

Different exercise routines need different nutritional recommendations such as aerobic training needs fuel which can be provided by carbs, fat and also protein. A larger amount of fat will be used for energy whilst working at lower intensities. Carbohydrates will be used as fuel more when the intensity of the exercises intensify.

The use of combined food as well as sports drinks/water/protein shakes, sole reliance on protein shakes or sports drinks or even the use of food alone will require much needed knowledge for the serious exerciser.

The aerobic system is able to use carbs and also fats to fuel activity whilst the lactate (anaerobic) system uses just carbs. We become more anaerobic the higher the intensity of the exercise meaning more carbs are used.

It has been shown that 58% of total work is contributed to through anaerobic work during a cross country run lasting for 5 miles. Also, it has been proven that the aerobic system contributed 40% of energy. This was during a half minute sprint. A 1 minute sprint used 50% energy and a 2 minute sprint used 65% energy. During these tests, it was shown that during the 100m sprint, men used 21% aerobic energy and 79% anaerobic energy and for the 200m sprint 28% aerobic energy was used whilst 72% anaerobic energy was used. In women it was 25% aerobic energy and 75% anaerobic energy in the 100m sprint, also 33% aerobic energy and 69% anaerobic energy was used in the 200m sprint.