Today, the plethora of programmes, pills and books that promise to be the magic solution for weight loss, are impossible to avoid. Through inspirational before-and-after transformations, fad diets continue to entice, but often fail to deliver.
No Diet Day on May 6, aims to raise awareness of the potential dangers of dieting and the unlikelihood of success. A simple mouth swab can finally free us from fad diets and allow us to take control of our weight and improve results at the gym.
Due to a lack of education on healthy habits, the more easily available diet and exercise programmes provide only a short-term improvement and are often impossible to follow long-term. In fact, people who follow weight loss programmes lose approximately 10 per cent of their body weight only to regain two-thirds of it within a year and almost all of it within five years.
Research carried out by Australian genetic interpretation company, myDNA found that almost half (47%) of those in Australia who make diet attempts, fail. Two-thirds (63%) of those on a fad diet regain weight when they return to normal eating behaviours and 1 in 3 (38%) Australians are in an unhealthy cycle of yo-yo dieting. The Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of myDNA Allan Sheffield explains how eliminating certain food groups from our diet can do more harm than good.
Understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for weight loss, myDNA provides personalised diet and fitness reports, with insight into our body’s response to different diet types, muscle power, energy and strength and fat-burning ability. It may even help us to make smarter grocery and exercise choices, ending the diet culture permanently. Mr Sheffield elaborates on the ability of a DNA test to ascertain our body’s weight-loss tendency.
Listen to the feature in Punjabi here.
