B1 – Intermediate
People go on special diets for different reasons. Some take it way too far though.
Fad diet, also known as diet cult, promises weight loss or other health benefits such as longer life without any scientific basis, and is often characterized by highly restrictive or unusual food choices.
Get more information about different examples of fad diets and some issues associated with them here:
https://www.medishare.com/blog/7-ways-to-lose-weight-no-fad-diets
Discussion Questions:
1. Talk about your regular diet.
2. Have you ever been on a diet?
3. In your opinion, how important is exercising as part of a diet?
4. Is it important to track one’s weight? Why or why not?
5. Are dietary habits in your country changing?
6. Why are people so worried about the way their body looks?
9 replies on “Fad Diets”
I don´t follow any diet, just eat in a heathly way. That´mean no fat food, sugar and proccesed food or avoid it so many times as you can.
I think it´s important to have a good proportion of the main type of food in your daily diet. I am talking about the ratio of the carbs, proteins and vegetables on the plate. This proportion is half plate with vegetables and each quarter with proteins and carbs.
Another important thing that affects your body is which food you eat fisrt, the vegetable, the protein or the carbs, because it involves how your pancreas (after eating) releases insulin into your body. But this is a extended issue that we can talk or write for a long.
For sure the exercise is important because allow your body burn calories, that´s caloeries that you have when you eat. In this way if you eat a lot or more than your body burn when you are “resting” you have to do exercise or eat less. But the benefits of the exercise goes beyond keeping you fit. It´s a lifestyle.
Society forces you to be in shape, so that´s why there are many people who don´t like their body because it doesnñt follow the pattern that society says (people´s judgment, advertising, tv, shows, etc.). But this problem is inside the person. There are other internal and deep isses that the person has to resolve fisrt, as self-esteem, ego, etc.
You did a good job practice your writing through this exercise.
See how you can write this sentence properly:
Practice more to improve your skills further.
1. Talk about your usual diet.
My diet is based on eating Mediterranean food, vegetables, gazpacho rice and lamb and pork.
2. Have you ever been on a diet?
yes, when I go to the gym I like to follow a balanced diet rich in protein and carbohydrates
3. In your opinion, how important is exercise as part of a diet?
It is the fundamental part of the diet, by exercising you burn more fat and complementing it with the diet you have better results
4. Is it important to control weight? Why or why not?
it is very important since being at your ideal weight your health improves remarkably and you feel better and with more desire to do things
5. Are eating habits changing in your country?
yes, since people are understanding that having a balanced diet improves your mind and body
6. Why are people so concerned about the appearance of their body?
people like to be liked, and if they see that they have a belly and a bad body, they know that they are not going to like it and that is why they start eating well
We’re pleased to have you on the PE blog! Many thanks for using this exercise to practice your writing.
Here is one sentence you can still improve:
Revised version:
Until your next entry!
I have a healthy diet based on Mediterranean diet concept. This means that I usually eat vegetables, fruit, meat and fish. I like especially the summer fruits.
I have never been on a diet. I try to have a balance on my diet. From Monday to Friday, I like to eat as much cleanly as possible, avoiding fried food, insane fats, etc. However, I also like to eat some “fast food” 1 or 2 times on weekends like a hamburger, pizza, sushi, etc. I think this balance is important to keep the anxiety under control that sometimes we can experience.
I think the exercise is important. A good diet plus exercise is the best way to feel us better (inside and outside). I think the exercise should be a reason to put our mind off but should not be an obsession. I usually practice exercise 5 days per week.
I think is not important to track one’s weight at least if this would suppose an obsession to have the weight under control. In my opinion, the kilograms are just a number and there are many factors that can vary the weight: gender, age, hormonal reasons, muscular percentage, etc.
I consider the people is becoming aware about the healthy dietary habits. The people is interested on looking for healthy receipts, exercise and healthy lifestyle. However, it is important to remark that this interest has to be focus on caring our body and mind and not only our external appearance.
