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Next thing you know, you’re getting by on coffee and crackers, boiled eggs and grapefruit, and you watch the scale with glee as the needle starts to dip.  But here’s the thing; crash dieting might work in the short term, but as local registered dietician Shivani Ram warns, if you crash, you’re almost guaranteed to burn.

“Dieting takes time and determination,” she says. 
“You have to follow a balanced plan, and exercise regularly.” 
A better way to melt off those Christmas pounds is to get help.  “See a dietician who’s registered with the T&T Board of Nutritionists,” she advises, but be cautious.  There are people marketing themselves as dieticians who can get the pounds off fast, but have no plan for continuity or follow up.  
Even worse, some diet gurus offer pills and injections that contain God-knows-what, and which, in the long term, can do harm to your kidneys.  “The shots and pills aren’t worth it,” she warns.
“When you start eating normally, you put back on the weight.  It doesn’t make sense.” People with diabetes or hypertension are also well advised to stay away from miracle cures, but consult their doctor if they want to lose weight.

Ram also brings up the dreaded E-word—exercise—which to many busy Trini women is worse than an expletive.  But exercise doesn’t have to involve squeezing into leotards and stomping away on the aerobics floor until you’re a quivering, sweaty mess.  Small, frequent stints can do a body a whole heap of good.  “You’d be surprised to see how well a half-hour walk every day works,” she comments.  
And what’s the one bad habit she’d like to see Trini women ditch?  She almost grinds her teeth in frustration.  “As a society we don’t drink enough water; we’re always drinking soft drinks and juice.  Drink water! Ten to twelve eight-ounce glasses a day!”

Another friend of WomanWise, kinesiologist and nutritionist, Kameela Ramsubeik, was happy to offer her advice on how to whittle down just enough to wriggle into that costume—without risking your health:
•  Eat smart. Eat small meals every 3 hours and avoid eating at least 3 hours before bed
•  Eat starches (such as bread, rice, ground provisions) for breakfast and lunch only
•  Avoid calorific foods such as deep fried foods, fizzy drinks and high fat foods
•  Do aerobic or fat burning exercises (such as cycling or brisk walking) daily for a minimum of 45 minutes
•  Cut all saturated fats such as those found in butter, cheese and milk
Avoid sugary foods as much as possible.

Keep the pounds off

•  Find a buddy to exercise with
•  Designate specific days to exercise on and stick to them
•  Understand that you must be willing to make changes that may be difficult
•  Try not to eat out every day as it’s harder to control meals away from home. 
•  When you can, pack a healthy lunch.

How NOT to do it

Just to satisfy our appetite for curiosity, here are a few crash diet techniques used around the world, which you shouldn’t even consider trying:
The cigarette diet: in the 1920s, American doctors prescribed cigarettes as appetite suppressants
The drinking man’s diet: nothing but steak and alcohol
Eggs only: 9 boiled eggs a day, every day
The IV diet: Hollywood celebs are rumoured to check themselves into clinics where they’re hooked up to IVs that keep them alive while they lie around and don’t eat

Lemon juice and cayenne pepper: and nothing else

The tapeworm diet: American women used to swallow live tapeworm eggs, which they could buy by mail-order.  It’s now illegal in the US, but a desperate few can nip down to Mexico to purchase this very personal ‘pet’.  Tapeworm eggs are still available online as diet aids.
Happy slimming, and let’s be careful out there!

Shvani Ram is a registered dietician who works with the North Central Regional Health Authority and also has her own private practice at Healthnet Chaguanas and at the Gasparillo Diagnostic Centre.  You can reach her at 665-6513 or 650-3722.