Liquid Diets Essay -- Dieting Obesity Papers

Liquid Diets Obesity is one of the most common problems faced by people today. Since thirty-four million Americans are estimated to be obese, one out of every three Americans must live with this disorder. Obesity is defined as a body weight consisting of 20% or more above the standard ideal weight (http://www-med.stanford.edu/school/DGIM/Teaching/Modules/obesity.html#RTFToC12). In order to reduce obesity, most invest in diet and exercise programs. Recently, liquid diets have been positively modified, thus rising in popularity since their fall out during the late 1970’s. Out of the twenty million dieters, about one billion dollars will be spent this year on either medically sponsored liquid diets or over-the-counter liquid diet products (http://www.thriveonline.com/@@uwUQ@wQAMB†¦ve/health/Library/CAD/abstract13110.html). Even though many companies claim their diet produces safe and effective weight loss, many medical researches express their concern for various health risk conseq uences. PURPOSE OF TREATMENT The main purpose of liquid diets is weight loss. Many people have a low self-esteem concerning their looks and feel that weight loss would improve their outer appearance. Losing weight tends to boost self confidence by giving a feeling of accomplishment which is an incentive to lose more. Most of the over the counter liquid diets are invested by people who are not necessarily obese, but interested in taking off the excess weight. Liquid diets are also widely used to improve health conditions. Dieting results in weight loss which indirectly can decrease health risks. "If all Americans were to achieve a normal body weight, it has been estimated that there would be a 3 year increase in life expectancy... ...Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 60(2):249-54, 1994 Aug. Kretsch, MJ., MW Green, AK Fong, NA Elliman, and HL Johnson. "Cognitive effects of a long-term weight reducing diet." International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders. 21(1):14-21, 1997 Jan. Seim, HC., JE. Mitchell, C. Pomeroy, and M. de Zwaan. "Electrocardiographic findings associated with very low calorie dieting." International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders. 19(11):817-9, 1995 Nov. Shovic, Anne Caprio, PhD, Susan Adams, Jane Dubitzky, and Melody Anacker. "Effectiveness and dropout rate of a very low calorie diet program." Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 93(5):583-4, 1993 May. Walsh, MF and TJ Flynn. "A 54-month evaluation of a popular very low calorie diet program." Journal of Family Practice. 41(3):231-6, 1995 Sep.