Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I have been obsessed with weight control since I was in eighth grade (1983). In those past twenty-two years, many foods have gone in and out of style. Grapefruit, salads before every meal, eight glasses of water every day, and cabbage soup have all gone in and out of fashion.

It seems like foods that are good for you “get discovered” and are the hot topic for the next few years. Right now, dairy foods are the hottest thing in dieting circles:

• 24/24 Milk Your Diet

• About.com – Say Yes to Yogurt! – by Jennifer R. Scott

• WebMD – Dairy Foods Help Burn Fat, Speed Weight Loss – by Jennifer Warner

• The Seattle Times – Got weight? Get more dairy – by Shari Roan

• American Dietetic Association – Milk Your Diet: A New Approach to Fuel Your Weight Loss Efforts

• About.com – Lick Your Weight Loss With Dairy – by Larrian Gillespie

• NPR – Exploring the Link Between Dairy and Weight Loss – by Allison Aubrey

This is only the tip of the iceberg. I could have listed three times as many articles on this subject. Milk is the new Grapefruit Diet. Dairy is the new Eight Glasses of Water Every Day. Yogurt is the new Eat a Salad Before Every Meal. Cheese is the new Cabbage Soup.

The funny thing is: all of these things are good for you. Grapefruit is low in sugar and provides lots of vitamins. Keeping hydrated not only curbs your hunger, it makes your skin healthier. Salads and cabbage soup fill you up with vitamin-packed fiber. Milk and dairy products provide calcium and vitamin D. All of these things are healthy; I just find it amusing which ones the media decides to obsess about.