For months, low-carb was the hottest fad diet around for weight loss. Whether with Atkins, South Beach, the Zone, or other protein-packed eating regimens, dieters were dropping pounds while eating rich, low-carb foods such as butter, steak, and pepperoni pizza (but without the yummy crust). Now the trend has shifted, as it always does with fad diets. Tired of facing a hamburger patty and bowl of lettuce night after night, many people are rethinking this dieting extreme.

What's with all the fad diets out there? Whether low-carb, low-calorie, or low-fat, someone always has a gimmick to sell that's supposed to help you lose weight (and look as hot as the models who advertise these products).

But wait! Has anyone been able to stay on these deprivation diets for a long period of time? And if they did lose weight, did the pounds stay off once they went back to a more normal eating style?

Look at the following fad diets, and see how many you've tried:

Low-carb diet
Low-fat diet
Liquid diet (using low-calorie, high-fiber shakes)
Grapefruit diet
Detox diet
Cabbage Soup diet
Macrobiotic diet
The juice diet

If you've followed at least one of these diets, you have plenty of company. Problem is, if a diet really worked, we'd all be on it, and we'd stay on it. The reality is that fad diets don't work to help you lose weight and keep it off.

So what does work? Eating fewer calories than you burn off. That's it, plain and simple. Calories really do count -- no matter what you've read in magazine articles. If you really want to trim down, the most effective way is to eat a variety of healthful foods, exercise 60 minutes every day, and stop super-sizing your meals.

Variety Is Key for a Healthy Diet

Just as a car needs the proper gasoline to make it run, a body needs a healthy diet -- the right balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to develop properly, as well as a host of other nutrients.

Each vitamin or mineral regulates a bodily process. For instance, the mineral calcium keeps bones strong and helps to prevent low bone density and fractures. Vitamin A is important to keep your skin smooth and healthy. Vitamin C helps protect your body against infection. Vitamin E stimulates the function of T‑cells, which are important fighters in your immune system.

When you go on a fad diet and exclude any of the necessary nutrients, you're putting yourself at risk for illness. Getting too little of a specific nutrient may not cause a problem immediately. But if it's depleted for a long period of time, you may suffer health consequences.

Practice Portion Control

Researchers have concluded that it may not be just the type of foods we're eating causing America's obesity epidemic but also the portion sizes. Food servings have grown larger and larger over the years. And fast-food restaurants aren't the only places you'll find super-sized meals.

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As You Journey through Menopause, Vivelle-Dot Is By Your Side

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INDICATION

Vivelle-Dot is used after menopause to: reduce moderate to severe hot flashes; treat moderate to severe dryness, itching and burning in or around the vagina; help reduce your chances of getting osteoporosis (thin weak bones); and treat certain conditions in which a young woman's ovaries do not produce enough estrogens naturally. Vivelle-Dot 0.025 mg/day is only used to prevent osteoporosis from menopause. If you use Vivelle-Dot only to treat your dryness, itching, and burning in and around your vagina or if you use Vivelle-Dot only to prevent osteoporosis from menopause, talk with your healthcare professional about whether a different treatment or medicine without estrogens might be better for you.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Estrogens increase the chances of getting cancer of the uterus (womb). Report any unusual vaginal bleeding right away while you are taking estrogens. Vaginal bleeding after menopause may be a warning sign of cancer of the uterus (womb).

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Vivelle-Dot should not be used if you have unusual vaginal bleeding; currently have or have had certain cancers, including cancer of the breast or uterus; had a stroke or heart attack in the recent past (for example, in the past year); currently have or have had blood clots; currently have or have had liver problems; or think you may be, or know that you are, pregnant.

The most common side effects that may occur with Vivelle-Dot are headache, breast tenderness, and back pain.

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Please see Full Prescribing Information for Vivelle-Dot.

Prescribing Information