Juicing is all the rage these days. When your favorite green drink can cost upwards of $7.00, juicing can be an enormous business opportunity and a potential drain on the wallet at the same time. So, when you down that $7.00 juice - or spend 30 minutes juicing your own concoction, is it worth it? Fruit and vegetable intake has been proven to be an important component of a healthy diet that is associated with a decreased risk of numerous chronic diseases and metabolic syndromes. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, released by the USDA, places an increased emphasis on intake of fruits and vegetables, with fruits and vegetables comprising one half of the plate from the MyPlate dietary guide. However, according to the State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables released by the CDC in 2013, the American national median intake of fruits and vegetables is 1.1 and 1.6 times per day, respectively. Complementary to the previous statistics, nearly 37% of Americans reported...

There is a popular belief that restricting what you eat for a period of time can rid your body of built-up toxins and help you lose weight. The appeal of this claim is hard to ignore - and it seems that advertisements for detox diets pop up everywhere, in magazines, health food stores, and online. While other diet fads have come and gone, detox diets remain popular. But do they really work?

The concept of dieting to detoxify your body can be traced to ancient Indian cultures. These days, there are plenty of detox diets from which to choose, from the one-day fast to the five-day juice diet to the three week detox program. The diets are all different, but they all focus on severe food restriction for a period of time.

The Case for the Detox Diet

Promoters of detox diets claim that the only way to rid the body of chemicals and toxins is through a detoxification diet. If these toxins aren't removed, they claim, they can lead to health problems, and even cancer.

The most common type ...

Exercise on its own will not help you drop pounds if you continue eating an unhealthy diet. An Australian review of 43 weight loss studies dating as far back as 1985 has proven this. "Exercise by itself is not going to be an effective weight-loss strategy for an individual. You really need to combine exercise with better nutrition," said review lead author Dr. Kelly Shaw, a public health doctor with the Department of Health and Human Services in Tasmania. Dr. Shaw further concluded that following a healthy diet actually does more to help weight loss than exercise. "You need to look at your nutrition intake because there's a bigger bang for your buck from modifying nutrition than there is with physical activity," she tells those who want to lose weight. Her review is published in The Cochrane Library journal. It seems apparent that diet has more of an impact on weight loss than exercise in the short term, according to John Jakicic, chair of the Department of Health ...

These days, there are many online weight loss programs in addition to traditional weight loss programs, such as Weight Watchers. But do they work, and how do they compare to traditional weight loss services?

The Appeal of Online Dieting

Online weight loss programs can easily be accessed from the comfort of your home, making them very convenient. Dieters can also be anonymous on the Internet, which is a big plus since research shows that many adults prefer to lose weight without having to participated in a face-to-face program. Additionally, many of the online diet programs offer helpful tools, such as the ability to track your progress, online food journals, and grocery list apps for smart phones. All these things could help motivate a dieter to stick with their program.

How Effective Are These Services?

Internet-based weight loss programs are fairly new, but so far, they've received extremely positive reviews. They have been proven to work, and, in some cases, they've been show...