Usually the people is worried about their body looks since the figure most common in the social networks is the same: thin and muscled people. Most people associate this body with some other concepts: money, fame, good job or happy life and they could think their lives never would be good enough.
You were able to write your ideas well. Look at how you can phrase this sentence to express it better:
A good diet plus exercise is the best way to feel us better (inside and outside).
> A good diet plus exercise is the best way to MAKE US feel better inside and OUT.
Keep up the good job!
I usually try to eat Mediterranean food, as I am used to it. However is my children the ones that don´t help me to keep Mediterranean food and they complaint quite a lot when I cook vegetables, so I have to cook in an attractive way for them.
I have never done a fad diet and I don´t believe on them as the body needs all the nutrients from a variety of foods and this is not possible with just eating big quantity of just 1 food. I had to do once a special diet for healthy reasons for a short period. It was really hard but I managed to achieve it with high success.
I think that doing regular exercise is essential for a good health. I love doing exercise but due to the limited time I haven´t done it on regular basis. For the moment I am taking ballet classes twice a week and my goal is to try to increase the exercise time during the week.
I am not tracking my weight as I see if it is going down or up with my cloths. But it is interesting to see it from time to time if I can maintain my weight.
Dietary habits are changing to more healthy. We see that the children at school are learning about good habits and I try to follow them at home also.
Nowadays the image has become really important and the people want to look well with good figure. This is fine if they take care of other important things in life as well.
Very well done writing down your thoughts! Please look at what better ways to write some of your sentences.
I usually try to eat Mediterranean food, as I am used to it.
> I usually try to eat Mediterranean food as I am used to it.
However is my children the ones that don’t help me to keep Mediterranean food and they complaint quite a lot when I cook vegetables, so I have to cook in an attractive way for them.
> However, it is my children who don’t help me maintain my Mediterranean diet and they complain quite a lot when I cook vegetables so I have to cook them in a way that is appealing or appetizing for them.
I have never done a fad diet and I don´t believe on them as the body needs all the nutrients from a variety of foods and this is not possible with just eating big quantity of just 1 food.
> I have never gone on a fad diet and I don’t believe in them as I think that the body needs all the nutrients from a variety of foods and this is not possible with just eating big quantity of only one food.
I had to do once a special diet for healthy reasons for a short period.
> I had to go on a special diet for health reasons for a short period once.
It was really hard but I managed to achieve it with high success.
> It was really hard but I managed to achieve it very successfully.
I am not tracking my weight as I see if it is going down or up with my cloths.
> I am not tracking my weight as I see if it is going up or down with my clothes.
But it is interesting to see it from time to time if I can maintain my weight.
> But from time to time, it is interesting to see if I am able to maintain my weight.
Dietary habits are changing to more healthy.
> Dietary habits are becoming more healthy.
We see that the children at school are learning about good habits and I try to follow them at home also.
> We see that the children at school are learning about good eating habits and I also try to follow them at home.
Nowadays the image has become really important and the people want to look well with good figure.
> Nowadays, a person’s image has become really important and most people want to look healthy and maintain a good figure.
Just keep practicing your writing skills. You can do it!
I think I have a healthy diet basis on Mediterranean culture. I eat a lot of vegetables, meat and fish, although I know I should eat more fruit. In winter eat fruit is more diffcult for me because I prefer summer fruits, orange and bananas are not my favorites…
I have never been on a diet because I am lucky! I am an small person, I have never had weight problems. It is true that I have practiced sports all my life, not professional; all years of my life I have performed at least one sport, basketball, swimming , Tai-Chi, Yoga, Pilates… and I walk a lot.Obviously, exercise is very importatn to me, I need to move my body! and I think this helps me to not gain weight. I try to track my weight every monday, I have this habit with my partner, but this is not an obssesion.
I think that our culture to the image has injured the concept that we should have about our own bodies, we “must” be thin and muscled to be attractive, be healthy and be self-confidence is not so important, only superficial things are valued, success, fame, money and a good instagram account…
I trust that this will change soon…