That time of the year is just around the corner.  The Christmas festivities have come and gone, the New Year’s Eve party is just a blur, everyone in the office has a case of the post-Christmas blues, and this year, yes this year, you will get the body of your dreams!  But how?

Yes, January signals a UK-wide dieting frenzy.  However, with so many diet books and celebrity-endorsed fitness DVDs on the market, who’s cashing in and who’s worth checking out?

The BDA receives literally hundreds of calls from the media every year on this subject and they come across a huge range of weird and whacky diets and diet claims.

Based on telephone call volume and other contributing factors, here are the top 5 dodgy celeb diets to avoid in 2015.

5. The Baby Food Diet
Celebrity Fans:  Lady Ga Ga, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston are reportedly fans of this diet.

What’s it all about?
This diet calls for eating just up to 14 jars of pureed food or baby food every day or mostly pureed food or baby food and one adult meal or pureed food or baby food instead of snacks.

BDA Verdict:  The Ga Ga should be for babies only!  This diet works on portion control and guess what?  Yes, restricted calories, as a jar of baby food has very few.  Although fruit and veg are included they are pureed so have much less fibre and texture.  Chewing food is associated with feelings of fullness and satiety, so reach for an apple or a carrot rather than a jar. Also, how anti-social would you be whipping out your jars of baby food and a top restaurant?

4. Raw Food Diet
Celebrity Fans:  Demi Moore, Natalie Portman and Woody Harrelson are reportedly fans of this diet.

What’s it all about?
It’s the practise of eating raw uncooked food and non-pasteurised/non-homogenised dairy products. This diet can be used by vegans and meat eaters.

BDA Verdict:  This hits a raw nerve!  A raw diet can be low in fat and calories but can also be low in calcium, vitamin D, iron, zinc, and protein.  Many foods can only be eaten cooked, like rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, beans and pulses, so these are excluded.  The diet is unsuitable for pregnant women, children and other at risk groups.  In fact some foods are more nutritious if cooked, like carrots and tomatoes.  This diet is time consuming, socially isolating and you’ll have an awful lot of chewing to do.  For those who use meat in a raw diet, they put themselves at risk of food poisoning and gastroenteritis.

3. Blood Group Diet
Celebrity Fans:  Cheryl Cole, Sir Cliff Richard and Courtney Cox-Arquette are reportedly fans of this diet.

What’s it all about?
This diet is completely based on pseudo-science.  It claims that different nutrients are broken down in the body based on the body’s blood type.

Blood Group A – No dairy products allowed and a vegetarian-based diet.

Blood Group B – A more varied intake of food and the only blood group able to ‘manage’ dairy products.

Blood Group AB – Combination of diets A and B (confused yet? Yes or no to dairy?)

Blood Group O – High meat intake, no dairy, no wheat, no grains (think Atkins).
BDA Verdict:  Blood and sweat won’t make this work!  Cutting out food groups is never a good idea (unless medically advised to do so and with help making substitutions from a Dietitian).  This diet could lead to significant deficiencies such as calcium.  You lose weight on this diet because your calorie intake is very restricted and this diet is not sustainable in the long term.

2. Alcorexia / Drunkorexia Diet
Celebrity Fans:  It is widely thought that many top models and other celebrities are fans of this diet.

What’s it all about?
It’s when people eat very few calories during the day/week and think they can save all the calories they have not eaten then use them to binge drink alcohol.
For example, if you favour a VLC diet (very low calorie) to follow the Alcorexia Diet, you could be banking around 1,500 calories a day, which then gives you 10,500 calories to drink during the week.  This amounts to:

45 pints of lager (based on a single pint being around 230 kcals).  With a pint of lager being 2 units, this gives you a weekly alcohol intake of 90 units.

201 shots of spirits (based on a single shot being around 52 kcals).  With a single shot of spirit being 1 unit, this gives you a weekly alcohol intake of 201 units.

52 alcopops (based on a single alcopop being around 200 kcals).  With a single alcopop being 1 unit, this gives you a weekly alcohol intake of 52 units.

131 glasses of red wine, or 26 bottles (based on a glass of red being around 80 kcals).  With a single glass being 1 unit, this gives you a weekly alcohol intake of 131 units).

To put this in context, the safe weekly alcohol unit intake is 28 units for men and 21 units for women.

BDA Verdict:  You must be blind drunk!
Following a VLC diet alone is madness, as you will most certainly not be getting the calories, vitamins and nutrients your body needs to survive and function.  In addition, you will feel weak, tired have no energy and will become very irritable very soon.  Alcohol has little nutrition other than calories.  To do this in order to ‘bank’ your calories so you can go a use them on alcohol is pure madness and could easily result in alcohol poisoning and even death.  The BDA has received a significant increase in media calls about this diet and it is a worrying trend.

1. Dukan Diet
Celebrity Fans:  The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton (and her mother Carole Middleton), Jennifer Lopez and Gisele Bundchen are reportedly fans of this diet.

What’s it all about?
A complicated four-phase diet that starts off with a protein only approach that promotes weight loss of around 7lb per week.

BDA Verdict:  The Dukan’t Diet is Offal!  There is absolutely no solid science behind this at all.  This works on restricting foods, calories and portion control again.  Once again, cutting out food groups is not advisable.  This diet is so confusing, very rigid, full of very French foods that most Brits would run a mile from like rabbit and offal, and even Dr Dukan himself warns of the associated problems like lack of energy, constipation and bad breath – lovely!

