Many young people go on a crash diet to lose weight without knowing the adverse effects that it can cause on your body. The notion that the solution to weight loss is a crash diet or the ability to stay off food is totally wrong and erroneous and should be avoided as it leads to serious health problems. To lose weight you need not deprive yourself of food or starve yourself. The solution is moderation and it involves making five simple changes in your daily food habits.

1. Don't torture your body. You might think that the less you eat the more you will lose weight. You might go on an extremely low calorie diet and completely avoid anything that carries high calories. Well you will lose weight but then your body will be weak. If you make a habit of consuming fewer calories than your body requires, your body will automatically go into the 'starvation mode', which will definitely result into weight loss but you will be losing not fat but important components of your body like water and muscle. Thus although your size and your weight goes down, the fat still remains. With the result that you will experience lethargy, weakness, Fatigue, hunger pangs, headaches and loss of concentration. Thus try to avoid extremely low or extremely high calorie food intake. Just stop torturing yourself.

2. Balance your diet. Eat more of low calorie high fiber foods such as salads and fresh fruits with each meal. Avoid salad dressings. Eat more of whole grain food and also try out vegetable soups, which are great if you are on a diet. Avoid red meat (beef, pork, ham, sausage), organ meat (liver, brain, kidney) and egg yolks since they are bad for your health as they fall into the saturated fat category. These foods contain high level of calories. Saturated fats, oily stuff, sweets, ice cream and chocolates should be avoided as far as possible. Include sprouts in your food intake, as they are rich in protein.

3. Don't skip meals. Don't commit the mistake of skipping meals. If you are thinking that if you skip one meal you might work towards losing some weight but it is quite the opposite. Because when you eat you tend to eat more and this might work against all your efforts of losing weight. Breakfast is one meal that's very important because as the first meal of the day it helps you to raise your energy levels and provides you energy for the rest of the day. Dinner should always be light. Your body burns few calories while you sleep and if you consume excess calories at dinner, it can easily get stored up in the body as fat.

4. Learn a few tricks.

• Instead of eating three large meals in a day eat six small meals.
• Drink two glasses of water prior to each meal.
• Focus on eating. Relish the food you are eating and don't divert your attention to anything else while you are having your meal.
• Never eat while watching television since you don't keep track of how much you are eating and you tend to eat more.
• Chew each morsel thoroughly to liquid consistency. This will help digest the food properly.
• Pause for a moment before taking an extra serving.
• Don't overeat and don't get swayed away by seeing your favourite food served on the table, which might contain high calories.
• When dining out avoid high calorie food.

5. Don't lose heart. Everyone's weight control efforts get sidetracked from time to time. You might get fed up of going on a diet over and over again without getting any result. Don't worry. It is important to remember that temporary setbacks should, after the initial disappointment, serve as stepping-stones to future success. Use your past failures as learning experiences on the way to successful weight control. So pick yourself up and go ahead do it this time.