Q: I am a 22 years old male weighing 97 kg. I want to lose weight through GM diet. Is GM diet advisable for weight loss?

A:The General Motors (GM) Diet is one of the many unscientific, impractical and restrictive fad diets currently available. I would not recommend the GM Diet for you or anyone else, mainly because: 1. It’s based on pseudo science: The science behind this diet and its so called `great' weight loss results, does not adhere to any valid scientific methodology, lack supporting evidence and also lack approval and endorsement of recognized health bodies across the world. 2. Its highly impractical: For instance, the diet suggests that one eat only fruits the first day. Can any working professional or college going student pull this off? Even if they do manage to eat only fruits the entire day, they will see its side effects before the day is over in form of indigestion and possible loose bowels (due to the high fiber content of fruits), impaired concentration, hunger pangs and more. Can they get any work or studies done in this situation? 3. Its unhealthy for all and dangerous for those with medical problems: This diet is unhealthy for an obese person with no other medical problems and can turn out to be dangerous for those who suffer from obesity with co-morbidities (other accompanying diseases). An overweight/obese person who tries the GM diet will not only deprive his body of the right proportion of macronutrients like carbohydrate, protein and fat; but also lose out on essential vitamins and minerals. The deficiency disorders which will develop as a result of this will only add to his existing concern i.e. he will end up with one more health problem in addition to his concern of obesity. The GM diet doesn’t consider the medical history of the person who plans on following the diet and this is a major demerit. If anyone has any health condition (known or unknown) it will only get aggravated by following this diet. Example 1: A diabetic wanting to lose weight, on following Day 1 of the GM diet which includes consumption of only fruits the whole day, is sure to spike his blood sugar levels to an uncontrollable degree and land himself into a serious health emergency. Example 2: An obese person who is suffering from gout will cause his symptoms to flare up if he were to follow this diet, what with its `suggestion' to eat beef and all types of vegetables without taking into account the purine content of these foods. There more such examples. 3. It doesn’t teach you right from wrong: The GM diet and similar fad diets fail to teach anyone the principles of eating correctly, as they propagate only hocus pocus or information which is best trashed. They never leave you equipped with good nutrition knowledge for life. 4. It is monotonous and boring, like all other fad diets and this affect your levels of motivation and happiness. 5. The results are not permanent: If you do manage to successfully follow a GM diet, think about this-How long do you plan on following it? It can’t be for the rest of your life, right? One day you will stop and go back to eating the way you used to (as this diet never taught you how to eat right) and all the weight you lost (if you did lose some) will definitely find its way back to you. Please understand that your current weight of 97 kilos didn’t happen overnight or even within a month. It probably took you about a year to reach your current weight. So keeping this in mind, don’t you think you need to give yourself time to lose weight slowly and steadily, rather than opting for a fad diet under the lure of `fast' weight loss. After all, your body took time to reach its current weight, so expecting it to shed all the weight in a shorter time is not fair on it or on yourself. Keeping all the above in mind, please stay away from fad diets like GM Diet, Blood Group Type Diet, Maple Syrup Diet, Baby Food Diet, Atkins Diet and others. Finally, I would thus advise you to consult a qualified dietician for your weight management concerns.