7 Most Common Diet Mistakes

There are endless diets and diet products out there, and with their flashy false high hopes, anyone can fall for their gimmicks. It sounds great, "10 lbs in 2 weeks," but is it real or safe? Most likely not, here are the most common diet mistakes made by Americans.

1. Magic foods: If a diet restricts you to one food, like the cabbage soup diet or the cantaloupe diet, then you are doing your body a disservice. These extreme diets set you up for extreme hunger and most likely binging. Also, its unrealistic, and when you go back to actually eating, your metabolism will forever be scarred.

2. Too much of a great thing: When you hear on the news that olive oil is the new key to health, you don't go out and buy a gallon and start chugging. Don't mistake a food with fabulous health benefits with a food that you should eat all day everyday. Everything, even the healthiest food the world, is better in moderation.

3. The no-carb myth: Don't get me started on how much damage this can cause. You won't be able to live like this for long, and once you realize that and start eating carbs again, you'll blow up like a balloon. Trust me, don't remove your whole grains and fruit from your diet....they are a must have when it comes to health.

4. Low-fat is crap: We have already discussed this issue. Click to see what all the fuss is about.

5. Food denial: Putting things on the "I can absolutely not eat that list" is a no-no. You will wind up binging on whatever it is in the end. Don't set such strict boundaries. If you want ice cream, go to the ice cream shop and grab a sensibly portioned taste of whatever you were craving. DON'T go buy a gallon from the grocery.

6. Crash dieting: When it comes to a "diet," you have to be able to keep up with it. Ask yourself, "Can I do this for the rest of my life?" If not, you are most likely crash dieting, and that is not ok.

7. Calling it a diet: You should never be on a "diet." You should have a way of eating or an "eating pattern" that suits you. Throw "dieting" out the window and step into a world of healthy, sensible eating!