Extreme diets have been around for a long time and the more information scientists uncover about what keeps people lean and healthy the more of these plans seem to surface. A recent episode of The Secret Lives of Women, a show on We tv, featured 4 women who spoke enthusiastically about their extreme diets.

The Raw Food Chef: a former cocaine addict who only eats unprocessed uncooked plant foods and runs a raw food catering service.
The Freegan: an anti-consumerist who finds 100% of her food and her belongings in the trash and teaches others how to do the same.
The Calorie Restriction Couple: who slash calories to 25% below daily needs to improve health, slow down aging, and improve brain function.
The Faith Based Guru: an R.D. with a Masters in Biochemistry who teaches people to turn to her religion instead of turning to another diet.

All the extreme diets listed above clearly had one thing in common; some or a few obsessions with food. What types, how much, where it comes from, how you cook it, whether it helps you sleep at night, scientific research studies on it, if it's helping you get closer to God, and other silly nonsense that turns weight loss into total drudgery, a cult like experience, and/or total deprivation.

What was most shocking about the people on the show was how convinced they all are that health and weight loss requires so much effort. Their behaviors are borderline manic, encourage disordered eating, and are exactly what health and fitness professionals spend a great deal of time teaching clients to avoid. The fact is when you get the right nutrients in your body, your body becomes healthy and you stop craving junk, you stop overeating, you stop turning to food when you're depressed, and most importantly you stop obsessing about food. None of these plans managed to accomplished this.

How To Find A Healthy Diet
The most effective diet plans currently out there focus on boosting health all while keeping things simple. If your goal is to lose weight permanently and live a healthy life without losing your sanity then look for a healthy eating plan that isn't extreme. Make sure it boosts health, is sensible, and easy to follow. It's really that simple.

Stop the extreme diets and get on a sensible plan that's also good for the environment. Get started with Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes by Mark Bittman. Watch his video to learn more about what is really wrong with the way most people eat, why so many people are overweight, and how to start eating sensibly so you can lose weight effortlessly.