Speaking about these and other fad diets, Sian Porter, consultant dietitian and Spokesperson for the BDA, said:

“Sadly, there is no magic wand you can wave.  There is no wonder diet you can follow without some nutritional or health risk and most are offering a short-term fix to a long term problem.  It may be obvious, but if you want to lose weight you need to eat a nutritionally balanced and varied diet with appropriately sized portions and burn off more calories than you consume. In short speak, eat fewer calories, make better choices and move a bit more!

“On a serious note, glamorous images of celebrities saturate our daily media in all forms.  These celebs have an army of people to help them to keep looking good, which is essential to their livelihood and plenty of money to do whatever they think it takes.  You need to remember too, a lot of these images are airbrushed and retouched to give celebrities an unachievable body image that does not exist in real life, yet many aspire to.  Some people look at these images and will try anything they think will help them achieve the ‘perfect’ body. “If you have some weight you need to lose, then do it in a healthy, enjoyable and sustainable way.  In the long term this will achieve the results you are after.”

For more information and tips about healthy weight loss, please visit www.bdaweightwise.com.

There are many celebrities who have had some sort of cosmetic surgery at some point in their lives. Some deny it, some own up to it, but most have had some kind of work done. The pressure to look flawless in the world of glamour and glitz is enormous and as time goes by the ability to keep looking fabulous naturally reduces, and Mother Nature needs a hand.

Celebrities and Liposuction

Liposuction is probably the most common cosmetic procedure in the world today and it’s certainly popular in the world of celebrity. One of the most notable examples being the actress Tara Reid, who starred in the American Pie films of the late 1990’s. She underwent liposuction on her stomach in an attempt to give herself a more toned looking six-pack; however she was left with a dented, disfigured looking area around her tummy which aged her appearance considerably.  Fortunately mishaps like these are quite rare. Celebrities don’t have months to spare in their schedules so liposuction is a quick and convenient way to get rid of this excess weight, even after childbirth in some cases. Oscar winning actress Halle Berry openly admitted to having liposuction after the birth of her child. For someone so reliant on her looks for her career, liposuction can indeed be a godsend.

Celebrities and Botox

Another very common cosmetic procedure amongst celebrities, second perhaps only to liposuction is Botox injections. Celebrities who have been linked to Botox include Kim Cattrall, Liz Hurley, Virginia Madsen, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell and Kylie Minogue. Some celebrities like Joan Rivers and Virginia Madsen openly admit to using Botox, but others are far more secretive about having Botox or indeed any cosmetic surgery. The prospect of gaining flawless features and combatting the signs of aging can seem even more tempting to celebs seeing as though Botox prices are the lowest they’ve ever been.

Other Celebrities who admit to Surgery

Both Angelina Jolie and Beyonce, widely hailed as two of the most beautiful women in the world, had rhinoplastys (nose jobs), to give themselves straighter and more perfect looking noses.  In 2007 Jennifer Aniston, of Friends fame, even admitted to having a little bit of work done. There are many others, too numerous to mention, who have admitted to having had some form of cosmetic work done on themselves with the pressure to maintain an image of youthful perfection too strong in the 24/7 world of media and celebrity.

Olay Big British Beauty Poll

In a poll of 20,000 women aged between 18 to 65 asked to name the most iconic beauty of all time, most women voted Audrey Hepburn as their top choice.

The poll conducted by skin care specialists Olay in their Olay Big British Beauty Poll asked participants about their views on a variety of  beauty related  subjects including their spending habits on beauty products, attitudes to cosmetic surgery and their ultimate beauty icon.

When asked, ‘which celebrity do you consider to be the most iconic beauty of all time? Women voted Audrey Hepburn their top choice, followed by Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and Twiggy.

It was no real surprise that Angelina Jolie would be one of the more recent beauties to make the top ten, but surprisingly Jennifer Aniston and Cheryl Cole were also included.

Olay’s Big British Poll is put to the test today, Thursday November 25th at 4pm when you can log onto a live webcast and air your thoughts and views on the poll and beauty products.

Kym Marsh

Coronation Street star Kym Marsh and boyfriend Jamie Lomas have been left heartbroken after their baby boy was born prematurely last night and died seconds later.

Their son, who was named Archie Jay Lomas, was born eighteen weeks early after Ms. Marsh went into labour three days ago with doctors battling to stop the early arrival.

Nicolette Sheridan, who plays Edie Britt in Desperate Housewives, is too quit the show after playing the character for five-years.  Sheridan, who was once engaged to Michael Bolton, is hoping to go on to do other projects.

Jennifer Aniston celebrates her 40th birthday today and celebrations began last night with a party at her home.

Currently dating John Mayer, Aniston has been promoting her latest movie ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’.

Vinnie Jones

Vinnie Jones is facing jail after being arrested in the US for punching a man in the face after being glassed in a fight at a pub.

Jones has been accused of starting an argument over a game of pool which quickly led to a full scale brawl.  The ex-footballer tuned actor, was treated in hospital for cuts and bruised to his face.

Angelina Jolie has been named the highest paid actress by the Hollywood Reporter.  Jolie passed last years biggest earner Reese Witherspoon, who is now third in the list behind Julia Roberts.

Other actresses in the list included Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Aniston, Anne Hathaway and Katherine Heigi.

David Beckham and his LA Galaxy team-mates have taken part in a bungy jump in Auckland New Zealand with Beck’s enjoying it so much, he did it twice.

The jump plunged the footballer into the sea, 130ft below and he was even given a video to take home to show the boys his daredevil stunt.