Diets an unhealthy fix for teen weight concerns

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Teens who go on diets to drop some pounds are more likely to skip breakfast and binge eat -- which may at least partly explain why they put on more weight over time than their peers who don't diet, a new study shows.

...Nevertheless, the findings show that dieting is a short-term fix that teens choose instead of longer-term, healthier -- and more effective -- strategies such as eating more fruits and vegetables and getting more exercise, Neumark-Sztainer said.

...The findings suggest, Neumark-Sztainer and her colleagues conclude, that kids who diet are in danger of developing unhealthy physical activity and eating behaviors.

..."My advice to parents is to redirect their children's efforts away from dieting toward the adoption of eating and physical activity behaviors that they can engage in over the long term," she told Reuters Health.

Dieting is a short-term fix that tends to backfire. Diets in general don't work and are commercial enterprises to sell the appeal of that mythical creature, "weight-loss without exercise."

Skipping meals doesn't lead to weight loss. It seems like the common-sense thing to do, but it doesn't work. Instead, it leads the body to think, "No food. Famine coming. Hard times coming. Time to store as much fat as possible to survive hardship." The metabolism slows down, and the body stores fat more efficiently.

Humans are natural grazers. Before we had agriculture and stored food, humans ate all day long. The idea of three-meals-a-day is a social convention, we made it up. Grazing, or eating throughout the day, will actually change your metabolism. In a sense, it's the opposite of what starving does to the metabolism. Since real grazing is not feasible for most people,"the trick is to break up the nutrition you need in a day to have as snacks in between meals." That creates 5 meals instead of only 3. Grazing and weight loss