Introduction Despite what the $60 Billion diet industry has told you your whole life, restrictive dieting doesn't work (see article here: https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/body/healthy- weight/diets-dont-workLinks to an external site.). Remember the reality tv show The Biggest Loser? Every contestant has gained the weight back. And some weigh more than they were before going on the show! This is because strict, restrictive diets focused on rapid weight loss slow down your metabolism. Your body is designed to fight change. Your body interprets a restrictive diet as a famine. "There was a drought and the crops have died," your body thinks. You are descended from survivors. Your body is going to slow everything way down to weather the storm. So when you go off the diet even a little bit, your body is going to store those calories up in case there's another "famine". This is not a great strategy for the 21st century, where high calorie foods are everywhere. So are all diets bad? Turns out there are "fad diets" and then there are lifestyle choices. Restrictive fad diets focus on weight loss. But there are "diets" that instead focus on listening to your body, preventing disease, long term healthy choices and lifestyle habits. These tend to be more successful. Our class will be evaluating 6 popular diets to assess their long term effectiveness. Each student was put into a discussion group last week. This week, you will be working with your group to choose a popular diet. For the next few weeks, you'll be researching and evaluating this diet. You'll compare this diet to other popular diets and the present your findings to the rest of the class. You are not expected nor even encouraged to try out the diet on your own. Right now, let's work on picking out a diet to evaluate. You'll work with your group to choose one. I'll make sure each group is researching a different diet, so your group might not get its first choice. You might choose to go with one of the big fads right now like Keto, Intermittent Fasting, or, good ol trusty WW. But there are some more creative options here: Latest DietsLinks to an external site. Links to an external site. Initial Post In your initial post, I want each of you to suggest one popular diet to your group. Include a sentence or two on why you chose it. If anyone has posted before you, you have to pick a different plan to suggest. The goal is to have 5-6 choices to vote on. Reply Posts and Voting On Tuesday, read what your classmates posted. Now it's your turn to vote. Make another post in the discussion board with your Top 3 choices, ranked. You can leave it at that, or you can continue the discussion and come to a consensus. If not, I'll tally the votes and choose one for you. I will then reply to the group with the popular diet you'll be researching for the next couple of weeks. You might not get your first choice because I need to make sure every group in the class is doing a different diet. I'll let you know which diet your group will ultimately research next week. I'll also put that information in next week's discussion. Do not proceed with any research until I officially assign a diet to your group.