Today, there are several diets publicized in books and on the internet, it is difficult to choose. Here we are not going to look at foods to eat but foods to avoid on any diet.

A common sense way to understand which diet is best is to see which one fits your own personal choices for life-style and natural (we stress the word, “natural” not synthetic) tastes.

We all have our likes and dislikes…many of which from a child passes with us all our lives.

Today’s commercial world, and international food and beverage business is about as responsible for the obesity problem as the tobacco company’s are for lung cancer. When you are on a diet, or if you wish to be your ideal weight, you must avoid the general choices below.

•Any “processed” food. ANY…this means food that has been treated in an industrial way. These foods contain additives and chemicals that disturb your natural processes of digestion and elimination. In this category, you can think of any food from a can, or one that can stay on a supermarket shelf more than one month.

•Any and all fast foods. These are perhaps the worst offenders, as they somehow taste great when you are hungry, you eat them quickly, and they contain all the ingredients you don’t need or your body wants; such as transfats, incorrect food combinations (cola drinks with proteins and carbohydrates), and an excess of calories.

An average fast food meal is about 1,000 or more calories. It is often more, and leaves you hungry in about 2 hours.

•Any “deep-fried” foods. This includes the famous potato, but can also include fried meats (such as fried chicken), and some sweets, such as the donut or many oriental-type sweets. These kill your diet, raise insulin levels in the blood, and there is no way to lose weight.

•All polysaturated and animal fat. We do not say to you to eliminate fat, just eat the correct ones. These are found in fish, some vegetables and some dairy products (where omega-3 oils have been incorporated to the dairy animal’s feed).

•White Flour. There is nothing in it good for you, nothing. Whole wheat or other whole grains are another story. Eat them as you wish, but NO white flour.

It is a dead food itself, and only causes unbalances in your digestive system. White flour was invented as it does not spoil, where whole grains do. The bugs know which is best to eat. They eat the whole grains and not bleached processed white flour.

•White Sugar. As its carbohydrate cousin above, white sugar also has very little or no nutritional value.

There are so many healthy alternatives to it, and although sweet, these natural sugars are easily digested in your system as they are natural as you are natural.

•Mayonnaise and its Derivates. Although very tasty, and makes the food you eat it with so as well, the mayonnaise is heavily processed, usually with the cheapest oils, mostly transfatty ones, and full of preservatives.

Also mayonnaise is made from eggs, and commercially treated to withstand the age process on the supermarket shelf. It will not help you diet, and in fact, it is not good for you at all. If you make it yourself however, and eat it sparingly, that is another matter.

• Caffeinated Drinks. This includes coffee, dark tea, the cola drinks, chocolate, and the new power drinks that are appearing in nightclubs, supermarkets and gyms.

The caffeine (or similar chemical found in tea and chocolate) disturbs your metabolism, and will prevent the natural slimming process when you are dieting.

There are many other foods to both avoid and enjoy, but the above list is generally agreed to by most dieticians.

When you are NOT dieting, you can certainly eat these foods, but it is advised to do so sparingly as to remember you had dieted, lost weight, and now, why gain it back.